A sit-down with Mark Reynolds

Manager Buck Showalter believes that the Orioles traded for Mark Reynolds "at the perfect time." He considers Reynolds a "change of scenery guy," as he described the new third baseman earlier today. Showalter doesn't care about the .198 average and the three straight seasons with 200-plus strikeouts. That's in the past.

Reynolds made his first friend on the team when he shared a ride with pitcher Jake Arrieta to the Arundel Mills Mall, where the Orioles hosted 80 second-through-fourth graders from Samuel F.B. Morse School as part of their 32nd annual OriolesREACH Holiday party. He met a few other teammates later in the day, including Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis , and should get acclimated quickly when position players report to spring training. "I think it'll be a smooth transition," he said. "I'm not a hard guy to get along with." I can vouch for that, having sat down with Reynolds today in the MASN web studio after talking to him earlier at Dave & Buster's. I joked that we could meet up for a sandwich tomorrow for another round of interviews, and he promised to call. Earlier in the day, Reynolds talked about his hitting sessions with former Oriole Brady Anderson. "We're just working on some different things, some different timing things," he said. "It's just little things. I'm not going to change my approach and I'm not going to change my aggressiveness. At the same time, maybe with two strikes, shorten up a little bit." We extended our time together by meeting up at the warehouse.