The Orioles have signed 32-year old lefty reliever Will Ohman to a minor league deal. He pitched in 21 games (0 starts) for the Dodgers last season and he was 1-0 with 1 save, a 5.84 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. Ohman has now pitched in 324 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 11-9 with 3 saves, a 4.25 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Ohman will battle this spring for the right to be the lefty specialist out of the pen for the Orioles in 2010. I really like this signing for the Orioles who are putting together a solid bullpen for 2010.

The Baltimore Orioles have signed 25-year old righty swinging 3B Joel Guzman to a minor league deal. Guzman played in 120 games in AA+AAA ball last season and he was 112 for 418 (.268 avg, .759 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 12 homers and 59 RBIs. He has also played in 24 games in his major league career and he is 13 for 56 (.232 avg, .628 OPS) with 7 runs scored and 7 RBIs. The Orioles have nothing to lose by giving Guzman a chance this season to re-establish himself as a prospect.

The Orioles have re-signed 35-year old lefty starter/reliever Mark Hendrickson to a 1-year, $1.2 million dollar deal with a option for the 2011 season also worth $1.2 million bucks. Hendrickson pitched in 53 games (11 starts) for the Orioles last season and he was 6-5 with 1 save, a 4.37 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. The Orioles signed him with the idea of pitching him out of the pen where he was pretty effective in 2009. He only allowed 8 of 36 inherited runners to score (22%) which is pretty darn good. He also had a 3.44 ERA with a reliever and hitters only had a .708 OPS against Hendrickson when he was pitching out of the pen. Hendrickson has pitched in 268 games (165 starts) in his major league career now and he is 56-68 with 1 save, a 5.00 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. I like this signing for the Orioles.

The Orioles have designated 28-year old righty reliever Dennis Sarfate for assignment to make room on the roster for Miguel Tejada. Sarfate pitched in 20 games (0 starts) for the Orioles last season and he was 0-1 with a 5.09 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. He pitched two years for the Orioles appearing in 77 games (4 starts) in which he was 4-4 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. Sarfate has good stuff as he only allowed 83 hits in 102 2/3 innings for the Orioles while whiffing 106 batters. But, he didn’t throw enough strikes as he walked 76 batters the last two years and that is way too many. The Orioles will likely find a trade partner for Sarfate because of his stuff.

UPDATE: Sarfate has accepted a outright assignment to the minors by the Orioles and he will be in spring training trying to win a job in the pen with them.

The Orioles have signed 35-year old righty swinging Miguel Tejada to a 1-year deal to man 3B in 2010. He played in 158 games for the Astros last season and he was 199 for 635 (.313 avg, .795 OPS) with 83 runs scored, 14 homers, 86 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He has now played in 1,871 games in his major league career and he is 2,114 of 7,320 (.289 avg, .810 OPS) with 1,116 runs scored, 285 homers, 1,185 RBIs and 78 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see how well Tejada handles 3B but I think he will do a good job defensively there. The Orioles just traded him two years ago and they got five players from the Astros for him. During those two years with the Astros, Tejada played in 316 games in which he was 378 for 1,267 (.298 avg, .762 OPS) with 175 runs scored, 27 homers, 152 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. The five players the Orioles got back from the Astros was led by current DH Luke Scott who has played in 276 games for the Orioles the last two years in which he was 238 for 924 (.258 avg, .817 OPS) with 175 runs scored, 27 homers, 152 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. Righty reliever Matt Albers and Dennis Sarfate also came over in this deal. Albers has pitched in 84 games (3 starts) for the Orioles and he is 6-9 with a 4.66 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP while Sarfate has pitched in 77 games (4 starts) for the Orioles and he is 4-4 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. Lefty starting pitcher Troy Patton was one of the big keys to the trade for the Orioles but he hasn’t pitched for them yet. He missed all of the 2008 season recovering from surgery but he bounced back in the minors last year. He pitched in 20 games (all starts) last season in AA+AAA ball and he was 7-5 with a 3.83 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. 3B Mike Costanzo was the final played the O’s got from the Astros and he is beginning to look like a non-prospect. He has played in 211 games in AA+AAA ball the last two years and he is 181 for 755 (.240 avg) with 89 runs scored, 14 homers and 100 RBIs. This trade was a huge win for the Orioles who just rented Tejada to the Astros for a couple of years. Now the Orioles hope that Tejada has a big year for them in 2010. He has played in 619 games in his career with the O’s and he is 768 for 2,469 (.311 avg, .862 OPS) with 367 runs scored, 102 homers, 429 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. The signing of Tejada will allow the Orioles to play Garrett Atkins at 1B which is where they wanted him.