Hearing from Buck Showalter before today's game

SARASOTA, Fla. - Still no word on the next round of cuts as we wait for first pitch.

"We'll have some more between now and the end of the day," manager Buck Showalter said during batting practice. "Do some at lunch, maybe some after the game. Hopefully, by the end of Sunday I think we'll have a lot of those out of the way."

Caleb Joseph looked fine while performing early drills and taking batting practice, the flu-like symptoms no longer holding him back.

"He's OK," Showalter said. "We'll give him one more day here. He could play if he had to, but we'll give him one more day here. He'll be back in the lineup tomorrow.

"Chris (Davis) is having a little bit of it, but I don't think he's got it to the extent that Caleb had it. And somebody else. Hopefully, it's not going to start going around."

Pedro Alvarez makes his Orioles debut Sunday against the Twins in Fort Myers.

"Most of our guys had three or four days of the offensive work before they played in the intrasquad games and today is Pedro's third day," Showalter said. "He's running the bases some in spikes, trying to kind of cram-course a lot of the stuff other guys have been exposed to."

I asked Showalter how it made him feel to have Alvarez talk about the "brotherhood" on his club.

"That comes from the players," he replied. "It's not 'OK, here's the new guy on the block.' It's trying to make their path easier because we've all been in somebody's shoes in some form, whether it's what (Hyun Soo) Kim's going through. They've all played in a league or something where they don't know anybody.

"I always tell them, harken back to how you felt there. If this guy has our uniform on, why wouldn't we make it productive? Quite frankly, sometimes it's a guy that's come in that's competing with one of the guys who's been very welcome to him. That's when you know it's about the team and the city. Also, this is (Alvarez's) first time.

"The problem is a lot of guys don't really have anything. The guys who are really good at it for us are the guys who have really been somewhere else. A lot of the guys have never been in another place and they don't know the difference. You think about Jon (Schoop), he's known one environment. Manny (Machado) has known one environment. Matt (Wieters) has known one environment. Jonesy (Adam Jones) basically has known one environment.

"J.J. (Hardy) is one of our most realistic, deals in reality. Chris (Davis) and Darren (O'Day) coming from other places, you learn as much about what not to do as you do. 'That wasn't very good, why don't we do this?' You still see some of the hazing and different stuff, but I don't get it. I never got it."

The audience for Alvarez's press conference included some of the bigger names on the team.

"Nobody asks those guys - well, I did one time, the very first time we did - and they kind of picked up on the vibe and said 'Hey, that's a good thing,' " Showalter said. "Most of them have been in that room. You don't feel like you're out there on an island."

The Orioles decided to send Chris Tillman to Dunedin on Tuesday for his Grapefruit League debut against the Blue Jays. He won't be shielded from a division opponent.

"I think it's important that Chris faces as good of competition as he can," Showalter said.

"I've just about come full circle on that, this guy you don't want them to see that guy, you don't want them to see this guy. Like Chris, what's he got to lose pitching against Toronto? He can only pitch in so many B games and intrasquad and simulated games, Single-A. Our Triple-A team that day is going on the road to Port Charlotte and there's two A clubs over there. That's not what he needs to be exposed to."

Though Yovani Gallardo is pitching a day earlier than Tillman, we can't assume they'll stay in the same order on opening day. Tillman is lined up to take the mound on April 4, when the Orioles begin their season against the Twins at Camden Yards.

Ubaldo Jimenez may be held out of that series, since he's pitching against the Twins again today.

Jimmy Paredes was on the field today watching the Orioles work out before batting practice.

"Jimmy's doing good," Showalter said. "Richie brought it up in the meeting today that he's making pretty quick progress. Jimmy's an open book. Just look at his face and that'll tell you how he's feeling."

Jeff Beliveau has thrown live batting practice four times this spring, but he may not pitch in an exhibition game. It's still under discussion.

"Not sure yet," Showalter said. "I'd love to think we got one in before he broke here and kind of got to that point, but I'm going to go off what Richie and them say. He's doing well though. We just don't want any setbacks."

The Orioles want a Grapefruit League win, though it's not their measuring stick for determining the success of spring training.

"We have won," Showalter said. "We've won both intrasquad game, won a B game, tied two games. If that's what you're looking at as a barometer to judge it, I'd like to win every game. Our players would too, but we're trying to keep the end game in mind.

"It'd be pretty hypocritical to say one thing and do another, so I trust them. They know what they're doing, and I'd like to think we know we can put them in a position to get ready. That doesn't mean ... you always stay engaged in the preparation and you stay engaged in the competition."

The Twins changed their batting order. Same players and positions, but catcher Kurt Suzuki moves up to sixth, right fielder Ryan Sweeney drops to seventh, shortstop Wilfredo Tovar moves up to eighth and third baseman Buck Britton drops to ninth.