The Orioles have chosen former major league outfielder Mark Quinn as their new assistant hitting coach, with multiple sources confirming the hire. The club is expected to make the announcement on Thursday if the paperwork is completed. Quinn and Milt Thompson were two of the finalists for the job. Thompson is expected to remain in his current role as Royals minor league outfield/baserunning/bunting coordinator. Quinn, 41, wasn't working for an organization. He owns a baseball academy in...

The progress the young pitchers in the Nationals system make during this offseason began with October and early November instructional league workouts and games. The fruits of that labor are not seen by fans right now. The work these players are doing right now is fortified by what they learned at instructional league this year. Thirty pitchers descended on the Nationals' Florida training facility at the end of the 2015 campaign and were given specific offseason regimens and points of emphasis...

Monday, February 22, the Orioles will hold the sixth annual OriolesREACH Birdland Golf Classic at The Founders Club to benefit the Miracle League of Manasota, an organization dedicated to providing an opportunity for everyone to play baseball, regardless of their ability. The classic will feature a silent auction and the chance to play a round with current and former Orioles players and coaches. Manager Buck Showalter and current Orioles Brad Brach, Kevin Gausman, Brian Matusz, Darren O'Day,...

If Wilson Ramos' 2015 season was a stock chart, it would drive you crazy on whether to buy or sell. There were plenty of highs: staying healthy resulting in a career-best 128 games played, catching both of Max Scherzer's no-hitters, tying for the major league lead by throwing out 44 percent of potential basestealers and receiving recognition as a Gold Glove finalist. But there were also several lows: a career-worst .229/.258/.358 slash line, a career-high 101 strikeouts with just 21 walks in...

Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman is fighting accusations of performance-enhancing drug use with a defamation lawsuit filed today in the D.C. District Court against Al Jazeera America. Zimmerman is suing Al Jazeera following an investigative broadcast report that named him as receiving and using Delta-2, a hormone supplement banned by Major League Baseball. During the expose, the following conversation occurs between Liam Collins - a British hurdler working undercover for the...

With the Hall of Fame announcing election results today, I will throw in my two cents that former Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina should be a Hall of Famer. To put Mussina's case into perspective, if Jim Palmer is a Hall of Famer (he is and, of course, should be), then a strong case can be made for Mussina. Here are their career numbers: Palmer: 268-152 with 2.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 5.0 strikeouts/nine innings pitched, 125 ERA+ Mussina: 270-153 with 3.68 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 7.1 strikeouts/nine innings...

While we wait for the Orioles to reveal their new assistant hitting coach on Thursday, I've heard that former major league outfielders Milt Thompson and Mark Quinn were finalists for the job. Five candidates were interviewed. Thompson is a career .274/.335/.372 hitter in 13 major league seasons with six teams. He was the Phillies hitting coach during their 2008 championship season and again when they returned to the World Series in 2009. He was fired in July 2010, served as the Astros minor...

A new year has arrived, but the slate has not been wiped clean for the Nationals. The hangover still lingers from the embarrassment of Jonathan Papelbon's very public dugout brawl with Bryce Harper. For many fans, the headache began when general manager Mike Rizzo opted to acquire Papelbon from the rival Phillies at the trade deadline to take over closer duties from Drew Storen. Papelbon's arrival wasn't welcomed just because he was bumping the homegrown right-hander Storen out of the way;...

The Orioles haven't named a replacement for Ned Rice, formerly their director of major league administration who accepted a job as assistant general manager in Philadelphia. It appears that they will stay inside the organization, though nothing is final. Rice's loss is a big one for the front office. What are the chances that free agent outfielder/first baseman Steve Pearce follows Rice to Philadelphia? The Orioles could reach out to Pearce later in the month, since he's a favorite of...

As a follow-up to yesterday's blog about the Orioles farm system, I decided to take a random look back at their top 10 list from several years ago. So I decided to take three American League East teams from after the 2010 season and see how their top 10s look now. Keep in mind that prospect analysis involves a lot of looking ahead and projections that are difficult to make. In the world of prospects, there are many more misses than hits on the farm. Most prospects don't pan out or don't...