VIERA, Fla. - Max Scherzer arrived for his first official day of work with the Nationals at Space Coast Stadium on Friday. After a mandatory physical and some clubhouse introductions, the $210 million man met the media for the first time since he was introduced at Nationals Park on Jan. 21. "Just to be able to be a part of this organization, it's been great so far," said Scherzer. "They've treated me so well so far. It also helps having a few faces around here that I know as well. I played...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Orioles are back on their normal schedule today with physicals no longer eating up valuable hours in the morning. They won't be taking the field at noon for the pre-workout stretch. We'll find out whether outfielder Alejandro De Aza won his arbitration hearing and will be paid $5.65 million this season or if he must settle for $5 million. He made $4.25 million last season. It's not the sexiest competition in camp, but the Orioles must settle on a backup to catcher Matt...

Last spring training, baseball was dealing with the new instant replay rules and the catcher/runner collisions at home plate. This spring training, baseball is emphasizing speed-up rules. The average time of game was 3 hours, 4 minutes last year. Major League Baseball would like to see that fall to 2:45. In the 1980s, the average time of game was 2:33. A 20-second pitch clock that was set up in the Arizona Fall League, and will be used in Double-A and Triple-A leagues this season, is not part...

As the opening of a new baseball season gets closer by the day, the end of prospects ranking season is just about here. At a time when many publications produce their top 100 prospects list, the Baseball America list is still the granddaddy of them all - and still very respected. Published for the first time in 1990 when Steve Avery was the No. 1 prospect in the sport, Baseball America's 25th anniversary list was released Thursday night, with the top 50 presented during a live telecast on MLB...

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,...