I'm not up in arms about this, because honestly I don't think anything he said was particularly bitchy.

He wants to play the field, he realizes it's not happening. Maybe he shouldn't have talked about it for so long, but what about that really has you so mad? Especially the part where he says, "I understand where they are coming from ... I am in the big leagues and as long as I hit and we're winning, I am going to be happy."

I'd rather him have just kept his mouth shut I guess, but I'm sure if the team is playing well he'll be happy as the everyday DH.

I still hate Gibbons though.

But I don't think what he had to say was that bad. Imagine you're in his position? The team signed him to a pretty nice extension, which you'd think translates into a steady job, and then he loses it to a young kid. Jay didn't say that Nick doesn't deserve to play RF, just that he wishes Nick played another position so that Jay would have some place to play. And that seems like a perfectly reasonable wish, even though it won't happen. As far as the 1B stuff, we're obviously not privy to the all the goings on of the team, but they did seem to stop it rather quickly, which seemed odd. I hadn't heard that he'd done horribly there in practice, the way we heard about Javy last year.

And I don't agree that Jay isn't an offensive threat, he just can't seem to stay healthy. He could be better than servicable if he'd just stay healthy, which I think he'd recognize as a reason to embrace the DH role. Though I certainly understand why guys don't want to do that. They play baseball, and it's fun! They don't want to give up half of the game.

They signed me and they said that we want you as our right fielder. Stuff happens. I'd rather have Nick Markakis on this team and be playing a different position. He helps our team out and he's a good guy. We need him. So I am fully fine with that.

He's not saying he wants Nick to be playing a different position. If he were, he'd have said "on this team and playing", not "on this team and be playing". The "be" refers to himself, Gibbons. He's saying, "rather than not have Nick on the team, I'd rather he was on the team and [I] be playing a different position."

In other words: play Nick, by all means, and play him in RF by all means ("So I am fully fine with that"). Just move me to a different position as opposed to DHing me.

It's actually a very gracious thing to say.

Truth be told, this is the second straight spring where the Orioles have gone into camp looking to convert someone to first base, given them minimal reps there, and tossed them aside, leaving them more or less without an actual position. Scott Hatteberg becoming a good first baseman didn't happen in a week, it took some serious work. And maybe Javy Lopez wasn't so gung-ho (I don't know), but I doubt Gibbons wasn't putting in the effort to learn 1B.