Straily on joining Orioles and readiness for rotation

New Orioles pitcher Dan Straily met with manager Brandon Hyde this afternoon and fielded questions form the media for about four minutes in front of his locker, his eagerness to pitch evident after signing a one-year deal yesterday.

"The Orioles called me right away," he said. "They said, 'Here's our offer for you. If this is something you're interested in let us know,' so it materialized pretty quickly once we kind of had that going.

"For me, I was more interested in starting games than going to the bullpen somewhere, and this is one of the few places that gave me the opportunity to do that right away."

How long will it take Straily to be ready? He hasn't pitched since the Marlins released him on March 25, though he's stayed active.

"I threw 100 pitches last Friday and I threw 50 pitches on Wednesday," he said, "so I'm going to get off the hill a little bit today after the travel and everything else and probably be available pretty quickly."

It's been 15 days since Straily pitched in a game. He faced the Nationals in his last spring appearance.

The Marlins reached agreement with Straily on a $5 million contract to avoid arbitration and shocked him with the decision to designate him for assignment and release him.

"One hundred percent, 100 percent," he said. "I thought I was being called in to be told what game I was starting to start the season. Yeah, glad that chapter's over."

The Orioles signed Straily for $575,000 and his deal reportedly includes a $250,000 trade bonus.

His stay in Baltimore could be brief if he becomes a trade chip near the deadline.

"My job's to pitch," he said. "My job is to come in and pitch. That's my agent and the front office working together. But while I'm here I'm 100 percent committed to here. Wherever here is.

"I've been in a lot of different places in my career, but I can tell you that each place I've been to I've been 100 percent committed to that specific spot while I was there."

There's a level of familiarity with the Orioles organization based on his stints with the Cubs and Astros, the most important ties to Hyde and executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias. He briefly was teammates with second baseman Jonathan Villar in Houston.

"I knew a lot of the coaching staff," he said. "I been with I think eight of them in my career at different locations. From (John) Wasdin when I was back with Oakland to (Doug) Brocail in Houston, and it just continues. With Arnie (Beyeler) last year down in Miami, so I've been around these guys a lot. It helps the transition a lot better from my end of things.

"Coming into the clubhouse there's only one guy I know, so at least I know some of the staff and that definitely helps ease into the meeting everybody."

Straily is the latest veteran to offer his leadership on a rebuilding club. It's become a theme going back to the early days of spring training.

"I feel like that's what I've been doing the last couple of years of my career," he said. "When I was in Cincinnati, even though I didn't have much service time, I had a lot more at that point than some of the guys who were around me. I definitely had more experience just based on years in professional baseball at that point. And then the last couple years down in South Florida, it was me and (Wei-Yin) Chen.

"The one thing I've learned is the older you get in baseball, your job is to just kind of lead by example. This is how we work, this is how we prepare, this is how I stay focused between each start for the whole 33-start season. Just kind of be an example and just be ready to ask questions if anybody has anything.

"A lot of times I've noticed over the years that the questions about being successful and being ready in the big leagues don't really have much to do with baseball. That's the one thing that each guy in this room is really gifted at. The questions have to do with how to be comfortable in the clubhouse and something simple like where to live in town and things like that. Those are the kinds of things that really make an impact on helping people become comfortable."

Meanwhile, the Orioles lowered their 40-man roster to 39 players today by outrighting pitcher Matt Wotherspoon to Triple-A Norfolk after he cleared waivers.

It was a quiet transaction. Wotherspoon's placement on waivers was done without media notice.

The Orioles optioned Wotherspoon after his one appearance in Toronto to make room for Alex Cobb on the 25-man roster.