This is the fourth of a four-part series spotlighting members of the media covering the Orioles. For each reporter/blogger, I e-mailed a series of five questions with a promise to print their answers verbatim. I hope I asked at least some of the questions you would have.

MONDAY: Jeff Zrebiec, Orioles beat reporter, The (Baltimore) Sun

Dean Jones, Jr., in addition to his duties as a web-based editor at The Sun, writes the "O's on Deck" blog focusing on the Orioles' minor league affiliates. I asked him about balancing all his duties at The Sun and coordinating with a team of reporters, among other topics. Let's begin....

1)  You are tasked with covering six different Orioles minor league affiliates with the "O's On Deck" blog at The Sun. How much contact do you have with someone from each team over the course of a week, and do you get the chance to see many of the games of any of the affiliates?

The good thing about covering the Orioles minor league affiliates is that, nowadays, they’re all – with the exception of the GCL (Gulf Coast League) Orioles – located within a one-day drive from Baltimore. Also, thanks to telephone and e-mail, it’s extremely easy to keep in contact with people from each team in the organization.

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Really, it is more than that, seven teams counting the Gulf Coast O's and nine if you count two teams in the Dominican Summer League.  That's over 200 players I think.

My first order of business is to speak often with David Stockstill, who heads up the O's minors.  He has been wonderful to deal with and understands I need to be in contact often with him to get info.

Since every minor league decision is made by or must pass through Dave's desk, he is a real key person for me and has been generous with his time and info.  Believe me, some days I'm sure he doesn't want yet another call from me, but he takes it or gets back as soon as he can.

In addition to that, I constantly check boxscores and stats for trends, injuries, hot hitters, etc.  I try to have at least one key contact with each club that I can get info from.  Also each day I am sent the daily game notes (via e-mail) by each of the full season teams.  I try to read each one or at least scan it for interesting info.

I don't get to see nearly as many games as I'd like, but do get to Frederick, Bowie and Aberdeen several times each.  I need to try and work in Delmarva and Norfolk this year.  The folks at each club are very helpful and really seem to appreciate the coverage.

So it's not so much weekly contacts, but trying daily to keep up with as much as I can and follow the big club.  I also have developed good relationships with many minor league players who have been nice enough to provide a phone number or e-mail contact.

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This is the second of a four-part series spotlighting members of the media covering the Orioles. For each reporter/blogger, I e-mailed a series of five questions with a promise to print their answers verbatim. I hope I asked at least some of the questions you would have.

MONDAY: Jeff Zrebiec, Orioles beat reporter, The (Baltimore) Sun

TODAY: Brittany Ghiroli, Orioles beat reporter, MLB.com

WEDNESDAY: Steve Melewski, Orioles blogger, MASNsports.com

THURSDAY: Dean Jones, Jr., Orioles minor league affiliates blogger, The (Baltimore) Sun

Brittany Ghiroli is starting her first year as the beat reporter for the Baltimore Orioles at MLB.com and orioles.com. I asked her about her use of Twitter, the relationship between MLB.com and MLB, and noticeable differences in covering the O's from other teams. Let's begin...

1)   What's a typical day at Spring Training like for a reporter? How much access do you have to players and staff during the day? How much of your access is "organized" (pressers) vs. "beat reporting" (finding players on your own around the complex and around town)?

I'm up at 6 a.m. and out the door a little after 7 a.m. By the time I arrive at Ed Smith (Stadium), I sit down and try to come up with a short list at the top of my notepad. It could be guys to touch base with on various injuries, some feature ideas, etc. I try to minimize the time I'm standing around in the clubhouse with nothing to do, which inevitably happens at some point during the day.

From 8-9 the clubhouse is open and you can basically get the players and coaches as you please, as long as they aren't on their way to go work out or eat or something. If it's a home afternoon game, you meet with (manager Dave) Trembley when the team takes batting practice around 11ish. After BP, the clubhouse is open again until an hour before first pitch. Again, it's get whomever is in there, and then you speak with the manager again right after the game ends. Some days you get a lot done and everyone you need to talk to is in the locker room. Other days, not so much. A good portion of your day is standing around waiting.

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This is the first of a four-part series spotlighting members of the media covering the Orioles. For each reporter/blogger, I e-mailed a series of five questions with a promise to print their answers verbatim. I hope I asked at least some of the questions you would have.

