PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - Andrew Cashner will make his first appearance in a Grapefruit League game with Sunday night's start against the Phillies in Sarasota, which will air live on MASN. Left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. starts Thursday afternoon against the Blue Jays' Aaron Sanchez at Ed Smith Stadium. The teams meet again the following day in Dunedin with Miguel Castro opposing Marco Estrada. Castro will be making his Grapefruit League debut after working two innings Friday morning in a B game...

MASN's Nationals on-field reporter Dan Kolko is known by many names to our loyal fans and viewers. "MASN Dan," "DK" and "TV's Dan Kolko" are just a few examples. Starting this season, we have another nickname to add to the list: "Radio Dan." In addition to his MASN broadcast duties for this upcoming regular season, Kolko will also be hosting a weekly "Nats Insider" show on the Nationals flagship radio station 106.7 The Fan every Saturday from 8-9 a.m. The station released Kolko's...

JUPITER, Fla. - Ryan Zimmerman got dressed and headed out to take batting practice this morning in West Palm Beach, still attired in long pants even though most of the rest of the Nationals had switched into shorts and t-shirts, the uniform of the day for their morning workout. Another day passed without Zimmerman in the lineup for a Grapefruit League game - he's played only once, doubling in one of his two at-bats on March 3, and his Grapefruit League average has been stuck on .500 for since...

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Orioles extended their streak of removing players from their camp roster this morning by optioning right-hander Jesus Liranzo to Double-A Bowie. The roster is down to 52 players and more cuts are coming over the next few days. Liranzo, who turns 23 today, was slow-played this spring to protect his right shoulder. He was charged with five runs yesterday against the Twins in Fort Myers, the last three scoring after he left the game. Meanwhile, Andrew Cashner may be...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles are headed to Port Charlotte again today, where they picked up their first two exhibition wins last week, and the regulars making the trip include second baseman Jonathan Schoop and third baseman Tim Beckham. Danny Valencia is playing first base and batting cleanup. Austin Hays is the designated hitter. Other pitchers listed behind starter Mike Wright Jr. include Donny Hart, José Mesa Jr., Jimmy Yacabonis, Perci Garner, James Teague and Matt Wotherspoon. The...

JUPITER, Fla. - Coming off three spotless innings with five strikeouts in his last start against the Mets in Port St. Lucie on March 2, what does Max Scherzer do for an encore? We'll find out this afternoon when the right-hander makes his third Grapefruit League start against the Cardinals. So far this spring, Scherzer is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA, and has allowed one hit - a home run by the Braves' Dansby Swanson on Feb. 25 - with no walks and eight strikeouts through five innings. The last two...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Reliever Josh Edgin is expected to leave Orioles camp this week, but not because he's included among the cuts. It's probably too early to make a final determination on his status. Edgin will join his wife for the birth of their child. She's due on Thursday and the doctor may induce labor. His baseball life will beckon and he'll return to the complex with a full heart and the same opportunity to make the club. Though he hasn't received much attention, Edgin is in the thick...

For Orioles pitching prospect Hunter Harvey, when he has thrown so far in spring training, the postgame interviews have become more about how he threw rather than how he felt. When the Orioles selected him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2013 draft, they dreamt of a day he was among their best starting pitchers. As manager Buck Showalter might say, for a while that dream was delayed but not denied. For O's fans, they can again dream on a day that three homegrown first-round picks in Dylan...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If there's one guy in the Nationals clubhouse who can empathize with Brian Goodwin's dilemma, it's new manager Davey Martinez. Long before he spent a decade as Joe Maddon's right-hand man in Tampa Bay and Chicago, Martinez was a major league outfielder fighting for playing time. In his 16 seasons in the bigs, Martinez played in more than 120 games only nine times. Like most ballplayers, he had to fight to carve out his niche as a regular. Sometimes he was more...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The results may not have been particularly pleasing, but Nationals manager Davey Martinez liked the approach taken by right-hander A.J. Cole in his three-inning start in Tuesday's 10-5 Grapefruit League loss to the Astros. Cole wasn't able to consistently throw first-pitch strikes, had some success getting his curveball over and never got into any kind of rhythm in his second spring start. He was saddled with the loss after allowing three runs on five hits, but didn't...