More on the trade, Ohlman and Wieters

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Pirates for not asking the Orioles about the availability of Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy. See, that's how you get a deal done. You can't judge this deal until finding out whether pitcher Stephen Tarpley reaches the majors and makes an impact with the Pirates. Until learning the identity of the player to be named later and how he progresses. Until finding out whether Travis Snider can fill a chunk of the void left by the departure of right fielder Nick Markakis and perhaps come closer to living up to the hype that accompanied him into the majors back in 2008. For what it's worth, Snider figures to blend more easily in the Orioles clubhouse than Colby Rasmus. He's also much cheaper and under team control a little longer. Time will tell whether he's any good. At least I can brag that I watched Tarpley throw a bullpen session earlier this month at the minicamp in Sarasota. I needed a team official to identify him, but I was there. The Orioles are demonstrating what life is like as a contender, and how pitching depth in the system makes it easier to consummate deals. Tarpley, Eduardo Rodriguez and Josh Hader have been moved for veterans. It's still risky, but that's how the other half lives. I'm amazed at how far catcher Michael Ohlman, 24, has fallen in one season. In 2013, he hit .313/.410/.524 with 29 doubles, four triples, 13 home runs and 53 RBIs in 100 games at Single-A Frederick. In 2014, he hit .236/.310/.318 with two home runs and 33 RBIs in 113 games with Double-A Bowie and came off the 40-man roster. "I thought the numbers weren't quite there, but maybe I was a little unlucky, and the numbers really don't say everything," Ohlman said earlier this month at the minicamp. "I'm the hardest on myself, harder than anybody. I'm my biggest critic. I just try to stay positive and take it day to day and see what happens, control what I can. Everything else is out of my hands." Moving up to the Double-A level was "quite a big adjustment, but it was the same pitchers I saw, some of them, in high-A," Ohlman said. "I've got to feel that I'm better than they are. They can't beat me. I can't give them too much credit, but it does take a pretty big leap there. It was just another learning curve I need to go through." Now he's going through the process of being designated for assignment. Catcher Matt Wieters, interviewed Monday night on the "Hot Stove Show" on 105.7 The Fan, confirmed that the Orioles haven't engaged in further extension talks with agent Scott Boras. And he's not sweating it. "No talks, but it's the farthest thing from my mind right now," he said. "After missing last year and watching those guys play, I really just want to get back on the field and play. It's what I enjoy doing. Part of the love and passion I have is being on the field and it's something that actually makes it easier to put any kind of pending free agency on the back burner. I can honestly tell you that I just want to get out there and play and we'll see what happens." Wieters avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to an $8.275 million deal after making $7.7 million last season. He settled before the sides could exchange figures. "It was nice," he said. "It was the first year that I haven't had to go into FanFest with a number hanging over my head. It was good to be able to get it done. It was something that we knew with the year last year and not being able to play for most of it, we were going to be able to get it settled before we got to exchanging numbers and it all went smoothly." Wieters was in line for a much bigger payday before undergoing elbow surgery. He was batting .308/.339/.500 with five doubles, five home runs and 18 RBIs in 26 games. "We can't control what would have happened that season," he said. "I know the team had a great year and I got to watch it and it ate me up inside that I couldn't be out there with the guys and playing, but other than that, numbers are what they are. We never know what they would have been. Those weren't the cards that were dealt. I had to have surgery and go through the process to get back hopefully at full strength for the beginning of this year. "I still think it was the right decision. It was going to be a matter of how effective am I going to be if I can't get behind the plate and catch for these guys? From the time we shut it down, it was like, what is the fastest way to get me back behind the plate catching, and we finally came to the decision that surgery is probably the best decision and the fastest way to get me behind the plate catching, with that added comfort that we have a repaired ligament in there." Wieters is a career .248 hitter from the left side, but he batted .325 before the injury. "Going into last year, I made the adjustment to just kind of lower the hands, and more than anything it just kind of freed me up to be comfortable and let the ball travel and I think that's what I'll take into this year, just not being forced to rush by the pitcher," Wieters said. "I think in the past I was trying to get a little too jumpy and a little too excited and for whatever reason lowering the hands a little bit made me see the ball deeper and be able to get some better swings at some better pitches. And that's why adjustments are made and I felt really good with that adjustment." Wieters hasn't talked to new hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh, but he received a glowing scouting report from one of his teammates. "I actually talked with Chris Davis a little bit about him and he speaks really highly of him, so I'm excited," Wieters said. "I'm excited to get down to spring training. My swing may be ahead of my throwing, so I may get some extra hacks down there early. "I'm excited to meet him and get to see what his philosophies are. Chris speaks the world of him, so it will be nice to finally get to meet him." I asked Wieters whether he was concerned about a relatively quiet offseason after the Orioles lost Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Andrew Miller. "I look at it as whatever 25 guys are in that clubhouse on opening day and really whatever 40 guys are on the roster or even not on the roster down in Triple-A, those are the guys we're going to battle with this year," he said. "It's going to be tough not seeing Nick in right field after playing with him my whole career, and Nelson had a great year last year and Andrew was lights out for us last year, but it's part of the business. And really, once the season comes around, you can't go back and say, 'I wish this would have happened and I wish this would have happened.' Whatever group of guys we break camp with, that's the group we have and we're going to have to compete with those guys. "Baltimore is a special city, it's a special clubhouse, Buck (Showalter) is a special manager. I've been so blessed to have this fortunate situation where a lot of us came up together, a lot of us have played together for a long time. In the business of baseball, it doesn't happen that often. A lot of the guys - Adam (Jones), Nick, J.J. Hardy, (Chris) Tillman, all these guys that came up together and played together a long time, it's nice and it's a rarity to have brothers on the field that you go through battles and go through wars with. That experience you can look back on and say, 'Hey, we've done this, so whatever they're going to throw at us next, we'll be ready for it.' "We feel we have the talent, we have the mindset and most important we feel like we're prepared for every game, which you can tip your hat to Buck. That's what he's best at. He gets all the guys in the clubhouse prepared and in the right situation for them to succeed."