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In yesterday’s spring training game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies, Orioles’ pitching prospect Zach Britton made his major league spring training debut in the bottom of the third, relieving starter and fellow pitching prospect Chris Tillman with his team up 2-1. He then proceeded to throw two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, Ryan Howard.

Granted, that could mean he’s got great stuff and could transfer such success over to the majors, and it could mean absolutely nothing, as some things in spring training tend to do, but one thing is for sure: That’s a pretty impressive spring debut for any pitcher.

Britton, one of the five starting pitching prospects that Orioles’ President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail likes to group into what he calls “The Cavalry,” is viewed by many to have a bright future ahead of him once he makes it up to the bigs.

The case for his future success was made just a little bit stronger after viewing what he did to a Phillies’ lineup that featured six of their nine projected Opening Day starters.

A lefty who isn’t known for one single awesome pitch, but a variety of very good pitches such as his fastball and slider, Britton has spent five years in the Orioles’ minor league system, making it up to AAA Norfolk during the second half of last year, where he went 3-4 with a 2.98 ERA. His minor league numbers are a 37-28 record while sporting an ERA of 3.09.

Between AA Bowie and the AAA level last year, Britton combined to go 10-7 with a 2.70 ERA while amassing a career-high 153.1 innings pitched. That’s the second straight year the young hurler has had an ERA of 2.70, when in 2009 he went 9-6 over 140.0 innings pitched.

Many experts see him with the potential to be a No. 2 or 3 starter in the majors, while also making the prediction he will be in the big leagues by September, when rosters expand to 40 players per team.

Though it is universally agreed that, barring anything unforeseen in spring training, Britton definitely needs more time at the AAA level to develop, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see him in the majors as early as June, maybe even May.

Utility player Jake Fox caught for the O’s in their game against the Phillies, and after the game told reporters that the prized young pitcher making his spring training debut was “nervous as hell.”

“So I went out there to talk to him,” Fox explained to reporters, “and I was going to say something important and serious, but then I saw the look on his face and I knew that nothing was going to register because he was all jittery. I just told him a joke to see if it would loosen him up a little bit.”

It didn’t. But despite his nerves, Fox was very impressed with the way Britton pitched. He described the youngsters’ approach as “he came right after the guys,” and even went as far as saying he could pitch in the major leagues today and handle. He admitted that there’s room for improvement, but also added that everyone has room for improvement, and said the kid’s got great stuff.

True, that’s just the opinion of a utility infielder battling for a backup job, but no matter his status in the major leagues, he knows baseball. He has to in order to have made it this far in his career. So that opinion, coming from anyone involved in major league baseball, is a refreshing and supportive argument for the player. And he’s not the only one who sees the kid that way, as many experts and even O’s manager Buck Showalter do as well.

Don’t be surprised if you see Britton throwing out the first pitch of the ballgame at Camden Yards before the public schools let out for the summer. And don’t be surprised if he is successful this year as well. The kid’s got a sky-high ceiling. All he needs to do is reach his potential the best he can, and let the rest work itself out, because if he does that, it’ll work itself out in his favor.

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With Opening Day just over a month away, there is more excitement in the air in Baltimore about the upcoming baseball season than there has been in a long time.

Many factors contribute to that excitement, namely manager Buck Showalter. What he did the last two months of the 2010 season for the birds and what President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail achieved over the offseason provided for positivity coming into this season.

Many solid veteran players were brought in to help teach, support and protect the many young studs the Orioles are relying upon to take the team back to the .500 mark, and back to respectability.

First baseman Derrek Lee, DH Vladimir Guerrero and potential closer Kevin Gregg are just a few of the names who will have a huge impact on the team this coming season. But the new guys, all of whom are good major league players, can’t carry the team on their own.

Showalter will be relying on players such as catcher Matt Wieters and center fielder Adam Jones to grow into their sky-high potential, and fan favorites Nick Markakis (right field) and Brian Roberts (second baseman) will look to bounce back from a down year and increase production.

I know, I get it. The Giants weren’t as bad as the Orioles. But if you think about it, the Orioles projected starting 2011 lineup looks very similar to the 2010 World Series championship San Francisco Giants’ team.

