The Orioles completed their major league coaching staff this week with the hiring of bullpen coach Dom Chiti. Now, they're drawing closer to filling a vacancy in the minors. According to sources outside the organization, former Rangers coach Dave Anderson has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Matt Martin as minor league infield coordinator. I don't have confirmation from the Orioles, but that's the buzz. They could make an announcement later this week. Anderson, 53, spent four...

A day after losing their third base coach, the Nationals have lost a key member of their front office. Roy Clark, who has served as assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel for the last four years, has left the organization to take a position with the Dodgers, according to ESPN.com's Keith Law. Update: A source with knowledge of the situation has confirmed that Clark is leaving the Nationals and that he is indeed joining the Dodgers. In Los Angeles, Clark will...

One of the biggest reasons why right-hander Richie Mirowski is pitching in Arizona Fall League now is a spring training introduction. Nationals pitching coordinator Spin Williams liked what he was seeing from the 24-year-old Mirowski and knew he was close to making a big step. Williams introduced Mirowski to Double-A pitching coach Paul Menhart to help with some fine-tuning on his most important pitch. "In spring, Spin Williams introduced me to Paul Menhart," Mirowski said. "(Williams)...

As the GM meetings proceed through their second day in Orlando, the emphasis with the Orioles remains on finding another starting pitcher and sifting through their options if they don't re-sign left fielder Nate McLouth and second baseman Brian Roberts. The Orioles also are in the market for at least one reliever, and I've heard they would like to acquire two while "shuffling the deck" in their bullpen. They want to strike quickly, knowing that plenty of other teams have the same...

Down the stretch this season, the Nationals leaned heavily on catcher Wilson Ramos, who was finally healthy after missing most of the 2012 season with a knee injury and then twice landing on the disabled list due to hamstring problems in the first half of the 2013 campaign. If Ramos can stay healthy in 2014 (and, yes, that's a big if), he'll likely see a large portion of the playing time yet again. After all, the guy did slug 14 homers and drive in 53 runs over the final three months of the...

The Surprise Saguaros, a team managed by Double-A Bowie's Gary Kendall and featuring eight O's minor league prospects, are headed to the Arizona Fall League's championship game Saturday. Surprise, which also features short-season Single-A Aberdeen's Alan Mills as one of its two pitching coaches, clinched its division title with awith an 8-2 win Monday over Scottsdale. The Saguaros haven't won the AFL championship since 1995, when the it was a best-of-three series. They will face either...

I've got lots of choices after my mother filled my cooler again for the trip home. Soft-shell crabs for breakfast? Why not? A breaded pork chop on the side? What's stopping me? I've been told multiple times over the past week that I'm really going to enjoy being around new pitching coach Dave Wallace and bullpen coach Dom Chiti. Two men with opposite personalities who are great friends and work extremely well together. Add talkative first base coach Wayne Kirby to the mix, and I may...

Dom Chiti flew back from the Dominican Republic tonight, where he was doing a little scouting for his new team. He's the Orioles' bullpen coach, but he's so much more. Showalter regards Chiti as one of the top five scouts in baseball, and those skills will be utilized here. "The last couple of years, and moreso this year than the year before, I've been very involved with the minor league pitching with Dave Wallace," said Chiti, formerly a special assistant with the Braves. "We worked...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter believes his 2014 coaching staff is as good as any that he's worked with in all of his years in baseball. The staff was completed earlier today with the official hiring of Dom Chiti as bullpen coach, following the addition of Dave Wallace as pitching coach. "I like our coaching staff and I liked our staff last year," Showalter said. "We were going to have to hire somebody. We wanted Dave to have somebody he felt comfortable with, and I think Dave and Dom are...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette took a short break from the GM meetings in Orlando to talk about the hiring of former Braves special assistant Dom Chiti as bullpen coach. "Dom Chiti is a real pro," Duquette said. "He grew up around the Orioles organization and started his coaching career here. He's very good with pitching evaluation and he's done the bullpen job before. And he worked with Buck (Showalter) in Texas." Chiti joins new pitching coach Dave Wallace, formerly the...