Left-hander Sammy Solis, who underwent Tommy John ligament replacement surgery in March 2012, is well into his throwing program as he recovers from the injury. Solis was in Florida last month while the instructional league competition took place, according to a Nats source, who said Solis "threw the ball really well and is in good shape." The rehab process is well under way for the left-hander, and Solis is on schedule "as we hoped," the source added. "(Solis) is a ways away from...

Brevard County is pumping some serious money into Space Coast Stadium in what might be a last-ditch effort to keep the Nationals from moving their spring training home from the facility in Viera, Fla. According to News 13 in Orlando, the Brevard County Commissioners have designated $325,000 for repairs and improvements to Space Coast Stadium, the Nats' spring training home since 2003, when they were the Montreal Expos. The facility also is home to the Single-A Brevard County Manatees, an...

There isn't a team in baseball with more arbitration-eligible players than the Orioles, who lead the field with 15. Too bad they can't be exchanged for runs. The list in alphabetical order reads as follows: Robert Andino Chris Davis Lew Ford Jason Hammel Tommy Hunter Jim Johnson Brian Matusz Darren O'Day Troy Patton Steve Pearce Omar Quintanilla Nolan Reimold Mark Reynolds Taylor Teagarden Matt Wieters Executive vice president Dan Duquette was asked on Saturday about the large...

After putting away the Nationals in the National League Division Series, the Cardinals are showing no signs of slowing down. Last night saw St. Louis crush the Giants 8-3 to move within a win of the World Series. Adam Wainwright bounced back from his rough start in Game 5 of the NLDS, in which he allowed those six early runs, to surrender just a single run over seven innings and earn the win over the Giants in last night's NLCS Game 4. The Cardinals' rotation is suddenly red-hot (even...

After a successful first season as the Orioles director of pitching development, will there be a second for Rick Peterson? After spending just about every season since 1998 as a major league pitching coach for the Oakland A's, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers, Peterson was in a different role this season after being hired in January by the Orioles. It sure seemed like his first season produced solid results as he oversaw the development of top prospect Dylan Bundy. Several pitchers came...

The bad news for the Yankees is they were swept by the Tigers in the American League Championship Series. The good news is Alex Rodriguez now has a date for Saturday night. Have the Orioles ever been swept in the postseason? Don't think so. Watching the Yankees stumble out of the ALCS like a drunk after last call should bring pleasure to fans here, but I can't get past how the Orioles almost certainly would have put up more of a fight. They didn't hit in the Division Series and still...

The Orioles are settled at most positions for the 2013 season, with Adam Jones set in center field, Nick Markakis in right, Manny Machado at third, J.J. Hardy at shortstop and Matt Wieters behind the plate. They would like to retain first baseman Mark Reynolds, but they must decide at what cost. Left field is a moving target, to borrow one of manager Buck Showalter's favorite expressions. Do the Orioles attempt to re-sign Nate McLouth? Do they roll the dice again with Nolan Reimold, who was...

The most memorable minor league game I attended in 2012 was Dylan Bundy's Single-A debut for the Frederick Keys at Harry Grove Stadium. In the many times I've trekked to Frederick, I've never seen the park that packed, experienced the buzz surrounding one player or parked as far away as I did the evening of May 26. No one in the standing room-only crowd dreamed that Bundy would wind up pitching for the Orioles in a pennant race; they just wanted to see if the 2011 first-round draft pick...

Coming into spring training, was there any player on the Nationals roster who had more riding on this season from an individual perspective than Ian Desmond? Sure, guys like Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche felt the need to put up bounceback campaigns after really tough 2011 seasons. But they were proven big leaguers who simply were coming off a down year. Yeah, Ross Detwiler's emergence this year allowed him to establish himself as a true major league starter and cement a spot in the Nats'...

No doubt a real key to the Orioles playing excellent baseball after the All-Star break and particularly down the stretch was the very solid starting pitching we saw, pitching that got better deeper into the season. The Orioles' starting pitchers posted an ERA of 4.42 for the entire season to rank ninth in the American League. But that works out to an ERA of 4.77 in the first half, when the O's went 45-40, and a starters' ERA of 4.01 after the All-Star break, when the Orioles went...