masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgI went to bed a little less confident that the Orioles were passing on Vladimir Guerrero as the day’s events unfolded. Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez signed with the Rays as part of a unique Scott Boras package deal, and the Blue Jays traded Vernon Wells to the Angels for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.

The Rays and Blue Jays became the latest teams to eliminate Guerrero. At first glance, the Angels would still appear to have room for the veteran designated hitter, since Wells is an outfielder,…I went to bed a little less confident that the Orioles were passing on Vladimir Guerrero as the day’s events unfolded. Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez signed with the Rays as part of a unique Scott Boras package deal, and the Blue Jays traded Vernon Wells to the Angels for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.

The Rays and Blue Jays became the latest teams to eliminate Guerrero. At first glance, the Angels would still appear to have room for the veteran designated hitter, since Wells is an outfielder, but Bobby Abreu is expected to take over that role.

The Rangers signed Adrian Beltre to play third base, moving Michael Young to DH.

Who the heck is left?

Well, former executive Jim Bowden, now with MLB Network Radio, tweeted late last night that Guerrero is close to accepting a humbling one-year offer from the Orioles.

Am I reliving Sammy Sosa all over again?

MLB.com naturally ran with the item, since it was broadcast on the site’s airwaves. Bowden isn’t batting 1.000 – a report that the Orioles made an aggressive offer for Paul Konerko proved false – but nobody does in this business.

The Guerrero rumor makes sense for the obvious reason. The market has dried up, and president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail never ruled him out completely, saying only that the price would have to drop significantly. That could be the case here.

It would be a dramatic turnaround, considering that nothing had changed with Guerrero on Thursday night. But as we’ve learned, things do change. Circumstances around Guerrero, and the Orioles, could bring the two sides together.

This must be what they mean by letting the market play out.

We’ll probably know more later today, perhaps while I’m joining Tom Davis and Phil Wood on “Wall to Wall Baseball” on MASN (11 a.m.- noon) and ESPN Radio 1300 AM (11 a.m.-2 p.m.)

So much for a shameless plug alert. That one jumped out at you from around the corner.

Update: MacPhail told Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com in an e-mail this morning that the report isn’t accurate and that conversations with Guerrero’s agent haven’t taken place lately.

Update II: I just received a text from an official that also disputed that the Orioles are close to a deal with Guerrero. Oh well, that was fun.