O's sign Cintron

You couldn't expect the Orioles to go with Luis Hernandez and Brandon Fahey at SS for the entire season, much less the entire month of April. So it should come as no surprise that the Orioles inked former Arizona and Chicago (AL) switch-hitting shortstop Alex Cintron to a MiL deal.

He'll start the season in Norfolk (AAA) but he's almost guaranteed to be Hernandez's replacement within a few weeks.

Cintron is nothing special, having posted a .605 OPS last year in 185 AB's. But even those horrid numbers should be a slight improvement over Luis Hernandez.

On the bright side, Cintron posted a .702 OPS in 2006 and has a career .716 OPS, so if he bounces back from his down year in 2007, Cintron could look like Miguel Tejada out there, compared to the likes of Hernandez and Fahey.

But the fact remains, the Orioles are as strong at SS as Glass Joe in Mike Tyson's Punch Out.