Minor League

Dan Duquette's Orioles have become the landing spot for players looking for a second chance. If you were a failed, can't-miss prospect, an aging veteran or a successful independent league player, well, come to the Orioles and show whether you can make it to the big leagues. So it's really no surprise that the Orioles have announced they have signed left-handed hitting outfielder Adam Greenberg to a minor-league deal. He will not receive a formal invitation to spring training, however.

Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel will pitch in a second simulated game Monday and, if all goes well, is slated to make a five-inning minor league rehab start Saturday for the Class-A Frederick Keys. For Hammel, who had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in mid-July, it marks the tail end of his recovery process.  If the rehab proceeds as scheduled, he could be activated to pitch for the Orioles on Sept. 6. “The knee feels great,” Hammel said Sunday. “I think it's about as good as it's going to be until I'm off of it [after the season]

SARASOTA, Fla. -- In his final spring outing, Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel, who will likely be the team's Opening Day starter, threw five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays' Single-A minor leaguers on the back fields of Ed Smith Stadium. Hammel allowed three runs -- all earned -- and three hits, striking out six and walking three. Unofficially, he threw 76 pitches, 47 strikes. He initially struggled through a 23-pitch first inning that was ended after just two outs, but he overwhelmed hitters with his fastball-changeup-curveball combo as the outing progressed.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Before Tuesday's game, the Orioles reassigned outfielder Lew Ford to minor league camp, cutting the spring roster to 37 players, which included nine non-roster invitees. After Monday's injury to designated hitter Wilson Betemit, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said that “some of the dynamics changed” in forming the 25-man Opening Day roster. That means that when whittling down the mix of reserve players, players who can play first base as well as outfield have a better chance of making the team, because Betemit could have served as a backup first baseman.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette said the team was “more comfortable” signing right-hander Jair Jurrjens to a minor league deal than a major league one after closely vetting the results of a physical on his right knee. “There's some safeguards for the player in there, as well,” Duquette told reporters during Saturday's first full-squad workout, which Jurrjens participated in fully. “At least we have a chance to work together and see if we can help him be a good big league pitcher.

The Orioles continued to add first base depth on Wednesday, signing Travis Ishikawa, as well as left-handed relievers Daniel Schlereth and Zach Braddock, to minor league contracts with invitations to major league spring training. Ishikawa, 29, recorded a .257/.329/.428 line in 94 games (49 starts) last season with the Brewers, hitting four homers and 30 RBIs in 174 plate appearances. He spent the previous three seasons as a mostly part-time player with the Giants. The left-handed hitting Ishikawa hit .266/.333/.416 and 18 of his 19 career homers against right-handed pitching.

The Orioles have acquired left-handed minor-league reliever Mike Belfiore from the Diamondbacks as the player to be named later in the Josh Bell trade, the club announced Saturday. The 23-year-old was 0-0 with a 2.37 ERA with 28 strikeouts and just five walks in 19 innings this season with Arizona's high Class-A team in Visalia, Calif. This is the first season in Belfiore's four minor leagie seasons that he's pitching exclusively out of the bullpen. In four minor-league seasons, Belfiore is 9-16 with a 4.05 ERA and 267 strikeouts in 282 2/3 innings Bell, once seen as the Orioles' third baseman of the future, was acquired in July 2009 along with minor league pitcher Steve Johnson in the deadline deal that sent closer George Sherrill to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Orioles added their latest reclamation project Wednesday, agreeing to terms with first baseman Conor Jackson on a minor league deal with an invitation to major league spring training, executive vice president Dan Duquette announced. Jackson, a 2003 first-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks, put together three straight seasons of at least a .294 average, .368 on-base percentage, 12 homers and 60 RBIs from 2006 to 2008 with Arizona. But he's played in more than 60 big league games in a season just once since 2008, shuffling between the majors and minors within four different organizations during that span.

Former Orioles reliever Moe Drabowsky was named the club's minor-league pitching instructor, the Orioles announced yesterday.Drabowsky, 59, was the Chicago Cubs' pitching coach last season and their minor-league pitching coordinator in 1993.The season before, Drabowsky was manager Don Buford's pitching coach for the Hagerstown Suns when that club was the Orioles' Double-A affiliate.As an Oriole, Drabowsky was 21-11 with 17 saves and a 2.34 ERA over 3 1/2 seasons. A 17-year major-league veteran and renowned prankster, Drabowsky won the Orioles' first World Series game, striking out 11 Dodgers in relief in 1966.