Spring Training

Jair Jurrjens, who will make his Orioles debut Saturday , spoke with the local media after arriving in the clubhouse Friday. Here's the Q&A: What are your thoughts being back in the big leagues? This is everyone wants to be. When you are playing professional ball everybody wants to play in the big leagues. I just happen to be back and am ready to help the team out. What have last 6 weeks been like? I've been just trying to get my stuff back together and just keep working and trying to have fun again playing baseball.

Jair Jurrjens, who will make his Orioles debut Saturday , spoke with the local media after arriving in the clubhouse Friday. Here's the Q&A: What are your thoughts being back in the big leagues? This is everyone wants to be. When you are playing professional ball everybody wants to play in the big leagues. I just happen to be back and am ready to help the team out. What have last 6 weeks been like? I've been just trying to get my stuff back together and just keep working and trying to have fun again playing baseball.

Day after day following the 2007 season, Brandon Erbe arrived at Twin Lakes Park, got dressed and headed out to the bullpen to meet Orioles minor league pitching instructor Dave Schmidt. For more than a month, they worked under the hot Florida sun, doing the same drills and retracing the same movements. Erbe never threw a single pinch. "We had three or four drills that we'd do over and over, just dry work. It's not exactly fun. It's rather mundane, just boring stuff over and over again," Schmidt said.

The Orioles have called up left-hander Zach Britton before tonight's series opener against the A's to add an extra arm to a taxed bullpen. Britton was scratched from his scheduled start for Triple-A Norfolk tonight. After optioning right-hander Josh Stinson following Wednesday's game, the Orioles said they would make a corresponding move today. Britton, who is 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA in three starts at Norfolk, is coming off a six-inning, one-run outing in his last start a week ago. He could provide long relief in the Orioles bullpen for the next four games in Oakland and, if available, could fill the void for a starting pitcher Monday in Seattle.

The Orioles announced today that they have signed and invited 12 non-roster players to their major league spring training camp in Sarasota, Fla. The club invited the following: pitchers Chris George, Mike Hinckley, Jake Arrieta, Frank Mata, Josh Perrault, Alfredo Simon and Ross Wolf; outfielder Jeff Salazar and infielder Scott Moore; and catchers Michel Hernandez, Caleb Joseph and Chad Moeller. The Orioles' first workout for pitchers and catchers will be held Feb. 18, followed by the first full-squad workout on Feb. 23. The team opens Grapefruit League play against the Tampa Bay Rays on March 3 at Ed Smith Stadium.

It's about money Phil Rogers , Chicago Tribune There's a familiar refrain that has been heard around the majors for at least the last couple of decades. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke has been singing it this week, wondering why so many players get hurt when they're in better shape than ever. "Nobody did sit-ups 20 years ago, and nobody tore intercostals and obliques," Roenicke said. "There were a few but not many. You come (into camp) in shape. So you think it would happen less now, but it's happening more.

Spring training is in full swing, so we finally have something to discuss besides the Terps, Ravens and Caps. Sure, we'll still talk about them, too, but it's nice to have another option. [1] The gang's all there in Sarasota, Fla., after the Orioles position players reported to spring training Tuesday morning. Miggy Tejada rolled in at the last minute, of course, but hey, at least he made it. Making the switch from shortstop to third base, Tejada says he feels "like a little kid with a new toy."

Et cetera MASN to broadcast six O's spring games MASN announced that it will televise six Orioles spring training games, all in high definition, beginning with the Grapefruit League opener at 7p.m. March 5 against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Sarasota, Fla. MASN will broadcast five more games from Ed Smith Stadium, the team's spring training home: March 11 against the Boston Red Sox (1p.m.); March 18 against the New York Yankees (7p.m.); March 23 against the Red Sox (1p.m.)

SARASOTA, Fla -- It's been a pretty slow day here at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. There's not too much going on, especially coming off yesterday's newsy day. But here's what we've got: -- Orioles right-hander Jason Berken said he feels better than yesterday but remains shut down from baseball activities Saturday. He injured his left hamstring during running drills Thursday. He was walking around the clubhouse today with a pretty heavy limp and his left thigh heavily wrapped.

