A little more on Rajsich and the coaching staff

Within the next few days, it should become official that Gary Rajsich has emerged from a pool of five finalists to replace Joe Jordan as the Orioles' new director of scouting. So who is Gary Rajsich? Rajsich is 57, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, and a graduate of Arizona State University. He's been working as the Blue Jays professional scouting crosschecker after joining their organization in 2009 and previously served as a scout for the Red Sox while Dan Duquette was in their front office. Nothing wrong with plucking a valued employee from a division rival. It's the same logic I used while endorsing Tony LaCava as general manager. Back on Oct. 27, I speculated that Blue Jays amateur crosschecker Marc Tramuta would become the scouting director here if the Orioles hired LaCava as general manager. LaCava was Toronto's assistant GM, and Tramuta had ties to the Orioles because he scouted the mid-Atlantic region for them under former scouting director Tony DeMacio. LaCava turned down the job, Duquette accepted it - inheriting the title of executive vice president of baseball operations - and a different Toronto crosschecker is poised to replace scouting director Joe Jordan. If you've seen one crosschecker ... Rajsich was an 11th-round pick of the Houston Astros in 1976, but the promise that he showed in the minors didn't carry over to the majors. Mets fans can attest to it. Check out where he ranks in this slide show of the franchise's biggest disappointments. It's probably a bad sign when Baseball-Reference.com lists your first position as "pinch-hitter." On Feb. 1, 1985, the Cardinals traded Rajsich, David Green, Dave LaPoint and Jose Uribe to the San Francisco Giants for Jack Clark. It's possible that manager Buck Showalter will complete his coaching staff later this week after settling on two or three bullpen coaches and being rejected when their respective teams offered huge raises to keep them from bolting. Mike Bordick and Bobby Dickerson are still in the running, and Brian Graham, Scott McGregor and Jose Hernandez also are being discussed. Replacements for them in the minors are pretty much lined up if Showalter makes any changes. The Orioles can't complete their minor league staffs until they decide who's filling the coaching vacancies at the major league level. It appears that Showalter is looking for someone with bullpen coaching experience at the major league level, or at least a background in pitching or catching. And it's still not known whether Wayne Kirby will remain at first base or move to third. Baseball America's Matt Eddy reports that the Orioles signed pitcher Yeizer Marrugo, a 17-year-old right-hander who started for Colombia in the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Orioles scout Jorge Franco is quoted by the Colombian news outlet El Universal as saying that Marrugo topped out at 91 mph with an improved delivery. Can someone confirm it here?