Jim Beattie

When the Orioles went against the grain last week, essentially hiring not one, but two general managers, they received a nod of approval from a man who was last seen hoisting the World Series trophy. Anaheim Angels general manager Bill Stoneman said he was not surprised to learn the Orioles had picked Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan for the top two spots in their baseball operations department. "I'm not as familiar with Flanagan," Stoneman said, "but my gut says it's probably going to go pretty well."

The Toronto Blue Jays named former Orioles executive Jim Beattie a professional scout. Beattie, 55, who pitched for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, was general manager of the Montreal Expos from 1989 to 1995 and executive vice president of the Orioles from 2002 to 2005. Nationals: General manager Mike Rizzo said right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg , the No. 1 pick in June's draft, would make his first exhibition start on March 9 against the Tigers at Space Coast Stadium and will pitch every fifth day, regardless of where the game was to be played.

PHOENIX - It only rains about 30 days a year here in the Valley of the Sun, which is why Orioles vice president Mike Flanagan was having a good chuckle Wednesday, as he sat beneath the awning at the Arizona Biltmore hotel, watching a downpour. "We should have known," Flanagan said. "It's the Beattie factor." Orioles executive vice president Jim Beattie just shook his head. The teasing continued as Flanagan began summing up Beattie's first year in Baltimore: two big February snowstorms, a snow delay on Opening Day at Camden Yards, Tropical Storm Isabel.

Here's the first sign that the Orioles might be turning some kind of organizational corner under new president Andy MacPhail and manager Dave Trembley: They actually signed a guy who had other opportunities. New pitching coach Rick Kranitz was Baseball America's Major League Coach of the Year after getting great results from a youthful Florida Marlins pitching staff in 2006. He interviewed with the Seattle Mariners over the past couple of weeks and was offered a place on Dusty Baker's new coaching staff with the Cincinnati Reds.

IT'S AN INTRIGUING case study in baseball management. Two of this season's most surprising teams reside in our Beltway corridor. Both the Orioles and Washington Nationals are fading. Both could use heavy doses of momentum, and maybe a shot comes before today's 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline. That's for the respective general managers to decide - and they couldn't be more different in pursuing upgrades. What Washington's Jim Bowden and the Orioles' GM tandem of Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan have in common is that they all are working on expiring contracts.

The Toronto Blue Jays named former Orioles executive Jim Beattie a professional scout. Beattie, 55, who pitched for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, was general manager of the Montreal Expos from 1989 to 1995 and executive vice president of the Orioles from 2002 to 2005. Nationals: General manager Mike Rizzo said right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg , the No. 1 pick in June's draft, would make his first exhibition start on March 9 against the Tigers at Space Coast Stadium and will pitch every fifth day, regardless of where the game was to be played.

O's Flanagan, Beattie botched pitching staff Way to go, Mike Flanagan and Jim Beattie! As successful ex-major league hurlers, you shouldn't have to be reminded that pitching is 90 percent of the game. So what was your solution to six straight years of fourth-place finishes? Purchase three high-priced hitters and assemble a pitching staff that possesses not even one reliable starter. What a disastrous formula for putting together a team that you expected to compete immediately in the toughest division in baseball, the American League East.

The Orioles are expected to announce today that they've hired Florida Marlins national cross-checker Joe Jordan as their new scouting director, a position he hadn't interviewed for until sitting down with club executives last week at the general managers meetings in Key Biscayne, Fla. Jordan, 42, beat out Orioles East Coast cross-checker Jeff Taylor and Montreal Expos pro scouting director Lee MacPhail. He replaces Tony DeMacio, whose contract wasn't renewed after the season. "I don't think I've got all the answers, but the most immediate task I've got is trying to become familiar with the existing staff," he said last night.

IT'S EITHER good or not so good that three days before they depart for baseball's winter meetings, the Orioles' dual GMs had time for a two-hour lunch with people like me. We like feeling in the loop, almost as much as we like blockbuster trades or trophy hires of cleanup hitters. Anyway, the crab soup was excellent. Just ask Jim Beattie. He was served a bowl that could have doubled as a birdbath. Let's just hope that's not an omen for the Orioles as they embark on this eagerly anticipated free-agent shopping expedition.

