masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles haven’t made a decision on their new assistant hitting coach and they’ve given no indication that an announcement is imminent. Mark Quinn’s replacement remains a mystery.
Quinn decided to go back to The Baseball School, the hitting academy he owns in Houston. His contract expired on Oct. 31 after one season as Einar Diaz’s replacement.
Two names that I’ve heard as candidates are former utility players Lenny Harris and Howie Clark.
Harris was fired as Marlins third base coach…

The Orioles haven’t made a decision on their new assistant hitting coach and they’ve given no indication that an announcement is imminent. Mark Quinn’s replacement remains a mystery.

Quinn decided to go back to The Baseball School, the hitting academy he owns in Houston. His contract expired on Oct. 31 after one season as Einar Diaz’s replacement.

Two names that I’ve heard as candidates are former utility players Lenny Harris and Howie Clark.

Harris was fired as Marlins third base coach following the 2016 season. He’s also worked as Nationals hitting coach, Dodgers minor league hitting instructor and Marlins assistant hitting coach.

Harris played parts of two seasons with the Diamondbacks in 1999-2000 under manager Buck Showalter. He holds the major league record for most pinch-hits with 212.

Clark served as Double-A Bowie’s hitting coach this year after holding the same job with Single-A Delmarva in 2015. He appeared in 14 games with the Orioles in 2002, batting .302/.362/.396 in 58 plate appearances, and seven games in 2006.

The Orioles have only one opening left on their staff after hiring Roger McDowell as pitching coach and Alan Mills as bullpen coach.

* Whatever moves are made by the Orioles before opening day, they’re still not expected to impact Chris Davis.

The Orioles are showing no interest in moving Davis to right field to create room at first base. Not for Mark Trumbo, rookie Trey Mancini or anyone else.

“I don’t see a willingness by the club to put Chris Davis in right field,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette. “That’s really not part of the equation.”

Manager Buck Showalter also shot down the idea of moving Davis when asked at the Winter Meetings. The Orioles don’t want to tamper with their infield defense and they’re searching for a more pronounced defensive upgrade in right field.

* Showalter said before the Winter Meetings that he was “a little surprised” by some of the free agent signings, “but it’s their money and they can do what they want with it.”

Here’s where we can play a little guessing game. See if you can figure out which player he’s referencing in the following quote. Sorry that I’m not able to confirm your pick:

“I know one that I wouldn’t want to be holding on to, but I’m not going to mention him,” Showalter said. “There are a couple there that I kind of went, ‘Really?’ And God bless them. That’s why a work stoppage, with the contracts, you’re going to stop this?

Thumbnail image for showalter-duquettepresser.jpg“The earning power of these guys is really two or three years for the best players in the world. I don’t begrudge them anything. It’s just when you have X amount of things to spend and you can only do so many things, you have to be so prudent trying not to make any mistakes.”

* Duquette was asked in his suite at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center whether having so many players eligible for free agency following the 2018 season – a group that includes Adam Jones, Manny Machado and Zach Britton – impacts any future moves this winter. That doesn’t appear to be the case.

“We’re going to try to have a contending team every year,” he replied. “We have a good nucleus, we have a good infield, most of our pitching staff is back, including a very strong bullpen. So we need to find the right catcher and upgrade our outfield defense. But we’re on track to have a very competitive team.”

* The Orioles talked to the White Sox about outfielder Adam Eaton before he was traded to the Nationals for pitchers Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dan Dunning.

Giolito and Lopez rank among the game’s top pitching prospects and Dunning was a first-round pick this year. The Orioles couldn’t come up with a comparable package.

Eaton would have given the Orioles their right fielder and leadoff hitter, but he went to the Nationals at an exorbitant cost. This is an example of how moving away from the free agent market doesn’t automatically mean the shopping becomes more affordable.

* A group from the Beverly Hills Sports Council walked out of Duquette’s suite as the media was waiting to enter. A contract extension for Chris Tillman was discussed, though in the most preliminary of terms. More talks will be held at a later date.

