This is the only picture I could find.

We got a new toy, everyone!

This is Josh Banks. Josh Banks was born in Baltimore and grew up in Severna Park, so he’s back home now. Josh Banks has pitched for lots of teams (Toronto, San Diego, Houston…and San Francisco’s minor league organization).

Also, according to Baseball Almanac, he’s a Cancer. Important information to know, apparently.

Josh Banks is here to foster even more competition within the team for roster spots. That’s a good thing, because it’ll light a fire under the pitchers’ bums and get them moving in the right direction again. They need that. Really, really badly.

The weirdest part of this story – really, the only weird part about this story – is that Josh Banks’s agent is Gary Sheffield. Yes, that Gary Sheffield. After he retired, he became a sports agent, apparently. I was unaware of this until I read about it here. Here’s an article from Hardball Talk discussing Sheffield’s new job. It’s not a bad gig – he’s also representing Jason Grilli, apparently.

Anyway, before I go off-topic here, welcome home, Josh Banks! Maryland missed you!

This is Wada with SoftBank, before he was broken.

Tsuyoshi Wada is broken.

Well, that’s what it sounds like, anyway. He’s apparently dealing with some elbow discomfort, which doesn’t sound too pleasant.

Here’s the latest, thanks to Matthew Pouliot of Hardball Talk:

One wonders if the Orioles may have found the new Koji Uehara when they signed Tsuyoshi Wada to a two-year, $8.15 million contract in December.

Uehara was signed as a starter, only to end up in the bullpen late due to durability concerns. Wada could follow the same path after being shut down indefinitely Sunday because of elbow discomfort.

While X-rays were negative, Orioles manager Buck Showalter told the Baltimore Sun that Wada had fluid drained from the elbow to help with the swelling and also received a cortisone injection.

The 31-year-old Wada was expected to compete for a spot in the Baltimore rotation, but many had already penciled him into the pen because he has some history in relief. The current plan is for him to take three days off and then be reevaulated.

“As for me and how I feel, I feel like I could throw [Monday],” Wada said. “But we’ll see what happens.”

Fluid drained from the elbow? That really doesn’t sound like a good thing, to be honest. That actually sounds like a really bad thing. Three days off…I just have a feeling that those three days are going to become more than three days. This is, of course, the perfect start to Wada’s Orioles career, because he’s starting it off by showing off his skills in landing on the DL. That, if anything, tells me he’s the perfect fit for this team.

Kudos to you, Wada, for showing your stuff and having inflammation in your elbow. Now I’m absolutely positive you were meant to be an Oriole after all. You’re hurt already and there hasn’t even been any pitching to do yet.

You’re officially on our team.

(I was at a manga convention this weekend, so the next Draw Your Orioles! post will come this week. I’m aiming for tomorrow. Originally, it was going to be the Oriole Bird, but now I’m sorely tempted to teach you all how to draw Tsuyoshi Wada in a sling.)

Look, everyone, Orioles beat writer Britt Ghiroli posted this (amongst other images) on her blog today:

Photo courtesy of Britt Ghiroli. (Clicking the photo links to the blog entry.)

Here is my reaction, as acted out by my sheepdog, Louise:

Seriously, though, check out the article – there’s some excellent stuff on Dylan Bundy, the new kid in town. Also, Caleb Joseph has joined the big club for now – Dane Sardina failed his physical (problems with his elbow). Basically, cue Louise making that insanely happy face again – I adore Caleb Joseph.

All in all, today’s news was pretty darn good. At least to me. (Sorry to Dane Sardina – I have a prospect crush on Caleb Joseph. He eats condiments.)

People are in camp, guys. That’s pretty awesome.

The Orioles actually made quite a few waves this offseason, and at some point this week I’m going to try to sit down and write a full offseason retrospective. Since it’s February break and my elementary school librarian mother – and my kid brother – are home from school for the week, that task has become monumentally easier.

Right now, though, let’s take a quick look at what stories are starting to emerge from camp.

• Brian Roberts is alive. He worked out today – he threw with J.J. Hardy and took swings in the batting cages. He’s also been getting in work at the Minor League complex, apparently.
• Lots of people are at camp. Also, Tsuyoshi Wada wants to be a starter. Also also, Mark Reynolds lost 20 pounds. (Click that link – Britt Ghiroli posted lots of pictures. One is a Jake Arrieta ass shot. You’re welcome.)
• Zach Britton’s getting better. He threw roughly 60 pitches at 100 feet today, including 15 in his full windup, which is a plus. He’s been able to find his arm slot – good news. Now let’s see if he can throw on consecutive days when he tries to throw tomorrow.

You know what my favorite part of this post is? I get to tag a bunch of players in it. That means that a bunch of players are here. Just being able to write that makes me smile so, so big.

Stay tuned – I’ll have a post coming up within the next few days showing you all how to draw everyone’s favorite mascot, the Oriole Bird!

This is the last Spring Training game we have before Opening Day! That’s something to be excited about, isn’t it? I think so!

No Jays lineup as of now, but here are the players the O’s are rolling out today:

Orioles:
Brian Roberts 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Derrek Lee 1B
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Luke Scott LF
Adam Jones CF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Matt Wieters C
J.J. Hardy SS
Chris George LHP

Arrieta would have started today, but Showalter is holding him back just in case he needs to start in place of Matusz on Saturday.

Turns out that despite the rain we’re getting this one in.

A few notes:

• Matusz will pitch a simulated game today. His actual Minor League start was flooded out. Nobody wants their number two starter to drown.
• Hendrickson has 48 hours to find another Major League job if he decides not to stay in the organization.

