Joel Guzman led Orioles minor leagues in homers and RBIs last year at Double-A Bowie and he recently turned that solid 2010 season into a nice, new contract.
But he has to leave the country to get it.
Guzman signed a one-year deal with the Chunichi Dragons in Japan. He did not get an offer to join any major league team's 40-man roster.
The Orioles let Guzman know they'd like him back, but they also seemed to expect that the minor league free agent would sign elsewhere.
"It was our best...
I had a conversation recently with Lee MacPhail, the Orioles' director of pro scouting, who was heavily involved with the club's preparations for the Rule 5 draft, among other projects.
Click here to see his take on Adrian Rosario, the 21-year-old righty the club took with the fourth pick in the Rule 5 draft at the Winter Meetings.
Here is what MacPhail said about the club's prep and plans going into that Rule 5 draft:
"We discussed some strategies going into the draft and we put...
When the Orioles took 21-year-old pitcher Adrian Rosario in last week's Rule 5 draft, they selected a pitcher with a good arm, but very little experience.
The youngster from the Dominican has thrown only 183 career innings, most in rookie ball. When he pitched 32 innings for Wisconsin of the Single-A Midwest League last summer, those were his first career innings above rookie-ball level.
The odds are against any Rule 5 player sticking with his new big league club all season. Rosario, with...
When the topic is Matt Hobgood the Orioles' first-round pick in 2009, the discussion among fans often turns to whether or not he was taken as signability pick by the club.
Fans also talk about his conditioning, or lack thereof. I recently interviewed O's minor league pitcher coordinator Dave Schmidt, who detailed improvements Hobgood is looking to make.
All of that is well and good, but here is perhaps the biggest issue with Hobgood moving forward: Will he get his fastball back?
At Norco...
After managing the last three seasons at Double-A Bowie, Brad Komminsk will work in a new role for the Orioles during the 2011 season: hitting coach for Triple-A Norfolk.
What will be some keys for him in this role?
"I think egos and stuff and getting guys to trust you," Komminsk said. "Hitters can be fragile and they have everybody in their ear. Every player is a hitting coach and every parent is a coach, every fan they have to deal with so much.They hear a lot of stuff from a lot of...
He may not have hit for a high average in the Arizona Fall League, but O's outfield prospect Xavier Avery felt like he made progress with his game in his time with the Scottsdale Scorpions of the AFL.
The lefty hitter, who turns 21 on New Year's Day, batted .188-0-5 in 21 games with six steals.
"I went in there to focus on just getting better," said Avery, the Orioles' second-round pick in 2008. "I felt like I accomplished that, but my numbers at the plate don't show it. I had a talk...
How do the Orioles compete in the AL East? It is a fair question. If the Orioles added Mark Reynolds and J.J Hardy, while Boston added Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, haven't the Orioles lost ground to Boston?
The answer is almost certainly yes.
I can't imagine anyone figured the O's to make a move or moves to top the two Boston made. That is life in the AL East.
It seems the Orioles might sometimes have a better chance versus Boston and New York on the field than they do in the...
Four Orioles farmhands were playing winter ball in the Australian Baseball League.
Now, there are three.
Righty Brett Jacobsen was there, but, as of Thursday he was traded to Minnesota in the deal that sent J. J. Hardy to Baltimore. The 24-year-old Jacobsen came to the O's in a trade on August 17, 2009 from Detroit for Aubrey Huff. This winter with the Perth Heat, Jacobsen went 0-0, 1.93 with three saves in four chances over 9 1/3 innings.
Lefty Cole McCurry is 0-1, 4.12 in five starts...
O's director of player development John Stockstill said tonight the Orioles have not signed infielder Nick Green, contradicting a published report that said they had signed Green to a minor league contract with a spring invite.
"We have not signed Green. At no point did we ever agree to terms," Stockstill said. "It was contigent on the player evaluating our major league shortstop situation."
You can read that to mean that Green had interest in the O's, but in recent days they have...
Since I had only been to the Winter Meetings once before, I was looking forward to this past week. Being among the top brass and media in baseball sounds like a good time.
It is, although keep in mind you just don't rub elbows with anyone you want anytime you want. Sure, you see big-name agents and GMs walking through the lobby, but they are usually on their way to something else.
