SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles' spring tradition of leading a player in one roster direction before throwing him a curve and breaking good news resumed yesterday with catcher Chance Sisco. Sisco found out that he made the club as the backup to starter Caleb Joseph, but only after wondering what he did wrong. It began with third base coach Bobby Dickerson and continued with manager Buck Showalter and bench coach John Russell. And it ended with smiles and a roster spot on opening day. "Bobby...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If the Nationals needed somebody to step up and rustle them out of their late-spring slumber, who better than Max Scherzer to lead the way? Five days after a shaky outing against the Marlins in which he served up three homers, Scherzer is mowing down the same Miami lineup in his final tune-up before opening day. Scherzer is through four scoreless innings having allowed only one hit while striking out six. And he has managed to keep his pitch count to a minimum, throwing...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Manny Machado is serving as the designated hitter tonight, Luis Sardiñas is the shortstop and Danny Valencia is the third baseman for the Orioles' 6:05 p.m. game against the Twins at Ed Smith Stadium. Anthony Santander is the right fielder and Craig Gentry is in center. Chris Davis continues to accumulate at-bats as the leadoff hitter. Chris Tillman is starting tonight and the bullpen includes Joely Rodriguez, Rule 5 pick Pedro Araujo, Andrew Faulkner, Lucas Long and James...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter would like to have his opening day roster set in his mind, if not officially on paper, before the team breaks camp and flies to Norfolk for Monday afternoon's game against its Triple-A affiliate, but there might be some late activity that pushes the final decisions deeper into next week. The 40-man roster is full and space likely will be needed to accommodate a handful of non-roster invitees, including infielder Danny Valencia, who's staying...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - We are getting down to the wire now, with only two days of spring training to go. Which means it's decision time. Davey Martinez, Mike Rizzo and others have been behind closed doors much of this morning making some tough calls. So far, the only player I know for sure has been cut is Ryan Raburn, who already went around the clubhouse saying his goodbyes. Raburn, 36, said earlier this spring if he didn't make the team he'd be calling it a career. So this can't be an...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - If there's one position at which the Nationals can boast significant depth, it's in the outfield. Adam Eaton, Michael A. Taylor and Bryce Harper are all locked into starting positions. Brian Goodwin is a versatile fourth outfielder. Howie Kendrick can play either corner position. Victor Robles is waiting in the wings at Triple-A in case one of the starters goes down. Andrew Stevenson and Rafael Bautista gained big league experience last season. So why did the Nationals...

MLB Network hosts and analysts spent some time this week at the Orioles' spring training home in Sarasota. And last night, the network aired a "30 Clubs in 30 Days" show on the Orioles. They threw the team some props for the upgraded rotation, spent a lot of time talking about Manny Machado's move to shortstop and interviewed several players. No one is ready to say the Orioles can beat the Yankees or Red Sox, but the additions of Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb in the last few weeks improved...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Nothing that happened tonight - barring injury - was going to change the Nationals' plan to open the season. A.J. Cole will be the No. 5 starter. Jeremy Hellickson will need more time to get himself up to speed after signing a minor league contract one week ago. Manager Davey Martinez made all that official earlier this afternoon. "We're going to open up with A.J. Cole being the fifth starter," Martinez said. "He's had a good camp. I like the way he threw all...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Tim Beckham's groin injury, if that's how you classify a tweak, struck as he continued to impress at third base. Setting aside a recent throwing error, Beckham has been smooth at the hot corner. He looks comfortable at his new position. His actions aren't robotic. He's taking good paths to ground balls and making clean pickups. Beckham is athletic and the saying goes that if you can play shortstop, you can play anywhere in the infield, but I don't necessarily buy it. The...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - As the clock ticks down on spring training and opening day looms in the near future, the Nationals have a pretty good idea what their 25-man roster will look like. "We're close," manager Davey Martinez said today. "I won't say we're quite there yet, but we're close. We've still got a few games left. I just want to leave spring training, get to Washington, play Minnesota (in Tuesday's exhibition game) and get through those days healthy and ready to go for...