Luke Scott is fairly equivalent to Aubrey Huff at the plate, as is J.J. Hardy to Edgar Renteria (though Hardy is a better fielder and has higher potential at the plate).

If Wieters starts to find his grove at the plate this year, he’ll not only be a very good-to-great defensive catcher, but a threat at the plate and depending on the numbers he puts up, could be pretty similar to Giants’ catcher Buster Poser.

We all know Wieters and Posey both have potential, so it’ll be fun to see how each of them grow throughout their career. Posey, however, has the obvious jump-start on Wieters.

Up and down the 2011 O’s projected lineup, you can see the similarities to the 2010 Giants. The Giants had no superstar, no Teixeira or Longoria or Pujols hitting in the middle of their lineup. They also built a solid bench, giving them many options late in the game for pinch-running, pinch-hitting or defensive substitutions.

With the exception of Vlad Guerrero, the O’s appear to be very much the same way. One through nine, the O’s can hit.

I know that the patchwork-type lineup style doesn’t work for every team that tries it every season, but it’s food for thought and there’s no reason the O’s can’t make it work.

But the linchpin for this club is the young starting rotation.

We all saw how the Giants made their run to becoming the best baseball team last season. It was their young, but experienced, pitching staff, anchored by two-time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

Their young pitching is what pushed them through those five and seven game series, and allowed their hitters to not have to be so pressured to put up lopsided numbers against the likes of Roy Halladay, Derek Lowe and Cliff Lee in order to win (though they did tee-off of Lee in Game 1 of the World Series).

Pitching wins championships. The Giants were just the latest example of that. And if the O’s young guns in their rotation can figure out how to pitch like the Giants staff, then they can bring back a championship to Charm City in the near future.

I’m not saying it will happen this year or even next, but once guys like Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta and Brad Bergesen figure out how to succeed at the major league level, the rest of the AL better watch out.

Like the Giants, the Orioles have a very young starting staff with amazing potential. All they need to do is figure out how to harness it, which is easier said than done.

Five prospects that MacPhail likes to refer to as “The Cavalry” are being trusted with being able to help carry the O’s back to being the golden franchise they once were.

It can be assumed that all of the pitchers—Matusz, Arrieta, Bergesen, Chris Tillman and Zach Britton—won’t pan out and live up to their potential, but it also safe to assume that at least two or three of them will and provide either steady, dependable pitching work for years to come, or burst on to the scene and become as successful as fellow AL East aces Jon Lester, CC Sabathia and David Price have become.

Those five, along with the Orioles’ rotation mainstay Jeremy Guthrie, can help provide the Orioles franchise with some great baseball in the years to come.

But like I’ve said, the success of the team all comes back to those players, because good pitching equals winning and right now, O’s fans don’t necessarily need a championship, just a winning season after 13 consecutive sub-.500 years.

The Orioles should look at the 2010 Giants as a model of a success.

If they do that and listen closely to the coaching of Showalter and all of the well-known baseball minds he brought in to help him coach this team, the Orioles should begin a steady rise to baseball prosperity.

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Baltimore Orioles’ right fielder Nick Markakis has become the face of the franchise in Charm City. He was the first of the team’s “young guns” to make it to the big leagues back in 2006, and after a fantastic rookie season and even better sophomore campaign, he put up solid number in ’08 and ’09, only to regress considerably in 2010.

The regression, however, was more than likely not his fault.

Last year, the right fielder put up a batting average of .297, which is very solid anyway you look at it, and consistent with what he has done throughout the rest of his career. His OBP was .370, a great number. But he only hit 12 bombs and drove in a measly 60 runs, while generally being the No. 3 bat in the lineup.

I’m telling you, it wasn’t his fault.

Consider, if you will, who was batting in front of him much of the season—Julio Lugo, Corey Patterson and occasionally, Cesar Izturis. Second baseman Brian Roberts appeared in only 59 games last season, and being the Orioles’ leadoff man for the past six or eight years, it’s fairly obvious he’s something special atop the lineup.

Without Roberts getting on base in front of Markakis, the right fielder had no one to drive in almost every at-bat. And when someone in front of Markakis did manage to get on, they usually didn’t get extra bases, making it hard for Markakis to drive them in with the pitches he was being thrown.

