With spring training just around the corner, the makeup of the some of the minor league rosters are starting to take shape as names are quietly appearing on the Web sites of Nationals affiliates. For the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, pitchers Yunesky Maya, Jeff Mandel, Pat Lehman, Brad Meyers, Hassan Pena and Tanner Roark are familiar. Also on the list is right-hander Matt Torra. Torra, out of the University of Massachusetts, is 6-foot-3 and 225-lb. righty starter who made 26 appearances (23...

A club official has confirmed the Orioles have agreed to terms with 38-year-old lefty Mark Hendrickson on a minor league contract. Hendrickson last pitched in the majors during the 2011 season, going 1-0 with a 5.78 ERA for the Orioles in eight games. He went 8-11 with a 4.80 ERA for the Orioles from 2009-11 in 113 games. The Orioles are intrigued to see what the 6-foot-9 Hendrickson can do using a new sidearm delivery. He threw for the club a couple of times during the team's mini-camp at...

Given his druthers, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo would prefer to build his club the old-fashioned way: through effective scouting and a well-honed farm system. But trades for the past two offseasons that yielded the Nats left-hander Gio Gonzalez from the A's and center fielder Denard Span from the Twins have left the Nats' farm system a tad barren past a handful of top prospects. In his annual ranking of minor league systems (subscription required), ESPN's Keith Law says the...

I sarcastically made enough comments about the Ravens and Nationals making the postseason every year that I covered them that I might as well take responsibility for what happened last night, as well. The year that I stop covering the Ravens, they win a Super Bowl. Call it the Reverse Kolko Factor. Now that the NFL season is over, there's nothing but time standing between us and the start of baseball season. I fly down to Viera, Fla., in just six days, and the first official workout for...

I'd like to thank the city of New Orleans for a great idea. If I run out of material for a blog entry, I'll just turn out the lights. I just wish I hadn't overturned my own car last night. That was a dumb idea. Is it too soon to turn our complete attention to baseball? In exactly one week, I'll be flying to Sarasota for the start of spring training and hours upon hours of pitchers fielding practice, bunting drills and bullpen sessions. I'm basically taking off this week so I can get my...

During this winter, the message from the Orioles brass has been that they are reluctant to trade their young pitchers and that they place a high value on them. If they don't get a similar value in return, they have said they will be happy to hang onto them and not trade. We have heard basically that exact message for weeks from both Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter. There are a lot of ways to rank and value players. There are more stats in the game than ever, and more stories written and...

With most of the country focused on football today, I wanted to pass along a couple of Orioles notes and remind everyone that pitchers and catchers report in nine days. Nine ... days. I may need to start packing. Reliever Luis Ayala will be in Sarasota, but the Orioles aren't sure whether he's going to leave for the World Baseball Classic. Ayala is listed on Mexico's roster, and pitching coach Rick Adair is proceeding as though the veteran right-hander will eventually be marked absent....

The Nationals traded for center fielder Denard Span to be their leadoff man for 2013. This will give right fielder Jayson Werth a chance to move down in the lineup. Although the sample sizes are different because Span was the leadoff man three times more than Werth, it is interesting to see how close the numbers are for two very different styles. Obviously, the power numbers favor Werth a bit, but Span did a great job of making contact and keeping his on-base percentage at a good level. ...

The Orioles won't be introducing the newest addition to their pitching staff today. Jair Jurrjens is completing his physical, and the club hopes to make his signing official early next week. It's possible that an announcement will come Monday. Don't expect anything from the Orioles on Super Bowl Sunday besides tweets from Adam Jones, who arrived in New Orleans earlier today. Jurrjens agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million deal last week that includes a possible $2.5 million in incentives....

In 2012, the Nationals watched from their own division as the Atlanta Braves put together a final inning formula for shutting down opponents. With Eric O'Flaherty, Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel, the Braves had the seventh, eighth and ninth innings effectively extinguished for opposing hitters. And with the Braves' starting staff needing only to get through the sixth frame, the game was shortened to those 18 outs to start the game. Venters, with his sinkerball, pitched 45 of his 53 1/3...