Dylan Bundy

* Adam Jones' six-year, $85.5 million deal -- which will be formally announced this morning -- is the largest in Orioles history. It breaks down this way: He'll get $2M signing bonus; $8.5M in 2013; $13M in 2014 and 2015; $16M in 2016 and 2017; and $17M in 2018. With escalators, it could reach $91.5 million. Regardless, it is the second-largest total-value contract for a center fielder behind the Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp's ($160M).   He is ahead of Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen ($51.5M)

FREDERICK -- Fresh off a scoreless frame in the MLB Futures Game, a showpiece for the world's top prospects, Orioles phenom Dylan Bundy continued his steady progress through the Carolina League on Saturday night against the Carolina Mudcats (CLE).  Bundy fanned eight batters in five two-hit innings, allowing an unearned run and walking one for the High A Frederick Keys. With the performance, Bundy lowered his season ERA to 3.15, though when he left the game, Bundy was in line for the loss.

- It seemed almost unfair that in this storybook season for the Orioles, 19-year-old pitching prospect Dylan Bundy did not get the storybook ending that was supposed to come with his major league debut on Sunday afternoon at historic Fenway Park. He came on in the eighth inning to get his team out of a jam and leave himself within a modest ninth-inning rally of earning a doubly significant first career victory in the thick of the American League pennant race, but it was not quite to be. The Orioles' late-inning luck ran out when Jim Thome's pinch-hit liner into the right field corner bounced over the low fence near the "Pesky Pole" for a ground-rule double and kept Mark Reynolds from streaking home with the tying run. There were two more chances with the bases loaded to turn the game around with one swing, but Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey retired Manny Machado and Ryan Flaherty to avert a three-game sweep that would have lifted the Orioles back into a first-place tie in the AL East.

The Orioles have been exceptionally cautious with top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy in his first professional year, keeping him in the South Atlantic League when he obviously was too advanced for the level and not allowing him to throw more than five innings now that he is with the Frederick Keys of the Carolina League. At times, Orioles manager Buck Showalter has joked about promoting the 19-year-old Bundy, who is on the 40-man roster, to the big leagues. But on Sunday he was asked if the Orioles were in contention and they had a spot open and needed a boost, could Bundy pitch in the majors in 2012.

Here are some other quotes from Orioles about Wednesday's call-up of 19-year-old pitching phenom Dylan Bundy : Closer Jim Johnson on whether he was surprised by the promotion: “I don't know if you can be surprised with as many call-ups and transactions as we have had. But I'm sure he'll be fine. They are not going to put him into a position that's not going to be good for him. Buck's really good about that. Obviously, with the way the game went last night, an extra arm does us a little bit of good.

Orioles top prospect Dylan Bundy has been shut down after experiencing some mild elbow tightness in his throwing arm. "He's going to rest it for a few more days until it goes away, and we expect that to be in a couple of days and then at that point he would resume his throwing," Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette said. "He's had some tightness for a couple of days. I think it came to light last week. " Duquette said Bundy complained of the tightness a few days after his final minor league spring start. Bundy had an MRI taken on the elbow and the results were negative, showing mild tightness in a muscle in the area of his elbow.

Let's stipulate right now that the Orioles are being open and honest about the Dylan Bundy situation and that there's no reason - at least not yet - to get all hot and bothered over the nagging forearm soreness that has prompted him to seek a second medical opinion from famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. Okay, now that we've established that, go ahead and panic. Bundy is a very tough kid who would run through the clubhouse wall if it would get him to the big leagues faster, so if he's saying that there's still something going on with his arm after throwing a relatively low-inpact, flat-ground session at the Orioles' extended spring training facility in Florida, it's not unreasonable to be concerned that the Orioles' top pitching prospect may be looking at some serious down time.

Top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy finally got into a major league game Sunday, making his major league debut in a relief appearance in the eighth inning of the series finale between the Orioles and Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Bundy was recalled from Instructional League early Wednesday morning as bullpen insurance after the Orioles needed 18 innings to vanquish the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. He was not needed that night and there was some speculation that he might not pitch at all during the final two weeks of the regular season.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy, who missed his last scheduled spring outing Sunday after tweaking his groin, was slated to resume throwing Tuesday by participating in the team's biomechanical testing. Bundy said he felt the tweak while running sprints on Friday and said he could have pitched Sunday, but the team wanted to push him back as a precaution. “I was kind of being stubborn and I wanted to run more, so it's just little tweak, nothing big,” Bundy said.

Before meeting with the Baltimore media for the first time Wednesday, Dylan Bundy was every bit an 18-year-old as an Orioles media relations staffer helped him button his shirt sleeves. But after the team's first-round pick in June's amateur draft was officially introduced, the right-hander made it clear that he is ready to roll up those sleeves and get to work. Bundy, who agreed to a guaranteed $6.25 million major league contract on Aug. 15, said he is excited to get back on the mound after spending most of the summer in a holding pattern as he and his agent negotiated with the Orioles.