As a third generation baseball executive, Ed Kenney has several vivid memories of growing up around the game, like the time in 1970 when his father took him out for pizza with a promising Double-A catcher named Carlton Fisk. Thirty years later, Fisk would enter the Hall of Fame as one of the most prolific offensive catchers in baseball history, but at the time he was a big, strong kid with impeccable defensive skills batting .229. Kenney, who was 13 that summer, remembers saying, "I hope he can hit because if he can hit, he's going to be good."

On the same day that three key members of the Orioles' organization met with an investigative committee looking into performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, the club's former top executive detailed a conversation he had with an Orioles player in 2004 about human growth hormone. Jim Beattie, the Orioles' executive vice president from December 2002 until he was demoted to a consultant's position last October, told The Sun yesterday that former Orioles first baseman David Segui informed him on Sept.

Former Orioles first baseman David Segui, who revealed over the weekend that he is one of the players named in Jason Grimsley's affidavit on drug use in baseball, said yesterday that he informed the club in 2003 that he had obtained a prescription for human growth hormone. However, one team official said last night he wasn't aware that Segui, who retired a year later, had received the medication through a physician. "He never revealed to us or the medical staff that he had a chronic condition that required human growth hormone," said Mike Flanagan, executive vice president of baseball operations.

The offseason is off to a pretty good start for the Orioles, for what that's worth. The Boston Red Sox apparently have lost boy wonder general manager Theo Epstein - an unmistakable blow to one of the Orioles' chief rivals. Former Orioles GM Pat Gillick - the best in the business, in my opinion - was looking for a job but didn't sign with the Red Sox or New York Yankees, instead taking on the task of turning the Philadelphia Phillies into a playoff team. (He will.) The Los Angeles Dodgers first fired their manager and then fired their general manager in the middle of his search for a new manager, proving that the Orioles, even after eight straight losing seasons, don't own the copyright on organizational dysfunction.

It's a tall order for Orioles interim manager Sam Perlozzo to return this struggling franchise to past dominance. But baseball history shows diminutive guys can reach managerial heights. Perlozzo is 5 feet 9 "when I've got my high shoes on." In the world of successful managing, though, height is not a prerequisite. Of the 25 winningest managers in baseball history, 18 are listed at under 6 feet. And eight - nearly a third - were 5-9 or shorter. That includes Earl Weaver, the most successful manager in modern Orioles history.

IT'S AN INTRIGUING case study in baseball management. Two of this season's most surprising teams reside in our Beltway corridor. Both the Orioles and Washington Nationals are fading. Both could use heavy doses of momentum, and maybe a shot comes before today's 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline. That's for the respective general managers to decide - and they couldn't be more different in pursuing upgrades. What Washington's Jim Bowden and the Orioles' GM tandem of Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan have in common is that they all are working on expiring contracts.

O's pursuit of Nevin was waste of their time Even before Phil Nevin rejected the trade to the Orioles, we had occasion to wonder: Why are the Orioles' twin general managers pursuing a player who has specifically stated he doesn't want to play in Baltimore? The clause in Nevin's contract should have been enough to prevent Mike Flanagan and Jim Beattie from wasting time as the trade deadline loomed. Yet the Orioles spent three or four days courting Nevin as if he were a blue-chip recruit.

The Orioles are expected to announce today that they've hired Florida Marlins national cross-checker Joe Jordan as their new scouting director, a position he hadn't interviewed for until sitting down with club executives last week at the general managers meetings in Key Biscayne, Fla. Jordan, 42, beat out Orioles East Coast cross-checker Jeff Taylor and Montreal Expos pro scouting director Lee MacPhail. He replaces Tony DeMacio, whose contract wasn't renewed after the season. "I don't think I've got all the answers, but the most immediate task I've got is trying to become familiar with the existing staff," he said last night.