The movie "the rookie" was on TV last night. It reminds us all that baseball produces great stories. It's about Jim Morris, the pitcher that made the Tampa Bay club as a 35-year-old rookie in 1999. The game of baseball can be so great. So can the people that play it. Of course there are plenty of times when those people that play and run the sport show their flaws. Many of us have had a life-long love affair with the sport. Some can pinpoint the exact moment when it all began.

The team that once signed B.J. Ryan to a five-year, 47-million dollar deal and then later released him, is going back to the future. The Toronto Blue Jays, who once built championship teams partially due to shrewd drafting, will now put added emphasis on the First-Year Player Draft. It seems the Jays now realize like the Orioles and Rays that you can't outspend the Yankees and Red Sox but maybe you can outsmart them on occasion.

O's minor league hurler Brandon Erbe was recently named by Baseball America as the O's 7th-best prospect. After going 5-3, 2.34 in 14 Double-A starts in 2009, with Eastern League batters hitting just .170 vs. him, it looks like Erbe could be a future stalwart in the O's Major League rotation. The only problem with that thinking is some project Erbe's future to be in the bullpen.

Last season David Hernandez and Jason Berken combined to start 43 games for the Orioles. But will that pair start any games for the Birds in 2010? Will they be moved to bullpen roles? It is a key question to be answered, probably not until at least deep into spring training. First the O's have to make sure the projected starting five of Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Guthrie, Brad Bergesen, Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman are all healthy and ready to go come opening day.

It has been a tough few months for now former Orioles pitcher Bob McCrory. After pitching in good health most of the 2009 season between Norfolk and Baltimore, he felt some pain while pitching for the O's in September and underwent labrum surgery October 2nd at Johns Hopkins hospital. Several weeks later the O's out-righted him to Triple-A and he was removed from the 40-man roster. He became a minor league free agent.

A friendship with a member of the O's public relations department and a Little League coaching dispute have combined to lead former Twin Denny Hocking to the Orioles organization. Hocking will be a first-year pro coach when he serves this coming season as Frederick Keys' field coach. Hocking, who played in the Majors from 1993 to 2005, has known Jeff Lantz, the O's media relations manager, for a long time.

Mike Bordick played six seasons for the Orioles and had a reputation as a smart and very solid defender at shortstop. But it's the smarts he also used with his bat that he'll use in his new role as O's minor league offensive coordinater. Bordick, a career .260 Major League hitter with 1,500 career hits, served as roving infield instructor for the Toronto Blue Jays last season.

The Orioles began the offseason with 22 of their own players that qualified as minor league free agents. While the club has not officially announced any signings yet, the O's have re-signed five of those players: pitchers Josh Perrault, Ross Wolf, Chris George and Alfredo Simon and third baseman Scott Moore. Perrault is a 27-year-old right-hander the O's selected in the 2008 Rule 5 minor league draft from the Nationals' organization. In 2009, between Bowie and Norfolk, he went 1-4, 2.13...

I don't understand why some fans want to move Nolan Reimold to first base. I know the O's have an opening at that position. But they still might acquire someone to play there - plus they have three first basemen on the 40-man roster in Brandon Snyder, Rhyne Hughes and Michael Aubrey. If the O's had any designs at all to put Reimold at first base, we would have heard more about it by now.

That might be the title of a Meryl Streep movie. It could also be a phrase used when talking about Mark McGwire and his admission that he used steroids. McGwire should score some points with fans and media for admitting his mistake. He should lose some points for the fact that it took him this long. But he has at least admitted using steroids. Anyone expecting to hear a similar confession from Barry Bonds and/or Roger Clemens, who many assume also used steroids?