Give Yankees general manager Brian Cashman credit. He took time this week to go on the Scott Garceau show on MASN and 105.7 FM, the Fan, appearing on the Orioles flagship radio and TV outlets. Cashman, I'm sure knowing what audience he was speaking to, was very enthusiastic in his comments about the Orioles. Yet his comments sounded quite sincere and he didn't just seem to be saying the politically correct thing about a division opponent. You be the judge. Here is an excerpt of...

There are many clichés in sports and certainly in baseball, too. "You win with pitching and defense." "It's a marathon, not a sprint." "You can never have enough pitching." "A walk's as good as a hit." OK that last one is from little league and not heard too often in the American League. Here's one that is just not true. "As a young player, he will only get better." Oh really. If that were a truism, every young talent on every team would put up better...

Almost no matter how you look at it, Robbie Widlansky had a remarkable season in 2009. One that began with disappointment in April and ended with a Carolina League batting title. For an encore, he'll try to put up numbers this year at Bowie as he's likely to start the season in the Double-A Eastern League. The lefty hitter, an O's 11th-round draft pick in 2007 out of Florida Atlantic, struggled in spring training last year. When time came for full-season clubs to head north in April, he...

Baseball America released its 21st annual top 100 Prospects list on Tuesday, the publication's ranking of the best talent in baseball among minor leaguers or players with less than 130 Major League at bats, 50 innings or 30 big league appearances. Four Orioles made the list with Brian Matusz at number 5, Josh Bell at 37, Zach Britton at 63 and Jake Arrieta at 99. Co-Editor Will Lingo was one of four that selected the list. I talked with Lingo about the list, the O's on it and the Orioles...

If you want to pick a pitcher who could have a breakout year in the O's minor leagues this season, you could do a lot worse than selecting Rick Zagone. The 23-year-old lefty went 5-8, 4.89 last year in 25 starts covering 131 innings between Delmarva and Frederick. He started well, going 4-3, 1.92 through May with Delmarva. And he finished very strong, pitching to an ERA of 2.41 over his last three Frederick starts. In those three outings he pitched 18 2/3 overpowering innings with 26...

To me, some fans have misunderstood Andy MacPhail's comments from last October when he said Dave Trembley would be judged on wins and losses starting this year. How many more wins does MacPhail expect from the O's this year? Good luck getting an answer to that question. He is not ready to put a number on it and why would he? You don't want to aim too high or shoot too low. He said he wants "meaningful improvement." First, let's go back to last October and here are some of...

While fans ponder if the Orioles can make a run for .500 or better this year, there are plenty of reasons to follow the O's in the minors this season as well. Some delight in pointing out negatives surrounding the club and, after 12 straight losing seasons, there are plenty of issues to overcome and problems in the O's past. But the Orioles are on the move in the minors and now considered by most to have one of the ten best farm systems in the game. A lot of that talent found its way to...

It's funny what a difference a year can make. Last March, approaching opening day, there were many O's fans angered that Felix Pie was going to be the starting left fielder while home-grown product Nolan Reimold was headed to Triple-A. Now some fans are wondering how Pie will get at bats and wondering why Reimold has been anointed the starter in left. Maybe it's the same philosophy that sometimes makes the backup quarterback the most popular guy on the team. You know, the fans want him...

Taking a page from Sunday's blog, here are six questions to follow when the spring training games begin tomorrow. It's an exciting time with a real game (granted an exhibition) at hand. We start getting answers to these questions on Wednesday afternoon. How will Miggi do at third base? I expect he will at least be an average third baseman on defense by Opening Day. He may not be as good as Melvin Mora was on defense last year at any point. He has said his biggest hurdle could be handling...

Jeremy Guthrie's mulligan for the 2009 season starts today in the Orioles' exhibition opener. When Guthrie takes the mound in Sarasota, all O's fans hope it's the start of a season for him much like the years he had in 2007 and 2008. Based on his first two seasons in the Orange and Black, Guthrie's performance was way off in 2009. Guthrie by year: 2007: 7-5, 3.70 in 175 1/3 innings 2008: 10-12, 3.63 in 190 2/3 innings 2009: 10-17, 5.04 in 200 innings Guthrie's starts allowing two...