Are the delays hurting the O’s?

The Baltimore Orioles continue to be in the hunt for various free agents that remain on the market. And they’re not the only one – I can’t remember a year when this many players still needed homes this late in the season. I suspect that a lot of players are trying to re-establish their values in hopes of a big payday next year. Then you have guys like A.J. Burnett and Bronson Arroyo who are looking to continually pitch while in the twilight of their careers. But ultimately is the delay in this process something that could come back to hurt a player, and by extension the Orioles?

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Pitchers and catchers report late next week; so a prospective signee would in theory only have a few days to get prepared for the new season after signing. This of course delays the process of the player being ready to get down to spring training, and perhaps denies him the luxury of being able to settle in once it’s time to get down to Florida.

Who knows whether that means anything, however the fact is that whomever the Orioles sign in the next two weeks or so (and my personal prediction is that someone gets signed this week) it really matters the person. However I’d hate to see the Birds drag their feet in making a signing only to have the player not get the work they need in spring training. Buck Showalter said this past weekend at FanFest that part of his job was to get guys into games during the spring so that they can get the work in that they need in order to put them in the best position to make the team and ultimately to win. But if the player(s) aren’t in camp, he/they might not have the opportunity to do that.