World Champions 1983, 1970, 1966 American League Champions 1983, 1979, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1966 American League East Division Champions 2014, 1997, 1983, 1979, 1974, 1973, 1971, 1970, 1969 American League Wild Card 2012, 1996 Wednesday, February 11, 2015 Columns: Orioles have interest in free-agent reliever Dustin McGowan The Sun 2/11 After historic trip in 1999, Orioles should be first MLB team to play again in Cuba The Sun 2/10 Orioles will have at least 56 players at spring training The Sun 2/10 Orioles notes on 2015 draft and minor league minicamp The Sun 2/10 O's tab non-roster invitees for Spring Training MLB.com 2/10 Graham on new minor league hires, Davis on spring plan and last year's injury MASNsports.com 2/11 Orioles announce spring training roster MASNsports.com 2/10 Minor league core four: A look at four O's homegrown pitchers added to the 40-man MASNsports.com 2/11 Baltimore can forget about All-Star Game in 2017, too CSN Baltimore 2/11 Orioles invite 15 non-roster players to spring training CSN Baltimore 2/10 Jimenez tries to turn forgettable season around CSN Baltimore 2/10 Will Orioles' trip to Cuba have to wait a year? CSN Baltimore 2/10 Orioles Outfielder Adam Jones Balances Work and Play SIkids.com 2/10 Orioles Hot Stove Show: Chris Davis, Chris Tillman & Caleb Joseph CBS Baltimore 2/10 Bowie Baysox will give out bobbleheads of Babe Ruth wearing O’s minor league jersey The Washington Post 2/10 Tides manager Ron Johnson returning for 4th season The Virginian-Pilot 2/11 http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-have-interest-in-freeagent-reliever- dustin-mcgowan-20150211-story.html Orioles have interest in free-agent reliever Dustin McGowan By Eduardo A. Encina / The Baltimore Sun February 11, 2015 The Orioles have expressed interest in free-agent reliever Dustin McGowan, according to multiple industry sources. The Orioles have reached out to McGowan’s representatives, but they are believed to be among several teams interested in the former Toronto Blue Jays right-hander. Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette has said he’d like to add one more reliever before heading to spring training, ideally one with a track record of getting both right- and left-handed hitters out. McGowan, who turns 33 next month, was 5-3 with a 4.17 ERA and one save in 53 games last season with the Blue Jays. He made eight starts last season, but he was better out of the bullpen, going 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA in 43 relief appearances. He held opposing hitters to a .215 batting average while pitching out of the bullpen. A first-round pick in 2000, McGowan missed more than three full seasons and needed multiple shoulder surgeries. Since his last procedure in 2012, he’s posted a 3.76 ERA while pitching mostly in relief. If the Orioles add another reliever on a major league deal, he’d join an already crowded bullpen mix in spring training. With the exception of left-hander Andrew Miller, the Orioles return all of their bullpen pieces, including closer Zach Britton and set-up men Darren O’Day and Tommy Hunter. Orioles manager Buck Showalter likes to have optionable players in his bullpen in order to keep his relief arms fresh, especially early in the season. But the Orioles bullpen currently has very few players with minor league options. Britton, O’Day, Hunter and left-hander Brian Matusz, who is out of options, would appear to be entrenched in their bullpen roles. Right-hander Brad Brach, who proved to be a valuable innings eater last season despite not making the team out of spring training, is now out of options, as is right-hander Ryan Webb, who was sent to the minors for one month in August before rosters expanded in September. The Orioles also have six starters competing for five rotation spots, so they could bump on of those pitchers to the bullpen. They also signed left-hander Wesley Wright this offseason. Add left-hander T.J. McFarland, who does have options, and two Rule 5 picks – right-handers Jason Garcia and Logan Verrett – who would need to remain on the roster all season and there are already several relievers competing for few available spots. