Baseball

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

2005 finish: 74-88, 4^th place in AL East

Manager: Sam Perlozzo (1^st full season)

Free agents: LHP B.J. Ryan, 1B Rafael Palmeiro, OF Sammy Sosa, 1B/OF B.J. Surhoff, C/OF Eli Marrero, RHP James Baldwin, RHP Jason Grimsley

On the block: LHP Steve Kline, RHP Jorge Julio, 1B/OF John Gibbons, pitching prospects

Looking for: Starting pitcher, possibly a closer, power hitter, catcher, left-handed reliever

What’s going on: Sam Perlozzo’s longtime friendship with Leo Mazzone could pay dividends for the Orioles, who now have arguably the game’s best pitching coach to help the development of Daniel Cabrera, Erik Bedard and others. But Mazzone may not get to work with closer B.J. Ryan, who will attract much interest in the free-agent market after the O’s mistakenly failed to lock him up long-term. There just aren’t many 6-6, 260-pound left-handed closers who throw in the mid-to-upper 90s out there. With the strong possibility of losing Ryan, the O’s may have to hang onto Jorge Julio, who was dangled around the trade deadline. They also will be without Sidney Ponson, their pseudo-ace of a year ago, as a contract-rescinding dispute resulting from Ponson’s myriad off-the-field problems could get ugly. There’s no way Sammy Sosa or Rafael Palmeiro were coming back, either, and you have to wonder if Japan isn’t the best alternative for both tainted sluggers. The O’s could deal some of their top pitching prospects – Hayden Penn, Chris Ray, Adam Loewen, John Maine, etc. — but at least two of them are likely to be key parts of the 2006 staff. They want to sign or deal for a catcher and slide Javy Lopez into more of a DH/1B role. Or, they could make a play for Jim Thome or Carlos Delgado.