Brad Komminsk can probably tell you a lot about Portland, Reading, Akron, Erie and New Britain. He visited those cities in six of the last nine years as an Eastern League manager, first in Akron for the Indians from 2002-04 and the last three years for the Orioles with the Bowie Baysox. But after three winning seasons in Bowie, Komminsk will take the job as Norfolk Tides hitting coach in the Triple-A International League for the 2011 season. "As much as I loved Bowie and the staff and fans...

The Scottsdale Scorpions won the Arizona Fall League championship with a roster filled with Nationals' prospects. Bryce Harper was a name most fans outside of the Nats organization would quickly recognize. But guys like Derek Norris, Michael Burgess and Steve Lombardozzi also made major contributions on the field during the Scorpions' 30 games in Arizona, lifting them to a first-ever title. Let's spotlight those stars beginning with Goddard, Kansas catcher Derek Norris, who ended up...

Major League Baseball places a limit on the number of uniformed coaches that each team can carry, but manager Buck Showalter indicated that the club might add someone who could assist in breaking down any potential language barriers. Showalter wouldn't specify whether this coach would be an eye-in-the-sky, saying that he didn't want to get ahead of himself. "That's one of the things we talked about, a way to do that if there was going to be a need," he said. "You have to make sure...

The Orioles made manager Buck Showalter available on a conference call earlier this morning. Now he can change his phone number. Showalter conceded that the process of building his staff took much longer than anticipated. It's the elephant in the room. You can't ignore it. At least you don't have to clean up after this one. "I think 'process' is a good word," he said. "It's kind of like when I came in in August. I didn't come in with any preconceived notions. I hadn't really...

MASN, the local leader in live sports entertainment and the official cable network of the 16th annual BB&T Classic, will donate 1500 BB&T Classic tickets to active and retired members of the United States Armed Forces. The 16th annual BB&T Classic tips off December 5 at 2:30 p.m. when American meets Florida. Navy will face George Washington in the middle match-up beginning near 5:00 p.m. and the final game begins at approximately 7:30 p.m. when Maryland battles Temple. MASN will air each...

The Orioles made most of their new coaching staff available to reporters on a telephone conference call today. Here are some excerpts and quotes from the new coaches. Bench coach Willie Randolph talked about his relationship with Buck Showalter: "Knowing Buck for as long I have, hopefully, we'll have some fun and the only way you have fun is winning ballgames. Buck is very prepared and one of the smartest guys I know in the game. He's going to delegate and let us do our jobs, which is all...

I'll begin my morning with my annual rant about how this business has changed for the worse, and how it becomes most evident this time of the year. Multiple reports state that the Yankees made an offer to free-agent Cliff Lee. Someone else tweets that it's not true. One person can't confirm it, but still runs with it. Someone else tweets that it's not true. I remember the days when you had to be 100 percent positive or you couldn't print it. Editors would have climbed your butt like a...

The Orioles today announced their 2011 coaching staff - bench coach Willie Randolph; pitching coach Mark Connor; hitting coach Jim Presley; bullpen coach Rick Adair; third base coach John Russell; and first base coach Wayne Kirby. Five of the six men have previously served on major league staffs, with two (Randolph and Russell) managing at the major league level. Randolph, 56, will serve as bench coach for the Orioles, the same role he held for the last two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers....

I certainly understand the angst and depression that is prevailing among some O's fans tonight with the news that free agent Victor Martinez is going to sign with Detroit. Those fans feel the O's will never get anyone good through free agency and that the O's will always come up short here. The reason they feel like that is obvious - that is the way it always seems to go. I don't subscribe, however, to any theory that the club came up with a figure of 48 million they knew they could...

The Orioles have decided not to offer arbitration to reliever Koji Uehara, and they're leaning toward the same outcome with starter Kevin Millwood. The club can still negotiate with both pitchers and attempt to re-sign them at a later date. Part of this process for the Orioles is figuring out whether a player will decline the offer, which would allow the club to receive a draft pick as compensation. That would be the ideal solution with Millwood, rather than have him accept it and earn more...