SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles apparently have decided to carry Jesús Sucre and Pedro Severino as their catchers on opening day. Chance Sisco posted a .382 average in spring training, collecting three more hits this afternoon, but he's included among six roster cuts. Sisco and left-handers Tanner Scott and Josh Rogers were optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Catchers Carlos Pérez and Andrew Susac and infielder Jace Peterson were reassigned to minor league camp. Manager Brandon Hyde confirmed...

Spring training is over. The Nationals are home at last. They have one more exhibition game later this afternoon against the Yankees (if weather permits) and then it's time to turn our focus to Thursday's season opener against the Mets. It was a long six weeks down in West Palm Beach. When pitchers and catchers reported way back on Feb. 13, Bryce Harper was still two weeks away from signing with the Phillies. MLB was making plans to use a 20-second pitch clock this season. Trevor Gott and...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - This being the final day of spring training, the Nationals' goals were pretty simple: Get through the day quickly and healthy. They were successful on both counts. Today's 5-3 exhibition loss to the Astros at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches wrapped up in a mere 2 hours, 30 minutes. And everybody walked away in one piece before showering, dressing and boarding the bus for the airport and the charter flight home to Washington. Davey Martinez gave a handful of...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - It was a spring training game that will be long forgotten very soon and maybe this one should be. The Orioles allowed 18 hits and made three early errors as a Baltimore split-squad lost 11-4 to the Philadelphia Phillies in front of a sellout crowd of 8,349 at Spectrum Field in Clearwater. The Orioles are 0-5-1 over their last six games. The rest of their squad played in Sarasota today and tied 1-1 with the Pirates. After both games this afternoon, the O's record is 12-16-3...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Mark Trumbo will back off baseball activities for a while as part of the reset in his recovery from right knee surgery and, he hopes, eventual return to the lineup. The Orioles will place Trumbo on the injured list and keep him back in Sarasota while they break camp and get ready for opening day at Yankee Stadium. Trumbo met with executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde and they came to an agreement. "The realistic part about it is I...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - With three scheduled off-days in the first two weeks of the season, the Nationals will open with a four-man rotation and keep No. 5 starter Jeremy Hellickson in the bullpen as a long reliever. The club could have stuck with a traditional, five-man rotation, but that would've left Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Aníbal Sánchez getting some unnecessary extra days off in early April. By moving Hellickson to the bullpen for the short-term, the rest...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Howie Kendrick, as expected, will stay back in Florida while the rest of the Nationals break camp this evening and open the season on the injured list while finishing his rehab from a hamstring strain suffered earlier this month. Kendrick has been taking batting practice and grounders while lightly running the bases in recent days but hasn't yet appeared in a game. He plans to get into minor league games within a few days, then get himself ready to join the active...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Mark Trumbo will begin the 2019 season on the injured list, opening up a roster spot and delaying the veteran's return from September knee surgery. Trumbo is excluded from both split-squad lineups this afternoon and manager Brandon Hyde confirmed the decision to put him on the newly named IL. "Trum's not going to break with us," said manager Brandon Hyde. "We're just going to give him some more time. We're going to let him continue to do his rehab down here. "I give him...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Infielder Jace Peterson has been scratched from the Orioles lineup today for their split-squad game against the Pirates in Sarasota. Zach Vincej has come over from minor league camp and is starting at second base. Peterson may be the latest roster cut following today's news that the Orioles optioned reliever Evan Phillips. Or it could be injury related. Peterson was hit twice by pitches last night, but he stayed in the game. The utility competition has been one of the more...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - And so we have reached final day of spring training. Yes, the Nationals' charter (not to mention the commercial flights us reporters use) will be heading back to Washington tonight. Anybody who doesn't swing at the first pitch during today's game deserves to be fined. Make that today's games. Plural. For some bizarre reason, the Nationals have split-squad games today: One at home against the Astros, one on the road against the Mets. Given the travel situation, almost...