VIERA, Fla. - On Thursday, Casey Janssen walked into a new team clubhouse for the first time in his career. Since being drafted in 2004, Janssen has spent the last 10 years in the Blue Jays organization. The right-hander said it was odd to put on new colors - Nationals red - but that he had heard from several friends around the game that assured him he made the right decision when he signed with Washington late last month. "Coaches, guys on the team, guys on other teams that I'm familiar...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles have completed last month's trade with the Pirates by sending them minor league left-hander Steven Brault as the player to be named later. Close the books on this one. The Pirates earlier had received minor league left-hander Stephen Tarpley in exchange for outfielder Travis Snider. Brault, 22, was an 11th-round pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Regis University in Denver. He went 9-8 with a 3.05 ERA in 22 games (21 starts) with low Single-A...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles concluded their first workout and manager Buck Showalter met with the media in the prep room. A photo of a pride of lions hangs on a wall above him with the caption: "Surround Yourself With Those On The Same Mission As You." Showalter was impressed that every player who took a physical was on the field today. "That's one of the rare times when we didn't get any 'hold this guy off the field' type of thing until we get something checked out," Showalter said....

VIERA, Fla. - Stephen Strasburg arrived at Space Coast Stadium on Thursday ready to prepare for his sixth season in the majors. It's hard to believe it's been almost five years since Strasburg made his sensational major league debut, fanning 14 Pirates all the way back in June of 2010. The 26-year-old Strasburg has usually been the hottest trending Nats topic dating back to his days at San Diego State when he was already pegged to be the savior for a franchise holding the No. 1 pick in the...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Center fielder Adam Jones played catch and shagged fly balls on one of the practice fields this morning before heading back indoors. He was the only visible Oriole outside of the clubhouse at 11 a.m. The sound of batters taking their swings in the indoor cage echoed in the distance. Jones struck a pose for me as a parting shot, so to speak. Pitcher Steve Johnson said his right shoulder feels good following surgery in September to shave down a bone spur. "I told them when I...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Matt Wieters still can't provide any assurances that he's going to be behind the plate for the Orioles on opening day at Tropicana Field. What he can do is detail his throwing progression and continue to sound optimistic about his chances. That will have to do for now. Wieters threw from 120-plus feet on back-to-back days before resting today. That's progress. "Doing good," he said this morning. "Rehab's going. It's kind of just slowly progressing, and like I said,...

VIERA, Fla. - Gio Gonzalez arrived for spring training as somewhat of a forgotten man in the incredible Nationals starting rotation. The hype surrounds the signing of Max Scherzer while some controversy follows the impending free agency of Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister. Stephen Strasburg seemingly will always dominate headlines. So here's Gonzalez coming off a frustrating season in which he landed on the disabled list for the first time in his career. Left shoulder inflammation bothered...

Baseball America has announced its much anticipated top 100 list for 2015 top prospects. Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant is No. 1, while Twins outfielder Byron Buxton is listed as No. 2. The Nationals are well represented on the list with three players in the top 50 and six players in the top 96. It is no surprise that top prospect Lucas Giolito cracked the top 10 and is No. 7 overall. New to the list this season for the Nationals are right-handers Reynaldo Lopez (No. 49) and newly acquired Joe...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Today marks the Orioles' first official workout of spring training at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. It's supposed to be pitchers and catchers, but the place is crawling with position players, too. It's such a common occurrence now, I didn't question why shortstop J.J. Hardy was chatting with reporters at his locker yesterday morning. Or why outfielders Adam Jones and Alex Hassan were getting dressed just a few lockers apart. Or why third baseman Manny Machado was...

It was a question that took only a few words to ask, but a long, passionate and well-thought out answer was provided. I asked Orioles director of player development Brian Graham this week to provide his take on the Orioles taking a fall in several publications' organizational rankings. Last year the Orioles farm system was rated No. 10 by ESPN.com and No. 12 by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. This winter, the Orioles have dropped to No. 22 by ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus....