The cutoff for Super Two status this offseason is two years and 139 days of service time, according to The Associated Press. The cutoff would have been two years and 144 days under the old collective bargaining agreement. Super Two status enables a player to obtain a fourth year of arbitration eligibility. Jim Johnson qualified in 2010, Brad Bergesen in 2011. None of the Orioles were impacted this year. Brian Matusz has two years, 155 days of service time. Again, here's the list in...

After two straight subpar outings to open his Arizona Fall League season, Nationals farmhand Ryan Perry pitched a gem yesterday. Perry threw four perfect innings for the Salt River Rafters, striking out four. The 6-foot-4 right-hander finished out the regular season on an absolute tear for Double-A Harrisburg after being converted to a starter, and could continue to creep his way back up the organizational depth chart with a strong AFL performance. Also impressing out in Arizona is center...

One of the most surprising performances of the Orioles' postseason run may have come in Game 4 of the American League Division Series. Needing a win to force a Game 5 with the Yankees, the Orioles got it, and their victory in 13 innings included two shutout innings from reliever Pedro Strop. Many fans had to be nervous when Strop took the mound in the last of the 11th with the season riding on the outcome. Strop struggled badly late in the year but, on that night, when nothing less than...

Yesterday, it was Bryce Harper who fell short of the Sporting News Rookie of the Year award. Today, it's Adam LaRoche coming up just a few votes shy of the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year honors. LaRoche was edged out by Giants catcher Buster Posey, who won the award by earning 31 votes to LaRoche's 29. The voting was done by a panel of major league players. LaRoche battled shoulder issues through his first season with the Nationals last year, hitting just .172 with a .546 OPS...

The August trade that sent reliever Matt Lindstrom and a player to be named later to the Diamondbacks for left-hander Joe Saunders and cash has been completed. The teams couldn't agree on a PTBNL. The Orioles instead will send an undisclosed amount of cash to Arizona. It's a done deal. The PTBNL was supposed to be determined after the season. In the meantime, Saunders went 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA in seven starts after the Aug. 26 trade and allowed two earned runs in 11 1/3 innings in the...

A few days ago, I gave you the rundown of arbitration-eligible Orioles and educated guesses on which players could be non-tendered. There are enough names on the list to keep any team executive busy. The Orioles don't have nearly as many pending unrestricted free agents. The 40-man roster includes outfielders Nate McLouth and Endy Chavez, pitcher Joe Saunders and designated hitter Jim Thome. Pitcher Randy Wolf and first baseman Nick Johnson are on the 60-day disabled list. This group can...

It wasn't the tight, dramatic Game 7 that many, including myself, were hoping for. No, it certainly wasn't that. The Giants crushed the Cardinals 9-0 in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series last night, giving them the NL pennant and perhaps giving Nationals fans a bit of a reason to smile. The Nats watched a 6-0 lead over St. Louis slip away in Game 5 of the Division Series, but the Cardinals had a big lead of their own disappear in the NLCS with a spot in the World Series oh...

The press conference to introduce Dan Duquette as the Orioles' new executive vice president was held last Nov. 8. As the one-year anniversary of that date approaches, Duquette likely has much more support among O's fans now than he had then. There were some reasons to be skeptical last November, chief among them his time away from the game at the highest level. Others felt that the Orioles settled for a man that was not their first choice. Now, almost 12 months later, I'm sure most...

Because so many fans wanted to know, I'll pass along that manager Buck Showalter's knee surgery was a success and he's rehabbing at home. No complications. No fun, either, if you've ever rehabbed a knee. Here are a few more Showalter-related notes: A week after being the honorary captain at a Ravens game, Showalter will appear on this season's first episode of "Basketball and Beyond with Coach K," co-hosted by Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and Dave Sims, at 7 p.m....

Dave May, an outfielder who spent four of his 12 major league seasons in an Orioles uniform and was the answer to one of baseball's weirdest trivia questions, died Saturday in Bear, Del. He was 68, and had been battling diabetes and cancer. May, a native of New Castle, Del., who graduated from New Castle High School, was drafted in 1961 by the Giants and acquired by the Orioles a year later in the first-year draft. He debuted with the Orioles in 1967 and played in Baltimore until 1970, when...