Brian Rupp, who managed the Single-A Wilmington Blue Rocks, will be the new manager of the Single-A Potomac Nationals, the parent Nationals announced today. Rupp spent three seasons at the helm of the Kansas City Royals' advanced Single-A club. The 40-year old Rupp has extensive coaching experience with the Cardinals and the Royals, and reached as high as the Triple-A level as a player, winning the Arizona League batting title and Most Valuable Player award in his first professional season. ...

I couldn't resist. Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette wanted a left-handed hitting outfielder who could back up Adam Jones in center field and at least share left field with Nolan Reimold. He found one yesterday when Endy Chavez agreed to terms on a one-year deal, which will become official after the veteran takes his physical. Every team has a fourth outfielder and a backup catcher and at least one utility infielder. Every executive signs a batch of six-year minor league free...

An industry source has confirmed that the Orioles reached agreement with free agent outfielder Endy Chavez, who would give the Orioles the left-handed hitting outfielder that executive vice president Dan Duquette made a priority during the offseason. The Chavez deal will become official once he passes a physical. Chavez, 33, will be playing for his seventh team, including the Expos/Nationals. He hit .301 in 83 games with the Rangers this year. Duquette wanted a backup for Adam Jones, and...

The Nationals were disappointed at not being able to land their offseason prized pitching free agent, Mark Buerhle. There has not been much positive movement on the possibility of the Nats inking veteran Roy Oswalt to round out a talented and young starting rotation. So where does that leave pitchers like Ross Detwiler, Brad Peacock and Tom Milone? Do they have a better chance of making the roster? Without a solidified rotation, is the door then more wide open for them to make a huge...

By now, you've probably dissected yesterday's trade between the Padres and Reds, the biggest of the offseason. And you might have banged your head against the wall a few times. The Padres shipped starter Mat Latos to the Reds for starter Edwin Volquez, first baseman Yonder Alonso, catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitcher Brad Boxberger. That's quite a haul for the Padres, who now have Alonso and Triple-A first baseman Anthony Rizzo, acquired from the Red Sox in December 2010 as part of the...

Part of being a successful front office executive in Major League Baseball is the ability to flip on the fly. General managers have to be able to adjust their line of thinking to the game's ever-changing landscape. Those who do receive the opportunity to constantly improve their teams; those who stick to their guns just a little too long are left in the dust as their peers zoom ahead of them in both activity and in the standings. We've spent a lot of bandwith this offseason talking about the...

And asked ... and asked again ... I was told by an industry source tonight that the Orioles "weren't believed" to have placed a bid on Japanese outfielder Norichika Aoki. That's the closest I've come to a firm confirmation. The Brewers won the rights to negotiate with Aoki with a $2.5 million bid, according to Yasuko Yanagita of Hochi Shimbun via Twitter. Aoki's team, the Yakult Swallows, accepted the bid. The Brewers have an exclusive 30-day negotiating window to work out a contract...

So I've noticed that some fans are aggravated by the Orioles' lack of impact moves this offseason. Very little gets past me. I understand why season ticket sales aren't going to spike for Matt Antonelli, Taylor Teagarden, Ryan Flaherty, Dana Eveland and Tsuyoshi Wada. But also keep in mind that the Orioles are addressing their lack of depth (and, in Teagarden's case, lack of a backup catcher, which every team needs.) That's just one of the many chores laid at the feet of executive vice...

I tweeted this earlier today, but I'll mention it in the blog, as well. The Orioles have agreed to terms with outfielders Antoan Richardson and Lee Cruz on minor league deals. They also agreed to terms with reliever Jon Link, as they continue to seek depth for the upper levels of their minor league system. Richardson, 28, is an interesting acquisition because the Orioles drafted him in the 27th round in 2001 and 2002, but they failed to sign him. He signed with the Giants, who drafted him in...

According to a baseball source, the Nationals were not one of the teams to place a bid on Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish through the posting process, which ended at 5 p.m. Wednesday. That takes the Nationals out of the mix for a right-hander, who is described as the best pitcher not currently in the major leagues and helps to better explain general manager Mike Rizzo's hesitance to address the subject publicly. The news was first reported by The Washington Post. If Darvish isn't in...