SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has, to no one's surprise, been a very busy man in Florida. He's checking out the O's spring roster and watching the team play often. He's swung a couple of trades since camp started and has taken time to do some amateur scouting as well. Yesterday, when the Orioles beat the Twins 9-4 in Fort Myers, he took some time to hang out with me during the live-streamed audio-only broadcast of the Birds on Orioles.com....

JUPITER, Fla. - Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson is embracing the notion that spring training is a time to test out new things. One he's growing pretty comfortable with, the other remains a work in progress. During his three-inning stint this afternoon in a 9-8 loss to the Marlins, Hellickson got more comfortable with a quick-pitch windup designed to keep hitters used to his more deliberate delivery a little more off-balance. He also threw broke out a new offering - a slider he's been thinking...

Eleven-time No. 1 singer/songwriter and Grammy-nominated country music star Cole Swindell performed in the outfield at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., as part of the weekend-long "Athletes & Artists Play for Kids" event in support of arts education and girls' empowerment. A portion of the proceeds from the events of March 1-3 helped fund the establishment of the new Orioles Charitable Foundation Music & Arts Education Scholarships, designed to support young students in Sarasota,...

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Renato Núñez is a third baseman by trade who had no issues with moving across the diamond this afternoon. He's just trying to make the club. The glove won't be a primary reason if it happens. It's the bat that keeps teams intrigued and Núñez's might be heating up. Núñez crushed a fastball from Twins reliever Addison Reed in the third inning, his grand slam to left-center field giving the Orioles a lead they didn't surrender in a 9-4 win. Jordany...

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Dylan Bundy didn't approach today's start in a passive state. He wasn't going to nibble. Bundy attacked the strike zone and challenged the Twins to make solid contact. C.J. Cron did it twice with his first-pitch opposite-field homer with two outs in the first inning and loud two-run shot in the third. The only runs surrendered by Bundy in three innings. In his second spring appearance and working on three days' rest, Bundy allowed five hits, walked none and struck out...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - James Bourque's epiphany came in fall instructional league when the Nationals devised a plan to force him to learn to trust his fastball. "They took the breaking ball away from me," he said. "They said they wanted to see just fastball/changeup." When minor league pitching coordinator Paul Menhart delivered the news, Bourque wasn't sure what to make of it. "The pitching coordinator called it my 'Linus blanket' and took that away from me," Bourque said. "For me,...

FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Orioles have reached the midway point of spring training and manager Brandon Hyde can't fathom the task of compiling a 25-man roster and settling the competitions that have spread through camp. Much too soon. "I think we're still really in the heart of the evaluation process," Hyde said during batting practice. "A lot of these guys have teens at-bats, between 10-20 at-bats. It's hard to evaluate a guy on that. There are still guys coming in the mix. (Jesús) Sucre...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Everyone knows the Nationals have a powerful starting rotation - so long as the top five starting pitchers remain healthy. But what about the rotation depth? Manager Davey Martinez likes what he sees so far, and thinks there are enough pitchers to form a decent starting five at Triple-A Fresno plus back up the rotation in D.C. "I like where we're at right now," Martinez said Monday morning before departing for the Grapefruit League game in Jupiter against the Marlins....

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Nate Karns will pitch in his second spring training game Tuesday while coming out of the bullpen against the Pirates in Sarasota. Karns didn't experience any discomfort in his right arm following Saturday's bullpen session and will get back on the mound after Alex Cobb makes the start. The Orioles backed off Karns, skipping him Friday night in Tampa in favor of left-hander John Means, after he felt that he didn't bounce back in normal fashion following last Monday's debut...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Jeremy Hellickson faces the Marlins this afternoon, his second start of the spring. In his first Grapefruit League outing on Feb. 27 against the Astros, Hellickson went two scoreless innings, allowing a hit, a walk and striking out three. Ryan Zimmerman is back at first base today, and under manager Davey Martinez's plan of playing him every other game, the veteran will get the benefit of tomorrow off and Wednesday's scheduled off-day. A spring training oddity: Both...