masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSARASOTA, Fla. – While the Orioles remain focused on finding another outfielder who is more glove than bat, they also want to take an extended look at Rule 5 picks Auneury Tavárez and Anthony Santander. The at-bats and reps will be plentiful, assuming that Santander is recovered from his shoulder surgery. Tavárez is assured of staying busy.
“We’d like to add to the depth of our outfield. It’s a possibility,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette.
“There are some guys who are…

SARASOTA, Fla. – While the Orioles remain focused on finding another outfielder who is more glove than bat, they also want to take an extended look at Rule 5 picks Auneury Tavárez and Anthony Santander. The at-bats and reps will be plentiful, assuming that Santander is recovered from his shoulder surgery. Tavárez is assured of staying busy.

“We’d like to add to the depth of our outfield. It’s a possibility,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette.

“There are some guys who are available by trade and there some free agents that are out there still who can help our club, so we’re taking a look at all of those things. Then we get a chance to look at our club, too. The kid I really like is this kid Santander. The guy is the best offensive player in the Carolina League. We’ll see what kind of defense he plays. He plays left and right, but he’s young. He’s strong and I’ve seen some video of him get some balls pretty capably in right field. He looks like a big leaguer.

“This kid is solid and you can see the desire in his demeanor that he wants to be a big league ballplayer. I’m looking forward to seeing him and we’ll see how Joey Rickard does. We’ll see how capable Tavárez is of using his speed. There’s some young guys to take a look at in our camp.”

Pitching depth also is a priority, but Duquette took another step toward satisfying it by acquiring Gabriel Ynoa from the Mets for cash considerations.

“This guy won 13 games last year,” Duquette said, counting 12 with Triple-A Las Vegas and one in the majors. “The Mets have pretty solid starting pitching. I mean, they had the starting pitching to win the pennant a year ago, and we weren’t blessed with the starting pitching depth the Mets have, so that’s why he was available and that’s why we were happy to add him to the club.

“He’s young, he’s strong, he’s durable. He’s got a lot of good qualities as a starting pitcher. He’s got a good arm. He throws up to 95 (mph). He had a limited debut with the Mets, but his walks-strikeout ratio during that debut was pretty good. You see his ERA was like 6 and his FIP was like 3. Very rarely do you see that, but it tells you he had a short, small sample. He didn’t get (much time), but he’s one of the top pitchers in the (Pacific) Coast League and you know how tough it is to pitch in the Coast League and pitch effectively. He pitched a number of innings, so over the course of his career he’s won two games for every game he’s lost.”

Wright-Delivers-Black-Sidebar.jpgThe Orioles also will consider Mike Wright if they need another starter, but only under certain conditions. Left-handers hit .345 against him, compared to the .238 average posted by right-handers. They hit .309 against him at Triple-A Norfolk.

“Mike Wright’s biggest challenge his whole career has been getting out left-handed hitters and if he can get out left-handed hitters, he can be a major league starter,” Duquette said. “Last year, we saw some pretty good progress with that. He was able to backfoot his slider some, but that’s the same thing. The development of the consistency of his breaking pitch and his changeup.

“Mike Wright dominates right-hander hitters, so when he figures out how to get out lefties capably, he’ll be a starting pitcher.

I wrote yesterday that the Orioles signed infielder Chris Johnson to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. He could be the starting third baseman at Triple-A Norfolk and provides another replacement for Manny Machado during the World Baseball Classic.

He also comes cheaply to the Orioles, who will have to pay only the league minimum if he makes the club. The Indians are responsible for the rest of his $9 million salary.

Johnson is a career .301/.341/.423 hitter against left-handers, but he’s getting more attention now for his salary and being the son of Triple-A Norfolk manager Ron Johnson.

Ron Johnson downplayed his role in getting Chris into camp.

“You’ve got to talk to Buck (Showalter). He played the role,” Johnson said.

“He just called me when I was at home and asked me what his situation was, and I told him. And the rest was pretty much Dan and Buck.”

The Norfolk infield is taking shape with Johnson at third, Robert Andino projected for shortstop and Johnny Giavotella at second base.

“I’ve been around long enough that I don’t come into spring training anticipating a team,” Johnson said. “I know how the drill works. I don’t think, ‘We signed this guy to play here.’ That’s left up to the Brian Grahams and people like that. And as spring kind of gets into gear, you kind of see how guys may be slotting into your team.

“I used to back in the day when I was young and I’d say, ‘Oh man, if we get this guy we’re going to have a good team.’ I don’t really look at it like that now because I have a much better perspective of what my job actually is. Making sure guys are ready to help our major league team.”

Online betting site Bovada has placed the Orioles’ odds of winning the World Series at 33/1, a climb from 22/1 in November and 28/1 in December.

The Red Sox and Cubs are 9/2 and the Indians are 8/1.