masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles re-signed outfielder Julio Borbon to a minor league deal after selecting him from the Cubs organization in the Triple-A phase of the 2013 Rule 5 draft.

Borbon batted .288/.342/.356 with 9 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 44 RBIs and 34 stolen bases in 124 games at Triple-A Norfolk. He never made it to Camden Yards.

Former executive and current MLB Network Radio analyst Jim Duquette, appearing yesterday on “Wall to Wall Baseball” on MASN, said the Orioles kicked the tires…The Orioles re-signed outfielder Julio Borbon to a minor league deal after selecting him from the Cubs organization in the Triple-A phase of the 2013 Rule 5 draft.

Borbon batted .288/.342/.356 with 9 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 44 RBIs and 34 stolen bases in 124 games at Triple-A Norfolk. He never made it to Camden Yards.

Former executive and current MLB Network Radio analyst Jim Duquette, appearing yesterday on “Wall to Wall Baseball” on MASN, said the Orioles kicked the tires on Ronald Belisario before the reliever signed a minor league deal with the Rays.

The Orioles are interested in signing another right-handed reliever to provide depth.

gausman-gray-specs-sidebar.jpgDuquette estimated that the Orioles will limit Kevin Gausman to around 180 innings this season after the right-hander logged 158 2/3 in 2014, including 45 1/3 in the minors. I asked manager Buck Showalter about it last month, but he didn’t provide an exact number.

“We’ll have one with him and we’re very proud, knock on wood, of the health of not only Gaus but all our pitchers that we take a lot of pride in monitoring,” Showalter said. “We feel like the inning total that he got to last year, we backed off some early in the season hoping to get to October when we’d have him, and if we need to back off at some point … But I think we’re in a pretty good spot with him.

“I know exactly what the inning red light area is. Dave (Wallace) and Dom (Chiti) and I sat down at the minicamp and brought that all together with all of our pitchers that might impact us this year. Probably 30-35 deep, guys that we think have a chance to potentially impact us if we need them. You go into that and take it from there.”

Showalter keeps insisting that he won’t use Gausman’s options against him.

“If he’s one of our 12 best pitchers,” Showalter said, “he’s going north.”

If he isn’t, the Orioles can more easily control his innings at Norfolk.

The competition for the five rotation spots in Baltimore remains for me the most interesting storyline heading into spring training. Showalter will be challenged to come up with a solution if all six starters have impressive camps.

Moving one of the starters into the bullpen creates a separate problem. How does Showalter make room, especially if he wants to keep one of the Rule 5 pitchers?

The decisions on Jason Garcia and Logan Verrett might be tied to Ubaldo Jimenez. If Jimenez labors again in spring training and is moved to the bullpen, he could take up a spot that otherwise may have gone to a Rule 5 guy.

Just thinking out loud here.

Jimenez may have ruffled a few feathers by leaving the team and returning home after the Orioles excluded him from the American League Championship Series roster. I wonder whether the subject came up at FanFest.

Closer Zach Britton, one of the call-in guests on last Monday’s “Hot Stove Show” on 105.7 The Fan, talked about the relationship between Wallace and Chiti.

“They’re an interesting duo,” he said. “They call themselves co-pitching coaches and it’s true. What you hear from Dom, you can expect to hear from Dave, and that’s not always the case in situations where you have two guys teaching pitching. These guys are on the same page, so you know what Dave’s telling you, Dom’s going to tell you the same thing, or if Dom’s telling you, Dave’s going to tell you the same thing, which is huge for any pitcher because you’re not getting two different types of pitching advice coming at you. Everyone’s on the same page.

“Dave’s very laid back. He’s kind of like a wait-and-see approach. He likes to look at the guys and see their body language before he goes and approaches them about anything, where Dom will approach you and talk about pitching with you a little bit more. I think Dave, he just wants you to kind of learn that you’ve got to figure it out on your own if you want to have a long career in the big leagues.

“Dom’s got a good personality for the bullpen. He’s always joking around, but he knows when to get everyone serious down there and focus on what they need to do. And he keeps us all informed who’s throwing that day or what he’s seeing in hitters throughout the game, which is great. He goes, ‘Hey, this guy might be doing this a little differently, so don’t necessarily look at the scouting report. Go off what you’re seeing.’ I think that’s what Dom brings to the table that a lot of people don’t know.”

Britton also talked about the confidence that vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson instilled in him.

“He’s so confident in you,” Britton said. “Working out at his house last year and talking to him, I was at a point where I was really unsure whether I was going to be on the team or not, and every day it seemed like he was like, ‘Hey man, you’re really good. You’re really good. You can be an outstanding major league pitcher. Not just a good one, not just a guy who stays there, but you could do something special.’ That’s something he preached to me all the time, and after a while you believe it yourself, especially with the injuries I went through and not being successful.

“That’s something I really like about Brady, how confident he is in you and how it makes you feel confident in yourself. He has a knack for doing that and that’s why I like being around him.

“He’s 100 percent Orioles. I mean, gosh, the guy lives and breathes what we do as players. He’s invested not only in the organization but each individual player. He cares. He cares about you and you know it just by the way he goes about his business.”