And your lineups are here!

Tigers:
Jackson, CF
Rhymes, 2B
Ordonez, DH
Cabrera, 1B
Raburn, LF
Wells, RF
Inge, 3B
Avila, C
Santiago, SS
Scherzer, P

Orioles:
Brian Roberts 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Derrek Lee 1B
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Luke Scott LF
Adam Jones CF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Jake Fox C
J.J. Hardy SS
Zach Britton LHP

Keep an eye on these last few games for the O’s. There are five players competing for essentially three roster spots. Fox, Andino, Tatum, Bergesen and Tillman are still in the running for the roster (Britton is likely being optioned down after this start).

I took this photo back on 9/5/10.

Teams are doing their final hedge-trimming around now, and the Orioles are keeping up with the Joneses and are making cuts today. Several players are expected to, well, not make the team, so let’s see who’s been cut so far and make some guesses about what the team will look like by the end of the week.

Mark Hendrickson (left) was cut today. He has the option to opt out of his contract if he doesn’t want to go to Norfolk, so we’ll have to wait and see if he feels like he could be more useful to another club. He does appear to like Baltimore, however, as I mentioned in a previous post some time back, so I’m not entirely sure if he’ll decide to opt out of his contract and become a free agent or not.

I took this one on 9/13/10.

Nick Green and Clay Rapada were also optioned down this morning. They’ll start off the season in the Minors, so you might see them again at some point this year if they’re needed. (Nick Green, as I’ve mentioned before, can even serve as a pitcher in a pinch, although those would be extreme circumstances.)

Ryan Drese was cut this morning, but he’s expected to accept an assignment to Norfolk. Not much to say there.

Randy Wynn, Rick VandenHurk, and David Riske were actually the first three names to come out this morning. VandenHurk and Riske actually left camp last night, but there’s no word on why (I did see something about Riske leaving for personal reasons). Showalter is really high on Riske, so he might stay in the organization. VandenHurk is out of options and would have to clear waivers before reaching Norfolk, so a team looking for pitching could pick him up. I can actually see him being picked up, too.

More cuts are coming later, or so I’m told, so we’ll have to wait before I can update you on those. Zach Britton is starting today’s game and there’s no word on whether he’ll be optioned back down to Norfolk after his start or not, but I can see it happening considering that Tillman and Bergesen have Major League experience. I’ll update you when I know!

EDIT: Pat Egan and Nolan Reimold have also been optioned down.

Just so you know, the Sox have lost nine straight Spring Training games, so my guess is they’re saving the wins for the regular season. Which does not necessarily mean good things for the Orioles in about a week. But hey, let’s at least take wins where we can get them for now. We’re a better team than we were last year, at least!

Lineups come from one of Steph’s actual favorite baseball team’s newspapers today. This is because she wants to force you all to read this article on Jed Lowrie (who isn’t starting today) that brought tears to her eyes. He was very important to her during her freshman year and is one of the reasons she is now writing about a Major League team for you all. Seriously.

RED SOX (13-17-1)
Ellsbury CF
Scutaro SS
Drew RF
Youkilis 3B
Ortiz DH
McDonald LF
Spears 2B
Hoover C
Sutton 1B

Pitching: RHP Brandon Duckworth, RHP Matt Albers, LHP Dennys Reyes.

ORIOLES (13-13-2)
Roberts 2B
Markakis RF
Lee 1B
Guerrero DH
Scott LF
Jones CF
Reynolds 3B
Wieters C
Hardy SS

Pitching: RHP Chris Tillman, RHP Kevin Gregg, LHP Mark Hendrickson.

The Orioles are not facing Jon Lester today because he will be pitching in an intrasquad game. Alas, we do not get to spy on him and get an idea of what we’ll be seeing soon.

So we have good news regarding Bergesen – he has no broken bones, and his arm is probably going to be okay. Don’t expect him to throw today, though – he’ll probably do that tomorrow. Right now, his arm is just a tad stiff.

Here are your lineups for today’s game.

ORIOLES
Brian Roberts, 2B
Nick Markakis, RF
Derrek Lee, 1B
Vladimir Guerrero, DH
Luke Scott, LF
Mark Reynolds, 3B
Matt Wieters, C
Felix Pie, CF
J.J. Hardy, SS
Ryan Drese, SP

RAYS
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Johnny Damon, LF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Manny Ramirez, DH
Dan Johnson, 1B
B.J. Upton, CF
Matt Joyce, RF
Kelly Shoppach, C
Sean Rodriguez, SS
Jeremy Hellickson, SP

Jason Berken will probably also pitch for the Orioles.

Nothing major to report from camp, except that you should keep an eye on Bergy as he makes his start today. It could determine whether he or Tillman starts the year in the rotation, since the Orioles are going with four starters to begin the season.

Also, the Yankees signed Millwood. Point and laugh, everyone, point and laugh.

Lineup time!

ORIOLES
Robert Andino 2B
Felix Pie LF
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters DH
Jake Fox C
Nolan Reimold RF
Brendan Harris 1B
Nick Green 3B
Cesar Izturis SS
Brad Bergesen RHP

TWINS
Denard Span CF
Tsuyoshi Nishioka 2B
Joe Mauer C
Justin Morneau 1B
Delmon Young LF
Jason Kubel DH
Michael Cuddyer RF
Danny Valencia 3B
Matt Tolbert SS
Scott Baker RHP

Expect to see Rapada and Johnson throw for the O’s today, as well.