Orioles have Presley on board for 2013

I hope that everyone in Birdland had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. Thanksgiving’s my favorite holiday, and in my opinion the only issue with it is that it doesn’t include baseball! I suppose in a way one could draw a parallel between Thanksgiving and Memorial Day in the sense that Memorial Day kind of signifies the arrival of summer and Thanksgiving does the same for winter. Thanksgiving and football are thought of in the same breath, as are Memorial Day and baseball. Nevertheless, it’s a great time to spend with friends and family as we celebrate all of the blessings that are bestowed upon us each year.

Courtesy of Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

On Wednesday masnsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reported that the Baltimore Orioles had resigned hitting coach Jim Presley. This comes as no surprise to Orioles fans, as manager Buck Showalter had expressed interested in retaining his entire coaching stff from 2012. And  why not, given the results? This means that the only coach still unsigned is third base coach DeMarlo Hale, and there are rumors that new/old Toronto manager John Gibbons might have interest in Hale. Obviously Toronto has assembled quite a team in the past couple of weeks, however one thing that the Orioles continue to hope is that they don’t wrestle their third base coach away as well.

With the coaching staff now almost in place, the Orioles can now start to look towards the winter meetings, which will take place in Nashville, TN from December 3-6, 2012. Not only is that a week-and-a-half away or so, however it also serves as the first “mark post” of sorts in the off season. The next one (for Orioles fans) is January 19, 2013 when the O’s will hold their annual FanFest at the Baltimore Convention Center from 11 AM – 6 PM. One would think that FanFest 2013 might be a bit extra special given the results of 2012. But time will tell. I hope everyone enjoys their leftovers today, and remember folks…no need to get in fights at stores over Black Friday merchandise!