Not too much later. Tillman can become a free agent after the 2017 season.

“I noticed there was a report that the Orioles and Chris Tillman have initiated extension talks right after that meeting. Did you see that? I noticed that was happening,” Duquette said, laughing.

“The Winter Meetings are also a good time to catch up with the agents who represent your players and we did a fair amount of that (last) week. Danny Horwits, Chris Tillman’s agent, also represents Hunter Harvey. I really like Danny Horwits. I’ve known him for like 30 years and he’s a good agent. He looks out for the players’ welfare. He does a nice job for them, so I really enjoy meeting with him.

“We had a nice meeting with he and his staff, and we did talk about Chris Tillman. We made a couple offers to them over the last couple of years to try to extend Chris and we were not successful. So we have a little bit of a history with Dan and Chris on these contract extensions. It’s just an ongoing dialogue.”

The Orioles acquired Tillman, Jones and pitchers George Sherrill, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler from the Mariners in February 2008 for left-hander Erik Bedard. Tillman has gone 72-48 with a 4.13 ERA and was selected to the American League All-Star team in 2013. He’s twice won 16 games and made 30 or more starts in four consecutive seasons.

Tillman is the first Orioles pitcher to make three straight opening day starts since Mike Mussina in 1998-2000.

“Chris has been a really good pitcher for us,” Duquette said. “(Scout) Dave Engle was telling the story of how Chris Tillman was the last player in that deal with Seattle for Bedard. He was in A ball and Dave Engle recounted the story of how he did a lot of the legwork for Andy MacPhail, and he was saying how when Andy MacPhail asks for a player, he wants the other club to resist it. And Andy said to Engle, ‘I asked for Chris Tillman and they gave him to me right away.’ Like, ‘Hey, if he was really good they wouldn’t give him to me right away.’

“The Orioles did a good job on that trade. He was the last player in the deal. They asked for Chris Tillman and he had a 5.00 ERA in A ball when they asked for him. He was in the California League, they got him and lo and behold, he’s one of the best pitchers the Orioles have for the last three or four years.”

* Logan Schafer, Logan Verrett and now Logan Ondrusek.

The Orioles really are left with no choice except to trade for Logan Forsythe.

I didn’t think we’d see Ondrusek again after the Orioles declined his option last month and made him a free agent. I didn’t even know that he had an option in his contract.

He’s got another one for 2018 as part of his new deal.

We clearly didn’t see the best of Ondrusek over seven games. He got lit up in D.C. in his final appearance and never made it back to Baltimore. He’s a surprising addition to the 40-man roster.

The Orioles touted Ondrusek as capable of controlling left-handers by utilizing his sinker, but they went 6-for-11 with three doubles, a home run and two walks against him. Blame was placed on his inability to readjust to throwing major league baseballs, which are different in size and don’t have the same sticky texture.

* Major League Baseball, MLB Advanced Media, MLB Network and all 30 clubs combined to raise more than $235,000 toward the renovation of a youth baseball and softball field in memory of late Mets public relations executive Shannon Forde in her hometown of Little Ferry, N.J.

The fourth-highest selling item up for bid was a workout and lunch with Orioles vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson that netted $7,075.

The highest-selling experience involved tickets to every All-Star Week event at Marlins Park that raised more than $20,000.

* In case you missed the tweet at the Winter Meetings, the Orioles received a postseason share of $1,149,417.41 for being the runner-up in the American League wild card game. The value of each of full share was $18,351.02.

The Orioles issued 52 full shares, a total of 8.36 partial shares and 30 cash awards.

The champion Cubs received $27,586,017.75, and the value of each of full share was $368,871.59.

Note: The Orioles announced the signing of Ondrusek to a one-year deal.

“Logan brings veteran experience to our bullpen and his ability to induce ground bals is an asset to our pitching staff,” said Duquette.