Which takes us to the next part of the equation: How he was being pitched to.

Imagine, you’re a major league pitcher going up against the 2010 Baltimore Orioles. The middle of their lineup consisted of Markakis, Ty Wigginton, Luke Scott and Adam Jones. Who would you like to avoid out of the four of them? If you said Markakis, then your line of thinking is exactly what almost every other pitcher had last season.

Markakis was easily the most talented hitter in the Orioles’ lineup last year and is probably still in the top three-headed going into the 2011 season with the O’s revamped lineup. But last year, he had virtually no protection and pitchers gave him a healthy serving of fastballs down and away the whole season. How can one pull a fastball down and away over the right field wall? The opposing pitchers could afford to do this because if they hit the strike zone, great, but if they walked him, there were easier guys to get out hitting behind him.

Although he did hit 45 doubles last year (his fourth season in a row with 40+ doubles), he was limited to a lot of singles due to those outside pitches. Even though his batting average with runners in scoring position was somewhere in the .330 range, it was hard for him to drive in a guy from second when all he could do with what he was being pitched was to slap it to left field for a single.

This season, expect all that to change.

A healthy Roberts will do wonders for this team’s run scoring potential, and though that is no guarantee, so far this offseason the O’s offensive catalyst has proclaimed he is as healthy as ever. If the most important hitter in the O’s lineup can stay on the field, he will give the rest of the guys plenty of opportunities to drive in some runs.

As far as the rest of the guys, Markakis has some new lineup protections and it’s pretty stacked. Markakis will be pushed up to the second hole in the batting order, where he has historically hit better at anyway, due to the talent the Orioles have brought in to fill out the order. First baseman Derrek Lee will most likely be hitting third, and after having an injured, down year last season (a down year in which he still drove in 80 men), his thumb is all healed and he’s ready to show he’s still a big hitter on his one-year deal.

After Lee, DH Vladimir Guerrero will probably be hitting fourth, and we all know what Vlad is capable of. The next three bats will most likely be left fielder Luke Scott, third baseman Mark Reynolds and center fielder Adam Jones. Scott and Reynold could be flipped depending on how the opposing pitching matchup looks. How’s that for lineup protection?

With less pressure and better pitches to hit, I expect Markakis’ numbers to go back up to at least what he did in 2009, when he had a line of .293/18/101. For a No. 2 hitter, that is phenomenal, but he is capable of so much more.

All O’s fans should hope for Markakis to return to form, but at the same time, they shouldn’t be to worried about him. He’s a great talent with an awesome bunch of guys hitting behind him, so he should see his share of fastballs inside that he can yank onto Eutaw Street out over the big scoreboard in right. But even if he can’t drive in runs like he used to, he’ll still be a great contributor to the team, hitting around .300 with 40+ doubles and working plenty of walks, all while playing Gold Glove caliber defense.

Anyway you cut it, he’s a valuable player to the team. Expect him to return to the value he had shown prior to this past baseball season.

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The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a one-year, $8 million contract with notorious slugger and possible future Hall-of-Famer Vladimir Guerrero.

And we all thought Andy MacPhail wouldn’t raise the offer.

Now, I’m not going to go all “Vlad is the 2011 Orioles‘ savior” on you. But there is no doubt that his addition will help the Orioles win a few more games this coming season, as long as he stays healthy and hits, which he always seems to do as long as he’s standing in the batter’s box.

With this signing, the Orioles’ projected 2011 lineup automatically becomes one of the best in the league. Along with Vlad, the O’s have added first baseman Derrek Lee, shortstop J.J. Hardy, and homer-but-strikeout-prone third baseman Mark Reynolds.

Putting Vlad in the middle of the likes of right fielder Nick Markakis, Lee, Reynolds and left fielder Luke Scott fleshes out the lineup beyond belief, taking pressure off of the young bats like Markakis, Hardy, center fielder Adam Jones and catcher Matt Wieters. On top of all that, Lee will be getting some help in the “veteran presence in the lineup” department.

Slotting Vladdy into the DH spot pushes Scott onto the field, and while some may see that as a problem, Scott isn’t a terrible defensive option out there in left. He’s a lot better than most people assume, maybe even slightly above league average. I’ll tell you one thing—he’s a way better option than players like Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon or even former Oriole Jay Gibbons.

