Baltimore
Orioles

News: Sardinha has signed a minor league deal with the Orioles, MASN Sports reports.
Impact: Sardinha has virtually no shot at making the team, even though his contract comes with a spring training invite. Taylor Teagarden and Ronny Paulino are above Sardinha on the depth chart.

News: Bergesen and the Baltimore Orioles have argued their cases in salary arbitration. Bergesen asked for a raise from $434,000 to $1.2 million during Wednesday's hearing, and the Orioles argued he should be paid $800,000.
Impact: Bergesen was 2-7 with a 5.70 ERA in 12 starts and 22 relief appearances last season.

News: Hunter may have become a more likely rotation candidate following the trade of Jeremy Guthrie, MASN Sports reports.
Impact: Hunter has more experience than most of the other rotation candidates and is more likely to be able to eat innings. His spot is anything but wrapped up and it is important to note he still has minor league options.

News: Britton will have plenty of other candidates to battle as he attempts to make the rotation this spring, MASN Sports reports.
Impact: Britton will draw comparisons to other graduated prospects such as Jake Arrieta, Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman. Of the four, Britton is the least tenured but he had the best 2011. It seems like he pitched well enough in his first taste of the big leagues to earn a shot to start early in the season. If not, Britton will toil away at Triple-A while he waits for a shot.

News: Matusz could begin spring training on the outside looking in when it come to a rotation spot, MASN Sports reports.
Impact: Out of all the Orioles rotation candidates, Matusz has the best stuff when his velocity works. The problem is his velocity went from the mid-90s in 2010 to the high-80s in 2011. We will monitor his velocity as soon as the Orioles hit camp and it should be a telling sign as to the likelihood Matusz makes the rotation this April.

News: Arrieta (elbow) may have a leg up on some of the other rotation candidates heading into spring training, MASN Sports' Roch Kubatko reports.
Impact: According to Kubatko, Arrieta seems to be in better favor with manager Buck Showalter than other rotation candidates. If he has fully recovered from the bone spur in his elbow he would be one of the more likely possibilities to fill out the back end of the rotation.

News: Tillman seems like one of the more unlikely candidates to make Baltimore's rotation this spring, according to MASN Sports' Roch Kubatko.
Impact: Out of the four graduated pitching prospects vying for rotation spots - Jake Arrieta, Zach Britton, Brian Matusz and Tillman - Tillman has had the least success at the MLB level. He even struggled some in Triple-A in 2011. Tillman has a lot to prove and there is no shortage of rotation candidates heading into camp.

News: Executive vice president Dan Duquette did not mention Gregg in his plans for the back of the bullpen, according to MASN Sports.
Impact: The Orioles appear set to let Jim Johnson and Matt Lindstrom battle it out for the closer's role this spring while Gregg falls to a seventh inning or middle relief role. This should not come as a surprise given Gregg's struggles in 2011.

News: With Baltimore's acquisition of Matt Lindstrom, it seems likely Johnson will have to earn the closer's role in spring training, according to MASN Sports.
Impact: The Orioles still are not sure what to do with Johnson. The club continues to toy with the idea of converting him to a starter. Either way, the Lindstrom trade means Johnson's role is unclear heading into spring training.

News: Orioles vice president Dan Duquette noted he has happy to have Lindstrom and Jim Johnson at the back of the bullpen, according to MASN Sports.
Impact: Duquette did nothing to say that the closing job belongs to one or the other, but he also mentioned the team has had offseason discussions over whether to try out Johnson as a starter. The most likely scenario is that these two duke it out for the closer's job during spring training.

News: Rapada has been designated for assignment by the Orioles, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports.
Impact: The Orioles needed a roster spot in the wake of the 2-for-1 deal that netted the team Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom from the Rockies for Jeremy Guthrie. Rapada had an unsightly 6.06 ERA in 16.1 innings last season, but he has held lefties to a .153 average in his career (18-for-136) which suggests future deployment as a lefty specialist once the dust settles.

News: Lindstrom and Jason Hammel have been traded from the Rockies to the Orioles, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Impact: There's always been a disconnect between Lindstrom's 96 mph fastball and his lack of strikeouts, and that's prevented him from getting a bigger role at the back end of the bullpen in his previous stops. With the O's closer situation somewhat unsettled, it's possible that Lindstrom could be part of that picture.

News: Hammel and Matt Lindstrom have been traded from the Rockies to the Orioles, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Impact: Hammel's strikeout rate dropped sharply last season, which isn't a formula for success no matter the venue. He'll be in the O's rotation, so in AL-only leagues he'll have his moments, but there's too many starts against AL-East teams for him to have too much value.

News: Fossum has agreed to a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles. The 34-year-old Fossum last pitched in the majors in 2009 with the New York Mets and spent last season with the Mets' Triple-A team at Buffalo.
Impact: Fossum is 40-53 with a 5.45 ERA in nine big league seasons. Selected by Boston in the first round of the 1999 amateur draft, Fossum broke into the majors with the Red Sox in 2001 and pitched for Arizona, Tampa Bay and Detroit before his three-game stint with New York in 2009. Fossum was not invited to major league spring training camp.