The Orioles will bring another outfielder to camp next month, having signed Chris Dickerson to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. Dickerson, who turns 31 in April, batted .316/.417/.515 with 24 doubles, seven homers and 25 RBIs in 69 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Yankees' top minor league affiliate affiliate. Dickerson, who bats from the left side, is a career .266/.352/.407 hitter in 599 plate appearances with the Reds, Brewers and Yankees. He appeared...

A bombshell has been dropped on the Major League Baseball community this morning, as a report in the Miami New Times details a number of major league players who are linked to a Miami-area anti-aging clinic called Biogenesis, which allegedly supplied massive amounts of performance-enhancing drugs. Among those players is Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez, a Hialeah, Fla. native, who won 21 games last season and finished third in the National League Cy Young voting. Also named in the New Times...

June and July are the heart of baseball season, as the weather is really optimal. A lot of memories of baseball games gone by are from those summer games and the Nationals have another great summertime schedule. The Mets arrive for three games from June 4-6, all at 7:05 p.m. The first weekend series of June will be the arrival of Denard Span's former team, the Twins, June 7-9. The game on Saturday, June 8, is a 4:05 p.m. start. After a road trip to Denver, Cleveland and Philadelphia, the...

On its "Hot Stove" morning show, MLB Network has been pondering which players or members of each major league team can be considered the club's face of the franchise. Yes, they asked the question about the Orioles and I don't even remember how the results broke down, but I'm more interested in what the readers here think. Who do you consider the face of the Orioles franchise? Here are four strong candidates, listed in alphabetical order. Jim Johnson: Don't sell this guy short. He is...

I wondered aloud yesterday whether Orioles manager Buck Showalter would be willing to carry three left-handers in his bullpen. He began the 2012 season with one, Troy Patton, who beat out Zach Phillips. Showalter spent much of the summer wishing he had a second southpaw, which is why J.C. Romero eventually found his way to Baltimore. Brian Matusz solved that issue by converting to a lefty specialist. He's going to compete for a rotation spot in spring training, but the bullpen beckons if...

Entering spring training, every Nationals player - every player in the major leagues, for that matter - has the same goal for 2013. That goal is to be holding the World Series trophy at the end of the year. Pretty simple stuff, really. Nothing too groundbreaking. Beyond that, however, there are individual goals that many players set for themselves, goals that, if accomplished, will help their team get closer to the overarching goal of winning a World Series title. Ian Desmond goes into the...

He missed 58 games last season, but in the 104 in which he did play, Nick Markakis had a pretty good season with the bat. He hit .298 with 28 doubles, 13 homers and 54 RBIs in 420 at-bats, the fewest of his career. Markakis was on a pace for 83 RBIs, which would have been his most since driving in 101 in 2009. He posted an OPS last season of .834, his highest since a figure of .897 in 2008. But should Markakis remain in the leadoff spot in the batting order? He certainly thrived in that role...

Two more weeks and I'll be flying down to Sarasota for the start of spring training. Well, I'll actually be flying into Tampa, because Southwest still hasn't located Sarasota on a map. Keep searching, fellas. The most interesting decisions facing manager Buck Showalter, in my opinion, will center on the fifth starter and the last bullpen spot. We also need to know who's going to be the primary designated hitter if Chris Davis is penciled in as the regular first baseman. Will Showalter...

A day after NatsFest, an event which was so popular that some fans unfortunately were held back from entering for an extended period because the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was filled to capacity, there are still plenty of tidbits to pass along from conversations with a number of Nationals players. First, a few more injury notes. Jayson Werth says that his left wrist, which he broke early last May, is not completely healed, but feels good enough that he can play and still be...

I'm expecting a quiet Sunday, as executive vice president Dan Duquette and new director of minor league operations Kent Qualls fly to the Dominican Republic to check out some of their Latin players at the club's year-round developmental program. Qualls has strong ties to Duquette. He spent 16 years with the Expos and Red Sox, primarily working in scouting, player development and Latin American operations, and he was named director of the NIKE Dan Duquette Sport Academy when it opened in...