Those who call for the trade of Scott now that the Orioles have Vlad are missing the point of the singing: Vlad adds a legitimate cleanup hitter to an already pretty good offense on paper, and trading Scott—a very nice complementary piece in a lineup such as the one the Orioles would be putting on the field on Opening Day—would almost completely negate the signing of Guerrero.

While Vlad very obviously swings a better bat than Scott, trading a guy who will put up a line of .260-.280/20-30 HR/60-80 RBI year in and year out for a one-year rental, who is a lot younger than the one-year rental, wouldn’t make any sense, and it would leave the lineup with only two possible everyday left-handed bats in Markakis and Felix Pie. As it is, the lineup will probably only have two left-handers with Scott here, though Brian Roberts and Wieters are both switch-hitters.

And just as Scott complements Vlad, Vlad compliments Reynolds. Being a serious 40-homer threat, Reynolds will provide exciting power the Orioles and their fans haven’t seen in years. He will leave fans on the edge of their seats waiting to see if he ties the game up late with a three-run bomb into the left-field bleachers…or simply strikes out.

Having struck out over 200 times in each of the past three seasons, something that no other player in baseball history has achieved (for lack of a better word) even once in a season, it’s almost literally “homer or K” with this guy.

But with all the free-swinging Vlad does that he’s known for, he’s never reached 100 strikeouts in a single season, topping out at 95 in 1998 and walking back to the dugout from the batter’s box only 60 times last year in 643 plate appearances. How’s that for having a batter to offset Reynold’s insane strikeout numbers while still providing great production?

Vlad won’t only help Reynolds, though. No, he’ll help the order one through nine, taking pressure off every other batter in the lineup and giving them better pitches to hit. Pitchers don’t want to pitch to guys like Vlad, so they’ll pitch to the batters in front of him—be it Markakis or Lee or Reynolds—hoping to get them out so that either they don’t have to face Vlad that inning or won’t have runners on when they do. He adds fear to a lineup full of good hitters who can use that extra little boost to receive better pitches to drive.

And while he’ll be helping the rest of the batting order, especially the young guns to perform up to those oh-so-high expectations, he’ll also be helping the pitchers’ mental games.

The pitchers, who are mainly young guys who have high ceilings, will feel so much better knowing they have a great offensive lineup to back them up with they make any mistakes. They’ll feel like they can win without having to be perfect, which I’m sure they didn’t feel much of last season, when the Orioles had one of the most anorexic lineups in the majors.

That’s not to take away from any of the guys who have been added already, but Vlad only contributes more to that secure mental feeling for the pitching staff.

I’ve acknowledged the fact that he probably won’t be as good as he was in 2010, but even if he can be good, which we all know is probable being that he always hits, he’ll be a great offensive addition to the lineup.

Mentality goes a long way, and if I’m anyone who will be on the Orioles’ Opening Day roster, I’m feeling like this team can make a serious run at the AL Wild Card this season.

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The Orioles have agreed to sign free-agent starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer to a one-year deal that could be worth up to $4.5 million, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.

Duchscherer will make a base salary of $700K guaranteed, and another $1.1 million when he makes the roster, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. To obtain the entire $4.5 million on the contract, he’ll then have to make at least 30 starts at the major-league level.

It was heard earlier Sunday that Duchscherer had narrowed down his list to the Orioles, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals, with the Mariners dropping out of consideration shortly thereafter.

Over 32 starts (194 2/3 innings pitched), he has a 14-11 record with a 3.01 ERA, all but his first two with the Oakland Athletics.

Though primarily a reliever throughout his career (3.22 ERA in 260.1 innings pitched) as 2008 was his only full season as a starter (22 starts), he will be expected to help solidify a young Orioles rotation with his 33 year-old veteran presence, something that shouldn’t be hard as long as he can stay healthy.

A couple of factors were involved in the pitcher’s decision to sign with Baltimore, including his desire to be near his son, who lives in southern New Jersey, and remain a starting pitcher, a role the Orioles could guarantee him, as the point of his signing is to help provide stability to the young rotation.

Duchscherer, who is known as a control artist, missed all of the 2009 season and made only five starts during his 2010 campaign due to elbow problems, hip surgery, and depression.

