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East Notes: Joba, Wieters, O's, Damon, Durbin

Some items from the AL and NL East as the eastern clubs dive into Grapefruit League action...

• Joba Chamberlain won't be a Yankee by this time in 2012, predicts Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com.
• Matt Wieters is listed as one of "the most disappointing prospects of all time" by Steven Goldman of Baseball Prospectus.  "His glove and the dream of what might have been will keep him around for years, but stardom now seems spectacularly unlikely," Goldman writes.  Given that Wieters is entering just his third Major League season and hasn't turned 25 yet, this ranking seems awfully premature.
• The Orioles' farm system lacks depth, especially in comparison to its AL East rivals, writes FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.  "The team’s offseason moves...represent nothing more than a Band-Aid," Rosenthal says, noting that the O's "are practically a zero" when it comes to international scouting.  MLBTR's Tim Dierkes examined these issues in his offseason-in-review piece about Baltimore earlier today.
• Johnny Damon tells Ken Davidoff of Newsday that his free agent discussions with the Yankees this past winter involved a scenario that would have seen Damon make three starts per week for New York.  Damon turned the deal down since the lack of playing time would have hurt his quest for 3000 hits. 
• Damon also tells Peter Gammons (Twitter link) that had he known the Tigers weren't going to bring him back, he would have gone to the Red Sox when Boston claimed him on waivers last August.
• The Phillies made Chad Durbin a $2MM offer in December, considerably more than the $800K deal Durbin eventually signed with Cleveland, reports MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.  Once Philadelphia signed Cliff Lee, however, the team pulled back the contract and instead offered just a minor league deal.  "When Cliff signed, it took any ability to go back there on a Major League deal off the table," Durbin told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.  Durbin doesn't have any hard feelings towards the Phillies over the move: "You know, I'd take Cliff Lee over Chad Durbin."
• Anthony DiComo of MLB.com looks at the twists and turns of Tim Byrdak's baseball career.  The veteran left-hander is trying to make the Mets' Opening Day roster after signing a minor league deal with the team in January.

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