While Kevin Millar tries to find work with the Baltimore Orioles or whoever, the fun-loving first-baseman/designated hitter served as one of the co-hosts on the "Hot Stove" show Thursday night on the MLB Network.

Millar chatted a little bit about what is going on in the game today, and as well had a segment at the end of the show about hitting at Fenway Park (groan).

I guess his heart has not been too far away from Boston when it comes down to it.

The clips are also viewable on mlb.com. Oh well, but he's still a good guy, and I enjoyed him in Baltimore.

With more chips coming off the board in the past two days, one must think what else can the Orioles do to contend? As spring training is only about five-six weeks away, a lot of fans are not happy at all what Andy MacPhail is doing in the offseason.

Right now MacPhail is trying to build the team slowly, and build a bridge between the current team and what's on the farm; however, he's doing it looks on the cheap. It looks like MacPhail is looking to sign low-cost veterans to field a team while we wait for the kids.

As a fan and as a season ticket holder, I support the plan, but I do wish we could bring a name in with more pizazz than with no-name retreads. I know there are many different ways to build a team; alas, after eleven losing seasons, one would think a risk would have been taken to build up some excitement.

I was a bit shocked to see Brian Roberts' demands for a deal. While I do think Roberts if a fine player -- by the time he's done with the contract he wants, the second baseman will be in his decline phase. I was frankly surprised to even see that he and his agent were negotiating with the team and that dialogue was still open.

Does anyone think that he may be holding a gun to the team's head to get more money because he's the one the premier faces of the franchise and wants to be compensated for it? Again, I thought he would be traded --- however, does it show that winning isn't paramount for him like I thought?

I would think the Orioles would want to keep Brian on the team; however, wouldn't the prudent thing to do is trade him to a contender and get young talent to help the rebuilding process?

Baseball is a business, and now it seems like Brian Roberts and his agent is treating it as such.

If someone told me last month that John Smoltz would ever leave Atlanta and consider the possibility of playing in another uniform, I would have laughed at you.

Now it looks like one of the mainstays of those great Braves teams is now moving north to Boston. The Braves have seemingly given up on John Smoltz, due to his injuries and recovery from shoulder surgery. It looks like he will be joining the Red Sox in 2009. no comments

After seeing this, do YOU really think he wanted to go anywhere else but New York? He completely used every other team as bait to get a deal, and he'd rather be a piece of with a team - Boston or New York, rather than a focal point of a lineup - everyone else. He may have wanted to be a Yankee, and is saying the right things -- almost too perfectly -- but, he wants to win and the paycheck is definitely worthwhile.

I also think it's nice he listened to his wife, and she helped him come to a decision. Again, this does not make it any easier to stomach that he bypassed everyone else for a chance to wear pinstripes.

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ESPN's Keith Law has his take on the newest Oriole pitcher, Koji Uehara.

Uehara tends to work around the plate with good command of average stuff and, like many Japanese pitchers, throws his fastball in the upper half of the zone, which will make him susceptible to the long ball. This combination was the main red flag on Kei Igawa, and Hideki Irabu and Tomo Ohka were also extremely homer-prone in the U.S. Uehara's advantage is that his command is better than that of any of the other three pitchers, and he does pound the strike zone, issuing just 195 walks in 1,549 career innings in NPB

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If this is true about Giles, there's a place in hell reserved for him.

Well, perhaps the talk of Brian Roberts going to the Chicago White Sox may have been overblown. Here's the latest from Baltimore Sun columnist Peter Schmuck...

From the Baltimore Sun: Sounds like the Orioles won't be sending Brian Roberts to the White Sox for pitcher Gavin Floyd anytime soon, though that rumor seems to have more legs than the Rockettes. White Sox general manager Ken Williams made a statement yesterday through a spokesman that he hasn't talked to anyone from the Orioles about anything since November.

Though many O's fans think that Floyd would not represent fair value for BRob, the White Sox apparently feel that a 17-game winner with several years left under reserve is a pretty valuable commodity.

The big news of today in baseball was the unveiling of Mark Teixeira as a Yankee. We all know the details, and we know he didn't want to come to Baltimore; alas, seeing him in pinstripes was a little surreal after all that took place this off-season.

Mark said all the right things in his press conference, and only spoke glowingly of his new employers, but I'll be interested to see the reaction when comes back to his hometown for Opening Day.

Well, the other news that really intrigued me was that Carl Pavano found work in Cleveland. His deal is worth $1.5 million plus heavy incentives which he could earn an additional $5.3 million based on starts and innings pitched. The Indians got a pitcher on the cheap -- mostly because of his adventures in New York -- however, if he can be a .500 pitcher or better, he'll help them out greatly.

Now onto Baltimore...