Jeremy Guthrie just completed his fifth season in the Orioles' rotation and it was a season where he went 9-17 with an ERA of 4.33. Guthrie will be arbitration-eligible again before the 2012 season and after that year he can become a free agent. Last winter, he and his agent approached the Orioles about the possibility of a multi-year contract, but the club was not interested then. Guthrie figures nothing has changed and said recently that no one has approached him about a multi-year...

The Scottsdale Scorpions were able to get the early lead they needed, but left-hander Sammy Solis was not able to last long enough to earn the victory Thursday. The Scorpions led at one point 2-1, but fell 3-2 at Salt River in the Arizona Fall League, after allowing two late runs. Scottsdale is now 0-2. Solis allowed only one run, but walked three hitters in three innings, throwing 53 pitches, 30 for strikes. He allowed two hits with no strikeouts. Bryce Harper went 0-for-5 and is now...

I couldn't come up with an "other." My bad. For anyone who's still floating the theory that the Orioles are withholding confirmation on Andy MacPhail's status because teams can't make announcements during the playoffs, I point you toward the Chicago White Sox, who named Robin Ventura as their new manager yesterday afternoon. The Ventura news came after the Red Sox confirmed that Terry Francona wouldn't return as manager and the Angels cleaned out their front office. Other teams have...

I still see "AFL" and think "American Football League," though I'm much too young to have followed the sport before the merger. Anyway ... Only one Orioles farmhand, Xavier Avery, had gotten into a game for the Mesa Solar Sox before today, but five of them can be found in this afternoon's boxscore. Steve Johnson, making his first AFL appearance, tossed three scoreless innings against Surprise, allowing one hit, walking two and striking out four. He threw 38 pitches, 25 for strikes. As...

There are probably a couple of ways fans can look at Orioles minor league pitcher Sean Gleason. Because he turned 26 in August, some will write him off as a prospect. But he is also a guy that impressed a lot of people this past season and is someone that could push for time at Triple-A or even Baltimore at some point next season. A right-hander, Gleason was drafted in round 20 in 2007 out of St. Mary's College in California. He was a starter from 2007-2009. In 2008 at Single-A Delmarva, he...

I'm venturing into the great outdoors in a few hours to play tennis and take advantage of this weather before it turns cold and gray and depressing beyond words. I'm not a winter person. (By the way, "The Great Outdoors" is a pretty good flick. It's worth a rental. And so is "Summer Rental." Both with John Candy. But I digress ...) I'm going to keep it brief this morning, and I'm not going to mention Andy MacPhail or Buck Showalter. Well, I just did, but not anymore. Adam Jones...

Scottsdale Scorpions left-hander and former University of San Diego standout Sammy Solis makes his 2011 Arizona Fall League debut today against Salt River Rafters. The Scorpions (0-1) fell to Surprise 10-1 in the season opener Wednesday. Nationals prospect Zach Walters went 1-for-3, but Bryce Harper (0-for-3, one strikeout) and Derek Norris (0-for-3) did not register a hit in the first game. Reliever Pat Lehman faced one batter and recorded an out. Solis is in his second season in the AFL,...

Terry Francona, in an interview earlier today on a Boston radio station, was asked whether he wanted to manage in 2012. "I don't know," he replied. "I don't want to try to manage in the wrong situation." For everyone asking me whether Francona could wind up in the Orioles' dugout if Buck Showalter relinquished his duties as manager, I ask you whether this job would qualify as "the wrong situation" for him. It's probably a moot point. I'm not promising or placing odds on anything,...

Most baseball-crazy folks collect things that have some personal meaning, some hoard everything they can get their hands on with a team logo on it and still others focus their devotion to a specific player. And then there are the folks who see only the future in their motive for collecting, adding an item to their array of baseball goodies while a player is still riding backwoods buses and sleeping in a host family's home in the minor leagues in the hopes that a major league call-up will make...

Right-handed pitcher Rafael Martin had one of the best seasons for a reliever in the Nationals' chain in 2011. It all clicked for the 27-year-old, who mesmerized hitters in the Double-A Eastern League. After starting the season at Single-A Potomac, Martin rolled at Harrisburg, earning a spot on the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. The 6-foot-2,195-lb., San Fernando, Calif., native went 5-1 with a career-best 1.65 ERA in 38 games, striking out 54 batters and allowing just 11...