The Orioles arrived in Sarasota with plenty of intrigue, a starting lineup already pretty much set in stone and a rotation with perhaps just one opening. But Buck Showalter's bullpen is wide-open, which gives us an opportunity to do a little spring speculation. Baltimore has several relievers with closing experience -- most notably Kevin Gregg, Michael Gonzalez and Koji Uehara -- and one more could be added to the mix if Alfredo Simon is released from prison in the Dominican Republic.

Before today's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Orioles manager Buck Showalter got on top of his pregame soapbox and talked about how most barehanded plays don't need to be made. He reminisced about his days as an analyst at ESPN and about how he thought the network too often fell in love with a barehanded play that was more style than substance. But third baseman Manny Machado's ninth-inning barehanded throwout of  Desmond Jennings in Tuesday's 5-4 win over Tampa Bay wasn't one of those plays.

Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy remains shelved after experiencing right elbow and forearm tightness in late March. He has yet to throw off a mound and is instead doing strengthening exercises at the club's spring training complex in Sarasota, Fla. There is no set timetable for when he will pitch in his first minor league game this season at Double-A Bowie. Orioles director of player development Brian Graham said the 20-year-old Bundy is not feeling any lingering soreness, but the club is purposely taking it slowly with him. "We are being cautious," Graham said.

I'm currently on the Amtrak heading home from New York. I've slept in my own bed for just two nights since Feb. 10, so heading back to Baltimore for the Orioles' nine-game homestand will be a welcome change. The Orioles played nine of their first 12 games on the road, opening the season in Tampa Bay before this week's road trip to Boston and New York. So they've only been home for three games since the beginning of spring training. During the opening two weeks of the season, the Orioles have also played games at five different start times and played in three Opening Day games, which has prevented them from setting up any sense of routine after a spring training full of early afternoon games.

The Orioles officially selected the contract of Chris Dickerson before Wednesday's game, but not before the outfielder was thrown for a loop when he was told of his promotion. Dickerson said he was told he was going to Boston after he stepped up to bat in the first inning of Tuesday's game with Triple-A Norfolk. Tides manager Ron Johnson then pulled him aside and told to go pack. “I found out walking up to lead off the game,” Dickerson said. “He's like, 'Come here.' I'm ready for him to give me a sign or something and he says, 'Get off the field.

Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold, who left Sunday's game with right hamstring tightness, didn't play in Monday's series opener in Boston, but manager Buck Showalter still hopes Reimold can avoid the disabled list. Tuesday's off day in Boston will help. Showalter said he's also considering giving the right-handed Reimold Wednesday off against Boston right-hander Ryan Dempster so he can return Thursday against left-hander Felix Doubront closer to full strength. “We wouldn't have kept him off the DL if we didn't feel positive about it,” Showalter said.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel will make his first career Opening Day start this afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays. In today's Baltimore Sun, Hammel talked about how the progress he made once he was demoted to the bullpen in the final weeks of the 2011 season in Colorado changed his career for the better . The 30-year-old Hammel was 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 20 starts last season, winning eight of his first 10 starts, but...

Individual game tickets for the Orioles' 16 spring training games at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. The first game will be against the Tampa Bay Rays on March 3. To purchase tickets, call 888-329-3365 or go to orioles.com. For information about season, four-pack or group ticket plans, call 941-954-4101.

SARASOTA, Fla. - Even though left-hander Brian Matusz will open the season pitching out of the Orioles' bullpen, where he flourished in the final five weeks of the season, manager Buck Showalter said he still sees Matusz as an option to start. "He's still considered a guy who can do both," Showalter said Saturday. "I still feel like he's got a chance to be a quality starting pitcher for us. This is right move right now for this club. Obviously if we get a long way away from where he is innings-wise, then he'd probably need to make a start or two [at Triple-A Norfolk]

SARASOTA, Fla. -- One of the best stories in the Orioles organization last year got a little better on Monday. Old Mill graduate Josh Hader appeared in his first minor league spring training game Monday at Twin Lakes Park, throwing two scoreless innings. And because it was an off day on the major league level, executive vice president Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter were there to watch. Think about that. You are an 18-year-old kid, and on your first outing of the year, months after being drafted, the brass from your childhood team is watching you.   “I saw them.