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Monday was a quiet day at Orioles spring training. The most exciting thing to happen was Orioles reporters tracking the comings and goings of Suk-min Yoon and his agent. Yoon's deal is official and final, according to the reporters, though it has not been announced by the team.
One sign it's official or soon will be is that the team cleared room on the 40-man roster in order to make room for Yoon. This was not announced formally either, but when the Royals announced that they had claimed Jimmy Paredes on waivers from the Orioles, you could put two and two together. Paredes was an Oriole for less than 48 hours. The marginal roster player leads a nomadic and lonely life.
Why was it quiet in Orioles camp today? There was some throwing and pitcher fielding practice in the morning, but in the afternoon it was a charity golf outing. Here's Darren O'Day being eccentric in a golf cart:
Styling in his cart, @DODay56 is here golfing for The Miracle League of Manasota. #OriolesREACH #OrangeSpring pic.twitter.com/QXmWR2n9TL
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) February 17, 2014
This was the fourth annual golf outing in support of the Miracle League, which was established to provide a baseball experience for children and adults with disabilities. Over the last three years, the Birdland Golf Classic has raised over $94,000 for the charity.
The official report date for position players has not occurred, but everyone is in camp already with the exception of Rule 5 pick Michael Almanzar.
One somewhat interesting thing to come out of the first few days of pitchers and catchers being in camp has been the work that the Orioles have been doing with Zach Britton. In an effort to improve the control of his sinker, he's been throwing off a mound to a movable target that is surrounded by strings. This sounds like some kind of Mission: Impossible type scenario, but the strings are actually just at the top and bottom of the strike zone and the target can be moved to simulate throwing inside to both lefty and righty batters.
According to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli, a similar setup was used, without the movable target, at minor league camp last season, but this would be the first time Britton has worked with the setup.
This is the kind of spring training mumbo-jumbo that usually amounts to nothing. You never know what trick might click for the right guy at the right time, though. Out of options, Britton could use a little something extra to force his way to the front of either the rotation or bullpen conversations. Improved command of his pitches would be showing something that he hasn't before.