Brian Cashman, Theo Epstein and Andy MacPhail were not there just looking for someone to shoot the breeze...
Way to go, sweater vest!
Is it possible that Andy MacPhail, who was getting crushed by fans on this blog just a week or so ago, is now becoming popular among many O's fans?
I haven't seen a comeback this dramatic since that O's-Red Sox game in May 2009.
One thing the last few days have shown us. Just because the O's were not mentioned in every rumor over the last few weeks didn't mean they were not busy behind the scenes. And just because they missed out on a few guys (Victor Martinez...
It has been an eventful few days for the Orioles at the winter meetings. But all good things sometimes end and so these meetings in Orlando finished up today.
The O's filled needs on the left side of their infield with Mark Reynolds and J.J. Hardy and also with the re-signing of Koji Uehara for the bullpen. They would still like to add some offense and still have an opening at first base. It looks like they have improved their team here in Orlando, but, per usual, the Red Sox got a lot...
Right-hander Pat Egan began today as a minor league pitcher in the O's organization. But after being taken in the Rule 5 draft, he is now on the Milwaukee Brewers' major league roster.
"I'm still trying to piece it all together," Egan said by phone moments ago. "It's kind of surreal right now. I've been getting a lot of calls and texts and I'm just trying to get a grip on it right now. I knew it was a possibility, but there is a whole different feeling when you are taken. It is...
A couple of readers have asked about and offered opinions about J.J. Hardy and his defense at shortstop.
Here is what Andy MacPhail said about Hardy's defense:
"We like his defense. If you look at those UZR ratings, he is very top of the chart. We think he'll provide us more offense and he is a good defender."
Is he as good as Cesar Izturis?
"You know it depends. Izzy was so solid for us and JJ is as well."
You characterized first base yesterday as still being deep in options, but...
The Orioles certainly took a young arm, that at least on the stat sheet, looks far away from the Major Leagues.
Right-hander Adrian Rosario is just 21, from Santiago, Dominican Republic. The O's took him in today's Rule 5 draft with the 4th pick and he would have to stay on their 25-man Major League roster all season.
Rosario began last season with Helena of the short-season Pioneer League in June, after I would guess he had pitched in extended spring training for the Brewers. At Helena,...
Here are some comments from Andy MacPhail on Adrian Rosario, the right-handed pitcher the O's took from the Milwaukee organization in this morning's Rule 5 draft:
"Big bodied, lack of experience, good arm kid that captured the imagination of our guys. He has a chance to grow into something, whether he is ready or not, we'll find out. Didn't feel like we could miss the opportunity to take a chance on him.
"Interestingly enough, Milwaukee took one of our guys and we took one of theirs....
Can't a guy even get five hours of sleep around here.
Around 6 p.m. yesterday, Andy MacPhail said he thought there would not be any moves last night. Guess he meant other than the contract for Koji Uehara and the trade for J.J. Hardy. Other than that, the last few hours have been quiet.
We've had seemingly nonstop rumors about the O's for two days and the news comes practically overnight. Hope they don't get the idea to start scheduling their games now at midnight.
Anyway, if the price...
Koji Uehara will return to the Orioles' bullpen for the 2011 season.
A Baltimore Sun report tonight said the O's have agreed to a new one-year contract with Uehara that includes a vesting option for the 2012 year. That is an option that kicks in if Uehara meets certain performance clauses during the coming year.
Uehara went 1-2, 2.86 with 13 saves last season. He led AL relievers (minimum 40 innings pitched) in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 11-to-1 and did not walk a batter over his final 34...
The Rule 5 draft, one of the last official activities at baseball's annual winter meetings, takes place here at the meetings on Thursday morning.
The teams select in the order they will in next June's draft, meaning the O's will have the 4th selection. They do not have to pick and, as most know, any player taken in the major league phase of the draft must stay on the selecting team's 25-man big league roster all year or be placed through waivers and then offered back to his original team....
In the last 24 hours or so, two first basemen have come off the free agent board as Paul Konerko re-signed with the Chicago White Sox and Carlos Pena joined the Cubs on a one-year deal.
The Orioles got neither and despite reports where Pena himself said the Orioles made him an offer, O's president Andy MacPhail said the club never offered a contract to either player.
Is MacPhail surprised that Pena said the O's made him an offer?
"I think it happened with (Matt) Holliday last year, if...
