27-year old lefty swinging outfielder Jeff Fiorentino has signed a minor league deal with the Orioles. He played last season in Japan and it didn’t go too well. He last played in the majors with the Orioles in 2009 in which he played in 24 games and was 18 of 64 (.281 avg, .648 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 8 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Fiorentino has played in 58 games in his first four years in the majors and he is 40 of 148 (.270 avg, .666 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 1 homer, 21 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Fiorentino will get a shot to win a job on the bench this spring but he’s a longshot.

The Orioles have re-signed 36-year old lefty reliever Mark Hendrickson to a minor league deal. Hendrickson pitched in 52 games (1 start) for the Orioles last season and he was 1-6 with a 5.26 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. He has now pitched in 105 games (12 starts) in his first two years for the O’s and he is 7-11 with 1 save, a 4.74 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. Hendrickson has pitched in 320 games (166 starts) in his first 9 years in the majors and he is 57-74 with 1 save, a 5.02 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. The price was right to bring back Hendrickson for 2011 but he will have to win a spot in the pen this spring.

The Orioles have signed 33-year old righty starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer to a 1-year contact. Duchscherer pitched in 5 games (all starts) for the A’s last season and he was 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. He has now pitched in 224 games (32 starts) in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 33-25 with 14 saves, a 3.13 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. This was a nice low risk/high reward signing for the Orioles because Duchscherer has been very effective when healthy. The O’s hope that Duchscherer will be able to give them 30+ starts in 2011 but that might be a reach as he has only pitched in 5 games the last two seasons due to a hip problem.

The Orioles have signed 32-year old righty swinging infielder Nick Green to a minor league deal. Green played in 14 games for the Dodgers & Blue Jays last season in which he was 3 for 21 (.143 avg, .360 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. He has now played in 392 games in his first six years in the majors and he is 237 of 1,000 (.237 avg, .653 OPS) with 142 runs scored, 16 homers, 96 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Green will duke it out this spring with Robert Andino and Brendan Harris to see who the Orioles backup infielder will be in 2011.

The Orioles have signed 32-year old lefty reliever Nick Bierbrodt to a minor league deal. Bierbrodt pitched in 35 games (0 starts) in AA+AAA-ball for the Rockies last season and he was 1-1 with 1 save, a 6.57 ERA and a 1.92 WHIP. He last pitched in the majors way back in 2004 with the Texas Rangers. He has pitched in 38 games (25 starts) in his major league career and he is 6-9 with a 6.66 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. He is downright awful as a pitcher and the O’s will be in bad shape if he gets anywhere near Baltimore in 2011.

24-year old switch hitting Matt Wieters is going to be the starting catcher for the Orioles in 2011. While he made strides defensively the Orioles need him to pick up the pace with the bat in 2011. Wieters played in 130 games for the Orioles last season and he was 111 of 446 (.249 avg, .696 OPS) with 37 runs scored, 11 homers and 55 RBIs. The O’s are probably hoping for .270+ with 15 homers and 70 RBIs in 2011. Wieters is turning into a decent catcher behind the plate. In 126 games behind the plate last season he made 5 errors but only had 2 passed balls which is pretty solid. Wieters nailed 21 of 77 (27.3%) runners trying to steal against him and O’s pitchers had a 4.56 ERA with him behind the plate. At this point, Wieters’ defense is ahead of his offense but the Orioles hope it evens out more in 2011.

27-year old righty swinging catcher Craig Tatum had the reputation of being an all-field, no-hit type of catcher but the reverse was true for him last season. He played in 43 games for the Orioles last season and he was 32 of 114 (.281 avg, .665 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 0 homers and 9 RBIs. The O’s would be very happy if Tatum keeps that batting average about where it was in 2010. Tatum played 42 games behind the plate for the Orioles last season and he made 3 errors and had 1 passed ball. Pitchers’ liked throwing to him as they had a 4.55 ERA with him behind the plate which was a tad lower than Wieters. But, Tatum only nailed 2 of 29 (6.9%) runners trying to steal on him and that is awful.

28-year old righty swinging Jake Fox will likely be the #3 catcher for the Orioles in 2011, if he makes the team. Fox played in 77 games for the Orioles & A’s last season and he was 43 of 198 (.217 avg, .645 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 7 homers and 22 RBIs. He has good power and he’s pretty versatile in the field as he can also play 1B, 3B and the corner outfield. But, he’s still a poor defender pretty much everywhere he plays. He played in 19 games behind the plate last season and he made 1 error and had no passed balls. He threw out 2 of 9 (22.2%) runners trying to steal on him and O’s pitchers had a 4.99 ERA with him behind the plate.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE ORIOLES CATCHERS IN 2011: C+

The Baltimore Orioles have signed 29-year old lefty reliever Clay Rapada to a minor league deal. He pitched in 13 games (0 starts) for the Rangers last season and he was 0-0 with a 4.00 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. Rapada also pitched in 50 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball last season and he was 1-2 with 2 saves, a 1.82 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP. He only gave up 32 hits in 59 1/3 innings in the minors last season while whiffing 61 batters! Rapada has now pitched in 46 games (0 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 3-0 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. The Orioles will give Rapada a shot to win a job in the pen this spring.

42-year old 2B Roberto Alomar has been inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Alomar played 3 years with the Baltimore Orioles from 1996-1998. He played in 412 games in his three years with the Orioles and he was 496 of 1,588 (.312 avg, .862 OPS) with 282 runs scored, 50 homers, 210 RBIs and 44 stolen bases. Alomar made it to the A.L. All-Star team all three years for the Orioles. He also won 2 Gold Gloves and 1 Silver Slugger Award for the O’s. Overall, Alomar played in 2,379 games in his 17 years in the majors and he was 2,724 of 9,073 (.300 avg, .814 OPS) with 1,508 runs scored, 210 homers, 1,134 RBIs and 474 stolen bases.

29-year old righty reliever Alfredo Simon has been arrested in the Dominican Republic and he will likely be charged with involuntary manslaughter. He has been accused of killing a man and shooting another. Regardless of guilt or innocence, Simon is being held without bail while the invesigation goes on. Who knows how long he’s going to be out if he is found innocent and if he’s proven guilty he will likely never pitch in the majors again. Simon pitched in 49 games (0 starts) for the Orioles last season and he was 4-2 with 17 saves, a 4.93 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. Simon has now pitched in 55 games (3 starts) in his first three years with the O’s and he is 4-3 with 17 saves, a 5.64 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP.

The Orioles have signed 32-year old righty reliever Kevin Gregg to a 2-year, $10 million dollar deal with a vesting option for 2013. Gregg pitched in 63 games (0 starts) for the Blue Jays last season and he was 2-6 with 37 saves, a 3.51 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. He has now pitched in 406 games (8 starts) in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 25-33 with 122 saves, a 4.03 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Gregg will be the Orioles’ closer in 2011 with Koji Uehara serving as the set-up man. I really like this signing for the Orioles as Gregg & Uehara will give the them a solid combo to close out games in 2011.