Duquette: Orioles have resources to sign 'top of the rotation starter'
The Baltimore Orioles have plenty of areas they need to address this offseason, and general manager Dan Duquette assured fans that the team will have the resources to do so.
Having already wrapped up Matt Wieters thanks to the catcher accepting a one-year, $15.8-million qualifying offer, Duquette is now focusing his attention on the free-agent market, and its wealth of starting pitchers.
"We would like to sign a top of the rotation starter, and by that I mean a one, two, or three starter," Duquette told MLB Network Radio on Sunday. "There's some in that group (David Price, Zack Greinke, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann). I don't think there's all that many No. 1 starters, but there's a couple of twos and threes in there that we could be very competitive on."
The Orioles' rotation ranked 25th in the league with a 4.53 ERA last season, and is at risk of losing Wei-Yin Chen via free agency, increasing the need for Duquette to look at adding some starters, and possibly a reliever as well, to cover another potential free-agent loss in Darren O'Day.
In addition to the rotation, the Orioles also have a hole in their lineup, with slugger Chris Davis now on the open market as the top free-agent bat. Davis clubbed a team-leading 159 home runs over the last four seasons, and the 29-year-old will likely command a salary north of $100 million.
The Orioles currently have approximately $58 million committed to their payroll, but that will significantly rise with 11 players set for salary arbitration, including Manny Machado, and Zach Britton. Duquette believes that the organization is in very good shape financially, which will allow them to be major players in free agency this winter.
"We have pretty good flexibility in our major league payroll, if you take a look at our core, and I want people to understand that we do have a real strong core coming back," he said.
Duquette then added: "We have an opportunity to add some good players to our team, and like I said, we're going to be looking for outfielders and pitchers, and probably a couple of both."