The Orioles finally reached agreement on a minor league contract with right-hander Armando Galarraga, who's listed among nine pitchers invited to camp in a few weeks. Pitcher Pat Neshek and catcher Ronny Paulino also signed minor league deals with the Orioles and will report to Ed Smith Stadium. Other invites include left-handers Ryan Edell and Dennys Reyes, right-handers Willie Eyre, Steve Johnson, Jon Link, Miguel Socolovich and Oscar Villarreal, catchers John Hester and Brian Ward,...

The Orioles today announced that they have signed left-handed pitcher Srong-Min Kim from South Korea to a minor league contract. Born April 26, 1994, Kim is a 5-foot, 11-inch, 180-pound left-hander that throws a fastball, curveball, change up, and slider. He had been pitching for the 18 and under South Korean national team. "We are glad to sign a player that our scouts feel is one of the top amateur left-handed pitchers in South Korea," said Orioles Executive Vice President of Baseball...

The Orioles today announced that they have signed and invited 14 non-roster players to their major league spring training camp, nine of whom have previous major league experience. Pitchers invited to camp include: Left-handed pitchers Ryan Edell and Dennys Reyes and right-handed pitchers Willie Eyre, Armando Galarraga, Steve Johnson, Jon Link, Pat Neshek, Miguel Socolovich and Oscar Villareal. Position players invited include: Catchers John Hester, Ronny Paulino and Brian Ward; outfielder...

Outfielder Bryce Harper is currently at agent Scott Boras' training facility in Irvine, Calif., attending the strength and conditioning program alongside other Boras clients. He arrived at the facility last week and is expected to remain there into early February. Nationals director of player development Doug Harris said the team approved of the training. "It is a great facility and it is a good opportunity for him," Harris said. "We have guidelines that we give our players as far as...

I'm hitting the road this morning after a nice two-day stop in Ocean Pines. The laptop didn't stay off for as long as I intended, but I definitely reduced the amount of hours spent in front of it. I consider it progress. Maybe the Orioles will swing a trade while I'm driving home. They tend to make news at inconvenient times for me, and traveling on the Bay Bridge when it happened would be pretty inconvenient. It's tough to find a spot to pull over. It seems apparent that executive vice...

He is a submarine-style, right-handed relief pitcher and, if he reclaims the form he showed during an outstanding 2010 season with Texas, he could be a key piece to the 2012 Orioles bullpen. The O's claimed 29-year-old pitcher Darren O'Day off waivers from Texas in November and now he wants to put last year, when he had surgery and missed a large part of the season, behind him. O'Day went 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in just 16 2/3 innings with the Rangers last year and also spent some time in the...

The tenure of Major League Baseball commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig has made one thing crystal clear: What Bud wants, Bud usually gets. Selig wants to implement his plan to expand the playoffs by one team in each league for the 2012 season. Never mind that the players' union isn't on board with the arrangement, citing the fact that the schedule is already set and would have to be changed to create space for an extra one-game playoff to determine the final four postseason teams from the...

Let's start off by dismissing any rumors of a proposed trade involving Adam Jones and Adam Wainwright, or the Orioles hiring retired Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa in some capacity. Last night's tweet from Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wasn't referencing either one of those scenarios. According to Strauss, the Orioles are engaged in trade talks with the Cardinals involving pitcher Kyle McClellan, who spent part of last season as their fifth starter before being shut down...

It's hard to know what executive vice president Dan Duquette has hidden up his sleeve, and there's no point in ordering a strip search. This isn't the security checkpoint at BWI Airport. No one knew that Wilson Betemit was tucked up that sleeve, but he'll be introduced to the Camden Yards crowd on opening day. Taylor Teagarden's name didn't come up among backup catching options until the day that the trade with the Rangers was finalized. The lobby buzz at the Winter Meetings never...

I just returned from the Shorebirds' Hot Stove Banquet at the Delmar VFW, where I was introduced to slippery dumplings. Where have they been all my life? Many thanks to the Shorebirds for making me feel right at home. They also overfed me. And they couldn't have been more gracious hosts. In case you missed my tweet earlier today, the Texas Rangers announced that they signed outfielder Kyle Hudson to a minor league deal with a spring training invite. The Orioles designated Hudson for...