While the Orioles are closing in on another opening day, so are their four full-season farm teams: the Norfolk Tides, the Bowie Baysox, the Frederick Keys and the Delmarva Shorebirds. With the parent club rebuilding around youth and pitching, there will be plenty of reasons to follow the O's minor leaguers this year. Bowie - Early on, this may be the most interesting team to track. The rotation could feature top pitching prospect Zach Britton along with Steve Johnson, Chorye Spoone and...

Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail doesn't expect to have an update on Chad Moeller's situation before tomorrow. MacPhail is checking whether any clubs have openings for Moeller on their 25-man roster, but he doesn't sound optimistic that it will happen. Moeller apparently hasn't given an indication whether he'd accept an assignment to Triple- A Norfolk. "First, we both agreed to let the 25-man opportunity play out and then we'd take it from there," MacPhail...

Marco Scutaro SS Dustin Pedroia 2B Victor Martinez C Kevin Youkilis 1B David Ortiz DH J.D. Drew RF Mike Lowell 3B Josh Reddick LF Che-Hsuan Lin CF Jon Lester LHP

Chad Moeller was standing at his locker this morning in a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. No uniform jersey and pants. Nothing that would suggest he'll be working out with the team. Moeller is in a holding pattern of sorts (hence, the title of this entry). He's hoping to find out within the hour whether he'll be moving to another organization or reassigned to the minor league camp. And he wouldn't speculate on his next move if the latter occurs. It's also possible that the wait will...

Brian Roberts 2B Nolan Reimold LF Nick Markakis RF Miguel Tejada 3B Adam Jones CF Luke Scott DH Matt Wieters C Garrett Atkins 1B Cesar Izturis SS Jason Berken RHP Jon Lester is starting for the Red Sox.

I had to approve the last batch of comments without addressing individual questions. I'll try to knock off a few of them here. * What happens to Jason Berken? He begins the season in long relief for the Orioles. They need a pitcher who's been stretched out, and Berken earned a spot with a strong spring. * Will Nolan Reimold sit for the entire Tampa Bay series? Manager Dave Trembley hasn't given us his lineups. Perhaps Reimold serves as the DH if Trembley wants to keep him off the turf....

As I wrote earlier, the Orioles want Chad Moeller to stay at Triple-A Norfolk and continue working with young pitchers such as Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, Troy Patton and Brandon Erbe. But they understand his desire to play in the majors and will attempt to work out a deal for him. "We want to see how this unfolds with (Craig) Tatum," manager Dave Trembley said. "This doesn't mean it's etched in stone, but we want to give Tatum a shot. We like the way he throws. We're confident that he...

How difficult has it been for manager Dave Trembley to make these roster cuts? Let him explain. "That's why I didn't want to meet with you (reporters) at 11 today. I couldn't," he said. "I walked around those back fields all morning, kind of like, 'How am I going to talk to some of these guys?' It was tough for me to tell Brandon Snyder he was going out of camp. I had the kid in instructional league. And (Alberto) Castillo. Do you know his story? A refugee from Cuba played independent...

Manager Dave Trembley met with reporters for about 17 minutes after today's game. That's an unusually long session, and it became emotional as he recounted how he broke the roster news to several disappointed players. Chris Tillman will throw in a minor league game on Thursday to raise his pitch count in the 90-100 range. Then he'll go to Triple- A and try to get back to the majors. "What we're doing is the best thing for the team and for his development," Trembley said. "He was put in...

Manager Dave Trembley listed his starting rotation as follows: Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Guthrie, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen and David Hernandez. Trembley also confirmed the following: * Craig Tatum beat out Chad Moeller for the reserve spot behind Matt Wieters. * Felix Pie will start in left field on Opening Day. * Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, Troy Patton, Brandon Erbe and Alfredo Simon will be the starters at Triple-A Norfolk. * Thursday's game against Tampa Bay in Port Charlotte will be...