The Nationals have an off-day on the schedule today, but for nearly everyone in the organization with the exception of the players, today is no day off. The First-Year Player Draft is tonight, making today Nats general manager Mike Rizzo's favorite day of the year. He calls it his Super Bowl Sunday. This draft is very different for the Nationals than ones in seasons past, largely because, due to their improved record last season, they will no longer be picking within the top 10. It will also...

It seems like Jake Arrieta is doing everything that he can to make people forget that he was the Orioles' opening day starter, who pitched a seven-inning gem on April 6. Although the Birds' ace by title, the struggling right-hander is pitching himself out of the rotation, let alone the No. 1 spot. Currently, Arrieta's WAR (wins above replacement) is -0.2. For the team's supposed ace, I can tell you one thing: That's no good. Although I was somewhat a proponent of letting Arrieta work...

The Nationals ride into the 2012 First-Year Player Draft with a different feel about their first-round selection. Gone is selecting first two years in a row, or even sixth last year. This season, the team selects at No. 16, and as Nationals assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel Roy Clark told me Sunday, "We want to pick No. 30 every season." It is great to get the top selection, but that also means you were bad the prior season. That is no longer the case for the...

As I wrote last night, if the top three picks in the First-Year Player Draft tonight are Mark Appel, Byron Buxton and Mike Zunino, the Orioles appear to have zoned in on a group of four from which to make the fourth overall selection. In alphabetical order they are: Puerto Rican high school shortstop Carlos Correa, high school lefty pitcher Max Fried, LSU right-handed pitcher Kevin Gausman and University of San Francisco right-handed pitcher Kyle Zimmer. In their latest mock draft out today,...

TAMPA - A three-city road trip for the Orioles has been filled with bumps and potholes and strange detours. They were swept in Toronto and lost two of three in St. Petersburg. They flew to Boston last night unsure whether center fielder Adam Jones would be in the lineup tomorrow night because of a sore right wrist. The rotation no longer can crank out quality starts and the offense is challenged to crank out more than a few runs. The Orioles have scored 20 runs in their last eight games, an...

TAMPA - Adam Jones got hit on the left wrist Wednesday in Toronto, but his right wrist is sore. It's been that kind of stretch for the Orioles, who can't keep anyone healthy or leave their roster untouched. Jones reportedly will get an MRI on the wrist tomorrow in Tampa before joining the Orioles in Boston for a three-game series that starts Tuesday night. Manager Buck Showalter said that Jones aggravated the wrist while sliding during today's game. Jones told reporters that the wrist has...

With less than 24 hours to go now until the first round of the First-Year Player Draft, the Orioles appear to be centering on a list of four players to choose from with their No. 4 overall selection pending, of course, what the three teams that select ahead of them do with their picks. In the latest mock draft published on its Web site Friday, Baseball America projected that Houston, picking first, would take Stanford pitcher Mark Appel. Minnesota, at two, would take high school outfielder...

Two rookies - Steve Lombardozzi and Bryce Harper - went a combined 3-for-6 with two home runs and two walks today out of the top two spots in the Nationals' lineup. The four guys behind them went a combined 0-for-16 with no walks and five strikeouts. Those issues eat at Adam LaRoche, one of the veterans who helped accumulate those poor numbers, especially given the way Lombardozzi and Harper started the game by smacking back-to-back homers off Braves starter Tommy Hanson. "(It's) pretty...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles pitcher Jake Arrieta vowed to continue working hard and not allow himself to get too down after a third straight poor outing resulted in his seventh loss. Asked what went wrong after retiring the first nine batters, Arrieta paused before saying, "Honestly, I'm not really sure. I was commanding the ball well. I wasn't able to get ahead of a few guys there in the fifth inning. They weren't hitting me. I was letting them on base for free. That's pretty...

Up with the Nationals trailing by a run in the fifth inning today, Bryce Harper smoked a ball high off the wall in right-center field. He could've come to a stop on second base, giving Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche a crack at bringing in the game-tying run. Instead, Harper made a turn for third and was gunned out on a strong relay throw from shortstop Andrelton Simmons. What say you, Davey Johnson? Was going for third the right play in that situation? "No," Johnson said, "and I talked...