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-schmuck-column-0211-20150210- column.html After historic trip in 1999, Orioles should be first MLB team to play again in Cuba By Peter Schmuck / The Baltimore Sun February 10, 2015 If the new relationship between the United States and Cuba allows for an ongoing relationship between Major League Baseball and the baseball-crazy island nation, the Orioles should be the team that breaks the ice. They earned it. The news Monday that the club is considering another Cuban goodwill trip certainly brings back vivid memories of the Orioles' visit to Havana in 1999. The event caused much consternation in the Cuban exile community and made principal owner Peter G. Angelos the target of criticism long after the team of Cuban All-Stars traveled to Baltimore and defeated the Orioles several weeks later. There had not been a visit from an American professional team in nearly 40 years and the long- standing U.S. economic and tourist embargo remained largely in force. The Orioles and MLB received permission from President Bill Clinton's State Department to negotiate a home-and- home series and paid to upgrade Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano for Cuba's half of the occasion. Of course, the trip was controversial. How could it not be? It spawned protests in the Miami area and speculation that Angelos was somehow trying to corner the market on Cuban baseball talent in advance of any political sea change in the tiny communist country. Maybe there was some hope of expanding awareness of the Orioles organization at a time when the promising players who defected from Cuba tended to land elsewhere, but that wasn't the primary motivation for going there. "I read somewhere that I wanted to do this because I was interested in their ballplayers," Angelos told The Baltimore Sun at the time. "I don't remember ever being motivated by that objective. I don't remember exactly when was the first time I thought about this, but it was at the time when it was becoming apparent that the Soviet Union no longer was a threat to the Western Hemisphere. It seemed to me that it made sense to have better relations [with Cuba]. "This is just an interested citizen. Why can't we do something together to improve the relations between our people? We have so much in common." Angelos led a delegation of baseball officials to Havana in January 1999 to work out the details and returned for Cuba's half of the two-game series in late March. He and baseball commissioner Bud Selig would garner another round of criticism for watching the game alongside Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Angelos did not shy away from it. "He's the principal political person in his government," Angelos said after the game. "If he invites you to sit with him at the ballgame, good manners would dictate that you accept." The Orioles also caught some heat the year after the Cuban overture for their reluctance to sign Cuban defectors, a policy that the club claimed was intended to discourage Cuban ballplayers from putting their lives at risk trying to escape to the United States. There was some irony there, considering the original suspicion about the team's supposed desire to become the preferred destination for Cuban baseball talent, especially when North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms asked Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the Orioles for alleged hiring discrimination against Cuban defectors. Angelos was undeterred and apparently remains so. He told the Associated Press in 2009 that he was hoping to stage another goodwill trip to Cuba, and now there is talk of a possible set of exhibition games there. With the recent decision by President Barack Obama's administration to relax many aspects of the trade embargo, that kind of thing now seems to be a real possibility, though there are still enough political and logistical obstacles to make it seem unlikely to happen this spring. Obviously, Angelos thought another round of baseball diplomacy would happen a lot sooner than this, based on his comments after the historic game 1999 game in Havana. "It was one great day in the effort to bring the Cuban and American people together," he said. "It's one small step, but I think other teams will follow. I think what the Orioles have begun will go on and on. "We've got some very substantial political problems to be resolved, but we are working together to do some positive things." http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-will-have-at-least-56-players-at- spring-training-20150210-story.html#page=1 Orioles will have at least 56 players at spring training By Dan Connolly / The Baltimore Sun February 10, 2015 The Orioles will have 56 players in major league spring training camp, barring any late additions, the club announced Tuesday. The group includes 41 members of the club's 40-man roster. Suspended first baseman Chris Davis does not count against the 40-man roster limit until he completes his suspension -- one more game -- in the 2015 regular season. He can play in exhibition games. The Orioles have invited 15 players to camp who are not on the 40-man roster, including top prospects outfielder Dariel Alvarez and right-handed pitcher Hunter Harvey, former Orioles on minor league deals such as pitchers Mark Hendrickson and Steve Johnson and outfielder Nolan Reimold, and former big leaguers signed to minor league contracts this winter, including catcher J.P.