The Orioles today announced the coaching staffs for their seven minor league affiliates for the 2011 season. Gary Allenson returns for his sixth season in the organization. He will manage Triple-A Norfolk for the fifth season after guiding the Tides to a 24-31 record in the first two months of the 2010 season. Allenson was promoted to Baltimore to serve as third base coach for the remainder of the season on June 4, 2010. Mike Griffin, who pitched for the 1987 Orioles, will serve as pitching...

The Orioles have added another candidate for their second utility infield job, agreeing to terms with veteran Nick Green on a minor league contract with a spring training invitation. There's your big FanFest announcement. OK, not really. But he did agree to the deal. Green will compete with Robert Andino and Brendan Harris for the chance to join Cesar Izturis on the bench. If this sounds like a repeat, the Orioles almost had a deal done with Green last month, but he was hoping to land a...

Saturday's Orioles FanFest at the Baltimore Convention Center will be full of fan forums, autographs and giveaways. But Orioles fans attending the annual baseball-centric celebration will also get the opportunity to participate in a brand-new MASN initiative: a mobile text-messaging platform that will deliver important FanFest updates directly to their cellular devices and smart phones. By texting ORIOLES to 74499, O's fans will be given an opportunity to receive updates throughout the day....

Autograph Session Vouchers available for purchase this Saturday at Orioles.com Vouchers for autograph sessions at the Orioles' 2011 FanFest will go on sale this Saturday, January 15, at 10:00 a.m. Orioles FanFest, presented by the Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be held on Saturday, January 29 at the Baltimore Convention Center from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with early entry for Orioles Season Plan Holders to begin at 10:00 a.m. The Orioles have introduced a new autograph policy...

The Founders Club to host February 17 event to benefit the Miracle League of Manasota Hall of Fame Pitcher and MASN broadcaster Jim Palmer and Orioles manager Buck Showalter will headline a group of current and former O's participating in the inaugural OriolesREACH Birdland Golf Classic at The Founders Club in Sarasota on Thursday, February 17. They will be joined by current Orioles BrianRoberts, Matt Wieters, Jim Johnson, Jeremy Guthrie, Jake Arrieta, Brad Bergesen, Koji Uehara, Jeremy...

The Washington Nationals today acquired left-handed pitcher Tom Gorzelanny from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for outfielder Michael Burgess, right-handed pitcher A.J. Morris and left-handed pitcher Graham Hicks. Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Gorzelanny is 36-37 with a 4.68 ERA in 118 games/95 starts spanning six big league seasons with Chicago (NL) and Pittsburgh. Gorzelanny posted his finest season in 2007, when...

The Washington Nationals today agreed to terms with super utility player Jerry Hairston Jr. on a one-year contract. Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Hairston Jr. is a career .257 (927-for-3608) hitter with 192 doubles, 59 home runs and 341 RBI in 1148 games with San Diego, New York (AL), Cincinnati, Texas, Chicago (NL) and Baltimore spanning 13 big league seasons. The 34 year-old Hairston Jr. has hit a career-best...

The Washington Nationals today agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Todd Coffey on a one-year contract. Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Coffey, 30, is 19-17 with 66 holds, 11 saves and a 4.15 ERA in 369 games spanning six seasons with Milwaukee and Cincinnati. A ground-ball pitcher, Coffey's 605 ground balls induced beginning in 2005 rank fifth among all relief pitchers. Last season with Milwaukee, Coffey...

In our last article with O's scouting director Joe Jordan on some of the pitchers selected in the 2009 draft, he talks about Ryan Berry, Jake Cowan and Jarret Martin. Berry has been a success story to this point, despite the fact he was a pitcher the O's selected even though he had been hurt as a college pitcher that year at Rice. He missed some time during Rice's 2009 season with a strained shoulder. The Orioles took Berry in round nine and he was signed to an over slot bonus and they...

The Orioles' search for a left-handed reliever won't lead them to Joe Beimel. He's apparently decided to sign with the Pirates, according to this tweet from Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Beimel was born in St. Marys, Pa. and pitched at Duquesne. He spent his first three major league seasons in Pittsburgh. Sounds like he wants to go home. We'll find out later how much the Pirates are paying him for that warm and fuzzy feeling. Yes, they beat out the Orioles. They also beat out the Red...