photo courtesy AP

John Maine (above, with Ray Miller, RHP), Walter Young (1B), Eli Whiteside (C) were sent to Ottawa, and Adam Loewen (RHP) was sent to Frederick. Hayden Penn (RHP), Brian Forystek (LHP) and Marino Salas (RHP) were sent to minor league camp in Sarasota.

No surprises in the bunch and nothing drastic. Pretty hum-drum first round of cuts, but there's talent in that group, and I expect (or at least hope) we'll see John Maine back in Baltimore before the '05 season is out. It depends on how he does with the Lynx, though, where he was not what we were looking for in him last season.

If Young can mash at Ottawa and Palmeiro shows signs of his age again, it wouldn't surprise me to see him come up and get some DH looks at some point either.

We play the Cards at 1:05 today in Fort Lauderdale. Rodrigo Lopez is starting.