The deal is pending a physical, which he is slated to take sometime in the middle of this week, weather permitting.

He had scheduled another throwing session for major league teams to view him throw on Tuesday, but that obviously won’t be needed at this point.

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According to the incredible website www.mlbtraderumors.com, the Baltimore Orioles and free agent DH Vladimir Guerrero are close to working out a one-year deal worth a “humbling amount”.

Assuming this deal gets done, I will be posting an article shortly thereafter discussing my views on the deal in detail. But let me tell you this much right now: I wouldn’t be opposed to it, because just think of how much fun it would be to be an Orioles fan during the 2011 season.

Vlad the Impaler would add quite the presence to an already above-average 2011 projected lineup on paper. Think about it:

Roberts – 2B

Markakis – RF

Lee – 1B

Vlad – DH

Reynolds – 3B

Scott – LF

Jones – CF

Wieters – C

Hardy – SS

I know, moving Scott to left would take time away from Pie and Reimold. But consider the fact that Pie would then become the 4th outfielder, and Reimold would be able to take some more hacks at AAA to improve upon the success he was having there towards the end of the 2010 season and up his confidence even more, and it doesn’t look that bad. Not to mention Vlad would offer that “feared hitter” presence that the lineup lacks (Lee needs to bounce back, so he can’t qualify, and Reynolds doesn’t have the average and strikes out too much to be an all-around “feared hitter”, though I’m sure his homer total does intimidate some pitchers).

Scott isn’t as bad a fielder as he’s made out to be in left, so even though he’d be a bit worse range-wise than Pie, he’d definitely have a more solid, reliable glove in terms of reading the ball and getting jumps, being a veteran. And with Jones’ range in center, Luke’s lack thereof would be made up for.

And hey, if the O’s aren’t in contention by the trade deadline, they could always flip Vlad to another team who needs the bat for a prospect or two.

I’m usually against signings such as these, but really, there’s more upside to this potential deal than there is downside, and at the very least, us O’s fans would be assured of plenty of fireworks at Camden this season. I’d enjoy the hell out of that.

Like I said, more to come if the deal is completed. Keep your fingers crossed.

UPDATE: Andy MacPhail has shot down the report, telling Steve Melewski of www.masnsports.com that it is “simply not accurate”. Who knows if MacPhail is telling the truth or not, considering he likes to keep his cards close to him and not release anything until it’s a done deal. I’ll keep you posted.

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With the signing of reliever Kevin Gregg to a two-year, $10 million deal, the Baltimore Orioles have loaded their bullpen up with late-inning options.

Gregg joins fellow righties Jim Johnson, Koji Uehara and freshly signed Jeremy Accardo, as well as lefty Mike Gonzalez, in the back end of the O’s bullpen. With all of these guys having had a season with 10 or more saves at the Major League level (as well as Alfredo Simon, who may or may not be with the team in 2011 due to legal issues), the debate of which one of them will close begins.

We can be almost certain that, barring anything unforeseen, Johnson will be proving he is healthy in a 7th or 8th inning set-up role and Accardo will likely be doing the same as a middle reliever. Each have had injury-plagued seasons the past few years after having very strong seasons in 2008 and 2007, respectively. Both guys have been very good before and will be hungry to prove they still are this season.

After singing a two-year, $12 million deal in December of 2009 to be the closer for the O’s in 2010, Gonzalez blew two of his first three saves in an O’s uniform, then went on the disabled list for a good three months. He came back as effective as ever in a set-up role for the O’s, and that’s likely going to be where he remains in manager Buck Showalter’s 2011 Orioles bullpen.

Gonzalez remains an effective late-inning option for an O’s manager who is praised for his ability to use a bullpen to the best of its ability, and the fact that Gonzalez is a good left-handed pitcher makes him more appealing to use in the 7th and 8th innings against tough left-handed batters.

That leaves Gregg, who saved 37 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010 to go along with a 3.51 ERA in 59 innings pitched, and Uehara, who became the O’s closer once Showalter took over in August of last season and saved 13 games, finishing the season with a 2.86 ERA.

