After a successful first season as the Orioles director of pitching development, will there be a second for Rick Peterson? After spending just about every season since 1998 as a major league pitching coach for the Oakland A's, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers, Peterson was in a different role this season after being hired in January by the Orioles. It sure seemed like his first season produced solid results as he oversaw the development of top prospect Dylan Bundy. Several pitchers came...

The bad news for the Yankees is they were swept by the Tigers in the American League Championship Series. The good news is Alex Rodriguez now has a date for Saturday night. Have the Orioles ever been swept in the postseason? Don't think so. Watching the Yankees stumble out of the ALCS like a drunk after last call should bring pleasure to fans here, but I can't get past how the Orioles almost certainly would have put up more of a fight. They didn't hit in the Division Series and still...

The Orioles are settled at most positions for the 2013 season, with Adam Jones set in center field, Nick Markakis in right, Manny Machado at third, J.J. Hardy at shortstop and Matt Wieters behind the plate. They would like to retain first baseman Mark Reynolds, but they must decide at what cost. Left field is a moving target, to borrow one of manager Buck Showalter's favorite expressions. Do the Orioles attempt to re-sign Nate McLouth? Do they roll the dice again with Nolan Reimold, who was...

The most memorable minor league game I attended in 2012 was Dylan Bundy's Single-A debut for the Frederick Keys at Harry Grove Stadium. In the many times I've trekked to Frederick, I've never seen the park that packed, experienced the buzz surrounding one player or parked as far away as I did the evening of May 26. No one in the standing room-only crowd dreamed that Bundy would wind up pitching for the Orioles in a pennant race; they just wanted to see if the 2011 first-round draft pick...

Coming into spring training, was there any player on the Nationals roster who had more riding on this season from an individual perspective than Ian Desmond? Sure, guys like Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche felt the need to put up bounceback campaigns after really tough 2011 seasons. But they were proven big leaguers who simply were coming off a down year. Yeah, Ross Detwiler's emergence this year allowed him to establish himself as a true major league starter and cement a spot in the Nats'...

No doubt a real key to the Orioles playing excellent baseball after the All-Star break and particularly down the stretch was the very solid starting pitching we saw, pitching that got better deeper into the season. The Orioles' starting pitchers posted an ERA of 4.42 for the entire season to rank ninth in the American League. But that works out to an ERA of 4.77 in the first half, when the O's went 45-40, and a starters' ERA of 4.01 after the All-Star break, when the Orioles went...

The Salt River Rafters outscored Peoria 12-9 in the Arizona Fall League on Wednesday, rallying from an early 7-1 deficit. A five-run sixth inning and a four-run ninth broke open an 8-7 game for the win. The Rafters are now 5-2. Good game for

It doesn't seem that long ago that Steve Johnson was deciding whether he should re-sign with the Orioles. And later, whether he should become a minor league free agent if the Orioles didn't place him on the 40-man roster. Now he's still washing champagne out of his hair. Johnson's professional life took some crazy turns, including the one that pointed him toward the playoffs. He won all four of his major league decisions, posting a 2.11 ERA and striking out 46 batters in 38 1/3 innings....

Outfielder Brett Carroll and catcher Carlos Maldonado, two players who spent the bulk of the 2012 season with Triple-A Syracuse but had brief stints with the Nationals, have filed for free agency. Carroll was on the Nationals' opening day roster and appeared in five games before being designated for assignment. The 30-year-old went 0-for-2 with two runs scored with the Nats and batted .250 with 10 home runs and 50 RBIs in 111 games at Syracuse. The former 10th-round pick of the Marlins in...

Pitcher Dana Eveland and catcher Ronny Paulino, among the 52 players who appeared in games with the Orioles this season, have filed for free agency. Eveland, acquired from the Dodgers on the last day of the Winter Meetings for Jarret Martin and Tyler Henson, went 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA in 14 appearances with the Orioles, including two starts. He cleared waivers twice this summer - he didn't pitch for the Orioles after July 13 - and accepted outright assignments rather than forfeit the rest of...