John Lannan

The February 15 spring training report date for the New York Mets is right around the corner, which will officially kick off their mission of becoming a winning baseball team in 2014.

The Philadelphia Phillies have potentially signed two key pitchers in recent days.  According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, the Phillies have likely reached a multi-year agreement with free-agent setup man Mike Adams.

It was 60 degrees in DC Monday, and on Tuesday Washington Nationals pitchers and catchers reported for Spring Training.

It’s official: Baseball’s back.

Coming to fans everywhere, the latest installment of Washington D.C. baseball...National Treasures: The Missing Strasburg. Starring the D-list celebrities of the fantasy baseball world: Livan “National League Harlot” Hernandez, Jordan “Not That Zimmerman” Zimmermann, and featuring Jason Marquis and John Lannan as trusty sidekicks.

Looking back at last year’s chapter of National Treasures, it seems like not many will buy into the 2011 version. 

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't watched John Lannan's starts very closely recently. Tonight, I'm going to try to watch some of the starts that I only heard on "Charlie and Dave," and afterwards, I'll share more thoughts.

But my first gut reaction to like Mike Rizzo's decision to demote Lannan to AA was not good. The first person I thought of was Steven Shell. ("I didn't like his whole aura on the mound.") Then I thought of Daniel Cabrera. ("I was tired of watching him.") And then I thought of Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge.

The Washington Nationals' nominal ace, John Lannan, will miss at least one start with soreness in his left forearm and elbow.

Lannan first recognized the pain in his April 21 start against the Colorado Rockies, a game in which he threw 107 pitches and surrendered four runs on 11 hits in six innings of work. The opening day starter has struggled so far this season, going 1-2 with a 6.34 ERA in six starts. He is expected to return on May 13 at Coors Field against those same Rockies.