Each pitcher has their strengths and weaknesses. Gregg is an experienced closer in the MLB, having saved over 120 games during the past four years, and has a bulldog mentality. He won’t give in to a batter, which helps attribute to his relatively high walk totals. He’d rather walk a tough batter than give in and give him something to hit, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the situation.

But Gregg will blow his share of saves, doing so six times last year. His save percentage last season was 86%, and anything over 85% is considered good, so though he will blow games, he’s a good option to close out a game among most late-inning type guys in the MLB and has shown he can do it in the AL East.

Uehara, while not having anything in his pitching repertoire completely overpowering to most MLB hitters, has pin-point location and almost never walks batters. In fact, Uehara set an Orioles’ franchise record by not allowing a walk over his final 32 appearances, spanning 34 innings pitched, and had the fewest walks per 9.0 innings (1.02) and best strikeout-to-walk ratio (11-1) of all AL relievers. He also had a strikeout ratio of 11.25 per 9.0 innings pitched, second among AL relievers. The only downside he has presented thus far is his inability to show he can stay healthy during the grueling 162-game season in his first two years in the MLB.

Manager Showalter has expressed his desire to remain open-minded with the closing situation, and has even suggested the possibility of having a closer-by-committee option, stating that he likes to go with the “hot hand”; in other words, whichever pitcher has a strong streak of great pitching going. Though I’m a person who enjoys looking at awesome statistics, like high batting averages or large save totals, I feel as though that would be the best option for the O’s, at least going into the 2011 season, unless someone proves they’re very obviously the best for the job in Spring Training.

Gregg’s blown saves numbers scare me, as does Uehara’s inability to stay healthy all year. Using each conservatively and interchangeably would maximize their abilities without over-exposing Gregg or over-working Uehara. During games where Uehara would be slotted to close it out, Gregg could help set-up, or Showalter could even use the both of them or three different pitchers in the 9th to throw the opposing batters in the on-deck circle off.

Whatever Showalter decides to do late in the ball game, he has plenty of options to work with, each of which being a solid one. On paper, President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail has supplied the Orioles’ manager with a revamped, strong bullpen going into the 2011 season. Hopefully, the new bullpen will stay healthy and respond to the O’s needs, consistently slamming the door on many wins during the 2011 season.

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Free Agent third baseman Adrian Beltre is no longer a free agent, after signing a 6-year, $96 million deal with the Texas Rangers.

I’m sure this move is getting some Rangers fans very excited.

If I were a Rangers fan, I’d be upset.

Adrian Beltre isn’t a $96 million dollar player. Not even if the deal were for 10 years. He’s not worth that much money. The Rangers are wasting money that they could put towards a veteran pitcher, either through free agency or trade. Even if they had cut the deal by just $10 million, they’d have an extra $10 million to use on upgrading their team in another way.

Adrian Beltre isn’t a team player. Notice how he waited for his $90-plus million deal to decide that he wanted to win. He could have wanted to win with the Oakland A’s, a much improved, young team in need of good leadership and veteran presence, or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a team that, with him in their lineup, would have a much better shot at taking the division in 2011.

The Rangers, in making this signing, are disrespecting the face of their franchise, Michael Young, by making him move positions yet again. Making him move once to make room for Elvis Andrus is one thing. Making him move a second time in two years, that’s disrespectful. I don’t care that he says he’s okay with it. Deep down, he’s upset, and he should be.

Yes, Beltre is the superior third baseman defensively. But that’s like the Yankees resigning Mariano Rivera and then telling him they don’t want him closing anymore. You just don’t do that, especially to the face of your franchise, two times in two years.

This deal is going to come back to bite the Rangers in the butt, because the amount of money Beltre will be stealing from the organization isn’t anything close to what he should earn for the down numbers he’ll put up for the next few years. Beltre is a good player, but not $96 million good, and not when he’s not motivated by a contract year.

Look back through his career. He’s only ever once had a season that was as good, or better, than the one he put up for the Boston Red Sox in 2010, and that was his contract year in 2004 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which was a monster year. Since then, he hasn’t come anywhere close to those numbers, being a bust in Seattle when the Mariners decided to give him a try. He couldn’t put up what he did in 2004, and he couldn’t stay healthy.

