We've talked often about how the Nationals' projected 2013 lineup appears pretty strong from 1-8 in the order. Power, on-base percentage and speed; regardless of whether Adam LaRoche returns or not, the Nats will have a potent top eight in their order in multiple facets. One thing we haven't talked that much about is how the Nationals' No. 9 hitter often will give this lineup an added element that not many teams can match. And no, by that I don't mean that Davey Johnson will be...

Is it too soon to decide on the Orioles' opening day starter? I'm assuming that he's already on the roster. The Orioles aren't interested in re-signing Joe Saunders so he can take the ball on April 2 at Tropicana Field. The left-hander would slot lower in the rotation. Of course, Kyle Lohse would profile as a No. 1 starter on this club, but why go there? Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen are the two leading candidates to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the opener. They figure to be slotted Nos. 1...

In this space yesterday, I labeled Nolan Reimold an X factor for the Orioles' offense come April. If Reimold can stay healthy, he could be huge for the offense next season. Who is the X factor on the pitching staff? I think Miguel Gonzalez is a candidate for that. He was so good and so poised last year that it could be hard for him to duplicate that performance, but he enters spring training as someone who would really have to struggle badly through March to lose a starting rotation spot,...

It was a tremendous summer for Matt Skole. He demonstrated his raw power over and over at low Single-A Hagerstown. Skole hit .286 in 101 games for the Suns, smacking 27 homers and recording 92 RBIs. He then got moved up to high Single-A Potomac. He hit .314 for the P-Nats, with 11 extra-base hits, although no homers, and 12 RBIs. The Nationals liked what they saw so much they gave him the opportunity to continue his season in the Arizona Fall League, where he played first base exclusively....

Several hundred professional Athletic Trainers from across the country will come to Baltimore this week, January 3-5, for the annual Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) Baseball Medicine Conference. The Orioles, including Head Athletic Trainer Richie Bancells and Assistant Athletic Trainer Brian Ebel, will host the event, which is designed for Athletic Trainers and Physical Therapists who deal with baseball and softball injuries. The conference is sponsored by the Kerlan...

Once the calendar turns the page to a new year, it's now officially time to think about next baseball season. One of my favorite baseball quotes comes from Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby, who famously answered a question about his offseason activities by saying, "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Luckily, there are a few more diversions in the modern day. If I were snowed in for an extended...

The holidays are over, the calendar has turned and my headache has finally started to dissipate. Hello, 2013. Hope everyone had an enjoyable new year celebration and hasn't found the transition back to the real world to be too jarring. We might have put 2012 in the rear-view mirror, but we still find ourselves asking the same question today that we asked for the final few months of last year: Will Adam LaRoche return to the Nationals? LaRoche is still patiently waiting (very patiently, I...

Ballots for the Hall of Fame had to be postmarked by New Year's Eve, so, here's a look at one voter's ballot: I voted for Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Jack Morris, Tim Raines, Mike Piazza, Edgar Martinez, Alan Trammell and Lee Smith. * With 3,060 hits, Biggio was an easy selection. And wouldn't it be great if he and Bagwell, his Astros teammate, could go into together? In his first two seasons on the ballots, Bagwell's vote totals were likely hurt by unfair suspicions to steroids, but he...

The holidays are officially behind us. It's a new year. It's time for the Orioles to do something. The last press release issued by the club confirmed that Steve Pearce had been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk on Dec. 21. The buzz has since faded. My sarcasm, however, keeps going strong. I'll repeat that it's not a lack of effort that's preventing the Orioles from adding to their roster. They want to re-sign left-hander Joe Saunders and have engaged in talks with his agent. They have...

The assumption seems to be that the Orioles offense needs to get better and needs a key addition before the start of the 2013 season. This after the club scored just 15 runs in six postseason games and finished ninth in the American League in runs scored last year, 10th in batting average and 11th in on-base percentage. But while those numbers cover the entire 2012 season, the O's offense was better in the second half. The Orioles hit .240 with an OPS of .704 and they scored 4.13 runs per...