Major League Baseball

I applaud Major League Baseball for taking another step toward making its draft an event for fans. I look forward to seeing the qualities of Dustin Ackley and Aaron Crow debated in prime time. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/toydept)

Major League Baseball has not made an official ruling regarding Mark Reynolds' umpire-bashing comments in Detroit as of early this afternoon. A decision should come today or tomorrow. It is expected that Reynolds will be fined but not suspended. Reynolds went off on the umpires following Friday's game after he was ejected for tossing his glove to the ground when an out call at first was overturned. To paraphrase, he said there should be more accountability from umpires, that they didn't take their mistakes seriously enough and that he felt, at times, they were purposely against the Orioles.

Major League Baseball announced its first voting update for this year's all-star game and the Orioles' Matt Wieters has the second highest number of votes for American League catchers with 713,469. He trails only the Texas Rangers' Mike Napoli, who has 1,224,565 votes. Adam Jones (857,453) is fifth among outfielders and Nick Markakis (384,390) is 12th; J.J. Hardy (489,941) is third among shortstops and Robert Andino (317,434) is fourth among second basemen. Rangers' outfielder Josh Hamilton leads all players in votes with nearly 2.6 million.

Orioles reliever Mark Hendrickson's signing of a one-year, $1.2 million deal likely will not be officially announced until Monday. He completed his physical Friday and there weren't thought to be any problems. Transactions are not made official on weekends because Major League Baseball's offices are closed. - Dan Connolly

Thanks for your wonderful article about Sam Lacy ("How Sam Lacy helped integrate baseball," April 22). My husband and I were privileged to know Mr. Lacy during the last decade of his life and to hear directly from him what it was like during the days when Jackie Robinson broke into the majors. Sam's omission from "42" is indeed a travesty, to quote his son Tim. An equally apt word would be injustice. We are grateful to you for enlightening The Sun's readers about the pivotal role this modest, quiet, determined and gentle man played in establishing Major League Baseball as we know it today, and in recognizing that Jackie Robinson did indeed have the guts to let his skill do the fighting for him. Jan Roth Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

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Orioles owner Peter Angelos has been saying for months that Orioles fans are dead set against the use of replacement players. Yesterday, he released the results of an independent poll that backed up his opinion.The poll of Orioles season-ticket holders, conducted recently by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, showed that an overwhelming majority of the club's fans disapprove of Major League Baseball's plan to use replacement players if the 5 1/2 -month players strike does not end by Opening Day."

Andre' Letren , who set an American Indoor Football Association single-game record with five interceptions and has professional playing experience in Canada and Italy, has been re-signed by the Mariners. Baseball: The Washington Nationals hired Bryan Minniti as assistant general manager and Jay Sartori as director of baseball operations, filling out GM Mike Rizzo 's front office. Minniti spent the past nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the last two as director of baseball operations.

Negotiators for the Orioles and Major League Baseball spent all of yesterday trying to finish an agreement that would compensate the team for the losses it expects because of the new competition it faces, but no deal was reached. "We continue to negotiate, and we'll be back at it in the morning," MLB president Bob DuPuy said last night. "I continue to be optimistic." Orioles owner Peter Angelos declined to comment. The talks recently have centered on a resale value guarantee for the Orioles - said to be about $365 million - and around how much the Orioles Television Network would pay to the Washington Nationals for the rights to show their games.

The Orioles are seeking a new public address announcer for games at Camden Yards. David McGowan is leaving the position after 14 seasons to pursue a career change. “I feel so fortunate to have played even a small role in helping Orioles fans enjoy major league baseball in the best ballpark in the country. It has truly been a privilege getting to serve the fans of Baltimore and to work for the Orioles organization.” The new PA announcer will deliver all public address greetings, player introductions and other game-day announcements.