He’ll be 32 at the beginning of the 2011 season. That means he’ll be getting to the point of “old for a ballplayer” in the final couple years of his contract. And with age comes slower bat speed and lower numbers at the plate. Since when is it smart to pay a 37-year-old third baseman $18 million?

While this move will improve the Rangers if Beltre can stay healthy, it’s going to cost them way too much for what the man is worth on the diamond. For the sake of the organization and it’s fans, I hope I’m wrong, but I’ve had a bad feeling about Beltre since the beginning of the off-season, and for whatever team it was that decided to give him the $90 million-plus that he wanted.

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The Baltimore Orioles need a first baseman.

As former Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar might say: “It’s time for the O’s to cowboy up and get it done.”

That’s the feeling every Oriole fan is experiencing at this moment in time in regards to the first base situation, which has been dragging on for most of the offseason.

At first, it was losing out on their number one target, catcher/first baseman/DH Victor Martinez by two million dollars to the Detroit Tigers. Then came Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko signing with the Chicago White Sox.

Now, the Orioles are left with the last two “top” free agent first baseman left on the market in Derrek Lee and Adam LaRoche, and the urgency to sign one of them increases each passing day.

LaRoche was the Orioles’ main target between the two at the annual Winter Meetings in early December. It makes sense: He is fairly young (31) with a very consistent bat and a great glove. The only real drawbacks to him are the fact that he is a left-handed hitter, something the Orioles are already loaded with and that he wants a three-year deal, a length of time that the Orioles’ front office isn’t comfortable with.

It is safe to assume the Orioles had offered a LaRoche a lucrative deal weeks ago, but whether it was a two or three-year deal has yet to be released. Either way, LaRoche has sat on the deal for way too long, hoping either he got a better offer money or years-wise, or that a contender offers him a job.

LaRoche is a good player, but isn’t good enough for a team to justify bidding against themselves in order to win his services. This is why I now say that the Orioles need to grab Derrek Lee and grab him now, so that this whole ordeal is over and done with and they can focus on their pitching, the rotation and bullpen.

Lee is older (35), and is coming off an injured and down year. But Lee is a right-handed run producer (he drove in 80 runs last season in his down year, and averages 90 during a 162-game season), a great fielder and a clubhouse leader.

Coming off a year in which his thumb was injured, he can be expected to bounce back, much like third baseman Adrian Beltre did last year when he signed a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox,or former O Aubrey Huff did in San Francisco with the World Series champion Giants.

And like Beltre and Huff, Lee would be willing to sign a one-year deal in order to re-establish himself as a feared hitter, something the Orioles sorely lack and haven’t had since the 2005 season when they had an Opening Day lineup featuring Miguel Tejada, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.

After having thumb surgery in the beginning of the offseason, Lee should be ready to go with the bat and glove on Opening Day 2011. It would be a real surprise to everyone in the MLB and whoever follows it if Lee doesn’t have a good year next season, if not a great one.

Lee would be very motivated to produce a good year in order to hit the free agent market in 2011 and get a three-year deal with an annual salary of $10 million or up.

The fact that he has played his entire career in the National League shouldn’t be used against him, as hitters of his experience and ability often aren’t defined by the league they play in. They can hit wherever and will step it up when the situation presents the need, such as the mentioned re-establishment of a one-year deal.

It was well known that at the beginning of the offseason, Lee wanted to sign with a contender and didn’t have any interest in Baltimore, despite his ties with President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail back in his Chicago Cubs days.

But it has been reported within the past few days that Lee has opened up a bit more to playing with a non-contender and playing for the Orioles. In hearing that news, MacPhail should have picked up the phone, called Lee’s agent and offered him a one-year deal at $10 or $11 million.

MacPhail needs to put an end to the question mark at first base for the Baltimore Orioles going into the 2011 season. This team can’t afford to waste any more time waiting on LaRoche to make up his mind.

The front office needs to put the pedal to the metal and get someone signed so that they can focus on the other teams needs. If LaRoche doesn’t want to come to Baltimore, then Lee would be crazy to pass up the opportunity at a chance to play with the great competition of the AL East and to prove himself on a $10 million salary.

Lee would be a good addition with the glove and in the clubhouse, leading a young team and teaching them how to win, as well as providing pop from the right side of the plate with an assumed bounce-back year.

