Now that Dan Duquette has joined the Orioles' front office as executive vice president of baseball operations, he needs to decide how many changes will accompany his arrival. It's pretty clear that Duquette values the information coming from director of baseball operations Matt Klentak. Duquette made reference yesterday to some of the impressive young executives in the front office, and Klentak will join him in Milwaukee next week for the GM meetings. "Matt is a bright kid," Duquette...

Pitcher Chris Jakubauskas has signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jakubauskas broke the news on his Twitter account earlier today. "Have new home for 2012. Heading back west to the Valley of the Sun. Looking forward to meeting new teammates and improving on 2011." Jakubauskas also tweeted: "I want to also thank The Orioles and the city of B-More. I enjoyed my time there and wish them great success in the years to come." The Orioles outrighted Jakubauskas after the...

Cal Ripken Jr. has arrived in Japan, where he's participating in a diplomatic mission from through Nov. 16. Ripken, who serves as a U.S. Public Diplomacy Envoy, was feted at a reception at the U.S. Embassy, where he learned more about Tomodachi, a joint initiative between the United States and Japan to help the victims of March's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In Japanese, Tomodachi means "friend." You can read Ripken's written blog here. Here's a video segment detailing Ripken's...

If you haven't gotten your fill of Dan Duquette today, here are more quotes from today's press conference. On competing in the American League East: "That's the challenge of the job. The way we're going to be competitive is we're going bring in some players and build from the ground up." "It can be done. I learned in a small market, I applied my skills in a small market to put together a top quality team and also worked from a major market perspective. In some respects, if you just...

Beginning at midnight on Wednesday, November 9, Washington Nationals fans are encouraged to visit http://give2max.razoo.com/story/Washington-Nationals-Dream-Foundation to donate money to the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation as part of "Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington," a one-day regional online fundraiser to help raise money for D.C.-area nonprofit organizations. The Dream Foundation is calling on the support of Nationals fans across the region to donate money during the 24...

The man who used to pretend he was Brooks Robinson as a kid and who later delivered newspapers to the Massachusetts home of Mark Belanger made his way into the MASNsports.com studios today for a one-on-one video interview. I had a chance to ask new Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette about getting back into the game, his initial top priorities, working with manager Buck Showalter and more.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter confirmed today that the Orioles signed a six-year minor league free agent yesterday, so the Dan Duquette era already has started. That didn't take long. Showalter also is meeting later today with a candidate for his coaching staff, and could set up other meetings after flying home to Dallas. Here are some quotes from Showalter regarding Duquette: "It's very obvious when he came in that he was very up to speed on the Orioles, and it was fun to watch him...

After his press conference today, new Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette was asked about staffing and the makeup of his front office. "I staff my office or my team from strength. I try to put the people that are strong in one area, in that area. I try to pair up the person's passion with their strength. Once I decide what people are good at and passionate about, then I assign titles. It's not really about the titles to me. It's about pairing up skills with...

Dan Duquette wore an orange tie that manager Buck Showalter handed him shortly before today's press conference. He further tried to stamp out the perception that he's an outsider by relaying a story about how as a kid he'd pretend to be Brooks Robinson while playing Wiffle Ball with his brother in a lot behind his backyard. The teams would be divided between the '66 Orioles and '67 Red Sox. One of his childhood friends would play first base like Boog Powell. His father once told him that...

Nationals fans were able to finally see infielder Steve Lombardozzi play in the big leagues with 13 games in September. Lombardozzi batted .194 with six hits, one double and one RBI for the Nationals. But he also played in 134 games in the minors in 2011, hitting a stellar .309 with 25 doubles, nine triples, eight homers, 30 stolen bases and 52 RBIs. Baseball America continues to take notice of the 23-year old son of a former major leaguer, from Fulton, Md. Lombardozzi is rated the No.10...