TODAY: Jeff Zrebiec, Orioles beat reporter, The (Baltimore) Sun

TUESDAY: Brittany Ghiroli, Orioles beat reporter, MLB.com

WEDNESDAY: Steve Melewski, Orioles blogger, MASNsports.com

THURSDAY: Dean Jones, Jr., Orioles minor league affiliates blogger, The (Baltimore) Sun

Jeff Zrebiec is the beat reporter for the Orioles for The Sun. I asked him about the structure of his work day, just how a game story is written, and what does it take for a rumor to actually make print. Let's begin...

1) What's a typical day at Spring Training like for a reporter? How much access do you have to players and staff during the day? How much of your access is "organized" (pressers) vs. "beat reporting" (finding players on your own around the complex and around town)?

I get to the complex at about 7:45 a.m. because the clubhouse is open from 8 to 9 a.m. Once the clubhouse closes, I do a little work (transcribe interviews, plan interviews, work on stories or notebooks, etc.) for about an hour in the media trailer and then I head out to the fields to watch the workout/batting practice. The media has about a 10-minute pregame meeting with manager Dave Trembley and then after batting practice, we have another 45 minutes to an hour of clubhouse access.

After that, we usually grab lunch and go up to the pressbox in time for the first pitch. Once the game is over, we meet again with Trembley and then the clubhouse opens again to the media if you need anybody else. After that, I head back to the media trailer and write my stories for the day. Obviously, this can change depending on the game time and location, but that's generally the typical day once the Grapefruit League season starts. Aside from the group interviews with Trembley, most of the interviews are done on an individual basis. 

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Whether you like it, hate it, or are apathetic, Garrett Atkins is an Oriole. We've all heard about Atkins' decline, but honestly I don't know that much about his career. He's only played in the National League, and out west at that, so I've never had much exposure to him. In an effort to hear from someone who actually watched him play, I reached out to Russ Oates at Purple Row and asked him a few questions about our new acquisition.

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Orioles fans know that there hasn't been much to get excited about regarding their team in sometime. Non-Orioles fans might have known that too if it came to their attention, but the O's have been largely forgotten by the baseball community over the past decade. Forgotten, that is, until they drafted a young man from Georgia Tech by the name of Matt Wieters. Before playing a day in professional baseball, Wieters was being dubbed "Mauer with Power" and projected to be one of the greatest catchers of all time. The hype was overwhelming and Matt Wieters was practically a legend when he stepped onto the field at Camden Yards on May 29th, 2009. What other rookie gets a standing ovation for fielding a bunt and has to step out of the batters box in his first career at-bat to acknowledge the screaming fans?

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I know that many of you are already aware of our next spotlighted blog, Camden Crazies. Daniel Moroz owns a unique place on the blogOsphere as his is the only blog that focuses on Orioles baseball almost solely through the perspective of advanced statistics. Several posters here at Camden Chat reference WAR, FIP. wOBA, and the like, but at Camden Crazies you get all of that and more which, combined with Daniel's ideas on improving our beloved Orioles, makes for a very informative and entertaining website.

If you recall the Mobbies, you might remember that Camden Crazies and Camden Chat were neck and neck for most of the voting period, with Camden Chat only pulling ahead on the last day. While I was somewhat familiar with Camden Crazies (and its prior version, Frost King Baseball), I'd never taken the time to really check it out until the Mobbies voting began. Since discovering what I was missing I've become a regular reader and the fact that I'd gone so long without knowing its awesomeness was part of my inspiration to start the Blog Spotlight series during this off-season.

Check out Daniel's thoughts on his blog, his favorite stat, and the Orioles in general below the jump. After that, head over to Camden Crazies and learn something new. And don't forget that Camden Crazies is the O's fans headquarters for your 2010 player projections.

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The next installment of Camden Chat's blog spotlight focuses on The Loss Column. I've been a fan of TLC for years as the creator, Neal Shaffer, writes regularly about Baltimore Sports, especially the Ravens and Orioles. With it being football season most of the current articles focus on football, but there's plenty to be found about the O's as well. What's refreshing about Neal's writing is that it's rare you'll the the "woe is me" mentality that can be prevalent among a lot of sports writing that's done by fans. On the "About" page, Neal points to an entry about Mark Teixeira that encapsulates the attitude and philosophy of TLC. I highly suggest giving it a read (and the rest of site as well).

See below the jump for my Q&A with Neal.

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