Make the call, Andy. Make the offer. Do whatever it takes.

It’s time to “cowboy up” and get the team a real first baseman.

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When I saw that Cliff Lee had signed with the Philadelphia Phillies around midnight last night, it got me thinking about a few things:

The top four of their starting rotation is so stacked, they can afford to leave their offense the way it is—balanced but not loaded like the 2010 season (due to the departure of Jayson Werth)—and still win many, many games.

The Baltimore Orioles, too, are looking at having a more balanced lineup in the 2011 season than they did in the 2010 season with the remaking of the left side of their infield with the additions of Mark Reynolds and J.J. Hardy. Assuming they can grab a solid first baseman (we’re all hoping for Adam LaRoche), then their lineup suddenly becomes even more balanced, much like the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants lineup was.

The Orioles have five young starters, four of which saw big-league action last year, who have great potential pitching in the bigs. Orioles fans saw that potential shine the last two months of the 2010 season, once manager Buck Showalter took over, as he saw his young rotation pitch to a 3.16 ERA under him.

Pitching is everything.

The Giants proved that statement during the 2010 World Series, when they averaged a modest 3.9 runs per game during that set with the Texas Rangers. They won it all with good pitching.

Now that the Phillies have a rotation that includes four aces, they don’t need to worry about replacing Jayson Werth’s production.

And that’s the kind of team the Orioles are going to need to have in order to compete in the AL East: a balanced lineup with some of the best pitching in the league.

Many of the pieces are already in place: The faces of the franchise, second baseman Brian Roberts and right fielder Nick Markakis are locked up for the long term. Adam Jones and Matt Wieters have high ceilings, and both have made strides in their careers already. Left fielders Felix Pie and Nolan Reimold also are players who have good potential, and with Showalter at the helm, the possibility of that potential being reached is very good. Luke Scott helps bring some veteran balance to a young lineup, and if LaRoche or, say, Derrek Lee were signed to play first, they would do the same. Newcomers Reynolds and Hardy have both produced in their careers offensively, and are solid defensive players.

But even that isn’t the most exciting part of the Orioles’ potential. Starters Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Brad Bergesen, Chris Tillman and Zach Britton are all guys whose potential is awesome, Matusz’s especially. That’s where the comparison to the Phillies’ new staff of aces and the Giants’ great pitching comes into play.

It might sound crazy, but the Orioles’ young pitchers have the potential to compare to those two staffs in the sense that they will be great and they will be the leading factor for the Orioles becoming a playoff team again. The Orioles don’t have the funds to compete with the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. Look at the guys Boston just added. There’s no way the O’s could pull that kind of thing off, especially after 13 consecutive losing seasons. And now is the best time to take advantage of the situation.

While the Red Sox got a lot better over the MLB winter meetings, the rest of the division has only gotten worse. The Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays have all lost guys, with the Rays taking the biggest blow. Now, I understand that the offseason is still early and there’s plenty of time for each team to improve, but there’s not much left on the market for any of them, and with the Rays not having large economic resources and the Yankees losing their man in Cliff Lee, there’s definitely an opening coming in 2011 for the Orioles to bounce back and at least have a .500 season.

For that to happen, Buck’s going to have to keep up whatever he was doing with his pitching staff when he took over. Sure, the bullpen still needs a lot of work, but I’m confident that Andy MacPhail is going to address that as the offseason continues, and I’m happy with what he’s done already in bringing back Koji Uehara, going hard after Kevin Gregg, signing a potential steal in Jeremy Accardo and letting go of Matt Albers.

Matusz, Arrieta, Bergesen, Tillman and Britton, along with veteran Jeremy Guthrie, are what are going to turn this ship around, not some high-profile free-agent fielders. A lineup that’s solid up and down—not a few good guys with a big free-agent bat thrown in the middle of them—a pitching staff that can make an opposing team cringe with every rotation turn and a shutdown back end of the bullpen, along with great defense is what the team needs to beat the Beasts of the East. And that’s what’s coming.

If you read the paragraph above and thought, “Well duh! That’s what every team needs to win!” then you need to read the article again. Because it isn’t necessary for every team to create in order to win. It’s what’s needed to compete in the AL East if you’re not the Yankees or Red Sox.

The cavalry is coming.

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