Orioles hire three for scouting department

The Orioles announced today the hiring of special assignment scout Dave Machemer and amateur scouts Jeff Stevens and Dan Durst. Not quite the same as a starting pitcher or the official list of spring training invites, but I'll take it. Seriously, though, the list of invites should be coming fairly soon, considering that I leave for Sarasota in exactly one week. Machemer managed in the Orioles organization from 1998-2001 and possesses 39 years of experience in professional baseball as a manager, instructor and player. He's posted more than 1,600 wins as a manager, including his stops at Single-A Delmarva (1998), Triple-A Rochester (1999), Single-A Frederick (2000) and Double-A Bowie (2001). Stevens appeared in 33 games as a reliever for the Chicago Cubs from 2009-11 after the Cincinnati Reds chose him in the sixth round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft out of Loyola Marymount University. He will cover Northern California and Nevada. Durst, who has nearly 20 years of scouting experience with the Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, will cover Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. OK, who will be the first to suggest that the Orioles start printing those World Series tickets? It never gets old.