masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles are expected to announce later today that they signed Korean first baseman Ji-Man Choi to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
I’ve been told that the club is waiting for “confirmation” following a report over the weekend by South Korean media outlet Ilgan Sports that the deal was done. Look for it to arrive today.
Choi, a switch-hitter, will earn $650,000 if he makes the club, and his contract includes a possible $350,000 in incentives. He’s a career…

The Orioles are expected to announce later today that they signed Korean first baseman Ji-Man Choi to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

I’ve been told that the club is waiting for “confirmation” following a report over the weekend by South Korean media outlet Ilgan Sports that the deal was done. Look for it to arrive today.

Choi, a switch-hitter, will earn $650,000 if he makes the club, and his contract includes a possible $350,000 in incentives. He’s a career .302/.404/.481 hitter in five seasons in the Mariners’ farm system.

Choi-Dugout-Mariners-Sidebar.jpgChoi, 24, batted .298/.403/.421 in 18 games this season at Triple-A Tacoma after breaking his right fibula in March.

My question is whether Choi and first basemen Christian Walker and Trey Mancini could co-exist at Triple-A Norfolk. Perhaps one of them turns into Chris Davis’ replacement.

It may be too soon for Mancini, the organization’s minor league Player of the Year who began this season at Single-A Frederick. One team official said earlier in the offseason that the Notre Dame product needed Triple-A at-bats, but everything is subject to change.

Choi would be a long shot as the opening day first baseman.

* I’m told that the Orioles had no interest in placing a bid on Korean outfielder Ah-Seop Son. The deadline was yesterday at 5 p.m.

No team bid on Son, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Son, who turns 28 in March, is a career .323/.398/.462 hitter in nine seasons with the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization.

* FOXSports.com’s Jon Morosi speculated yesterday that left-hander Wei-Yin Chen could land more than the $20.625 million annual salary that the Red Sox awarded Rick Porcello before he threw a single pitch for them. Agent Scott Boras figures to push for it again at the Winter Meetings.

Morosi’s report included the following:

“(Prediction: Over the coming weeks, many agents will cite Porcello’s contract as a floor in their negotiations with clubs.)”

In other words, teams will be pressured to pay more because of the Red Sox’s horrible decision. Porcello’s extension never made an ounce of sense, and how does it look now after he went 9-15 with a 4.92 ERA and 1.360 WHIP over 28 starts this season?

Chen hasn’t worked 200 innings or won more than 16 games – and yes, wins and losses are bogus when determining a pitcher’s worth. He hasn’t been named to an All-Star team or earned any awards. He hasn’t thrown a complete game. But he’s made at least 30 starts in three of his four major league seasons and his ERA over the last three had dropped from 4.07 to 3.54 to 3.34.

Chen certainly ranks among the best second-tier starters on the market, but is he worth $20 million or more annually over four or five seasons? The Orioles aren’t going there.

* I wrote a few days ago about the Orioles’ continued interest in outfielder L.J. Hoes, designated for assignment by the Astros over the weekend to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Don’t discount the Phillies, who also profile as a likely suitor.

The Phillies’ director of player development is Joe Jordan, who drafted Hoes in 2008. And he isn’t the only Orioles connection in their front office.

Just thinking out loud here.

* I heard a rumor over the weekend that the Orioles have talked about a deal that would send closer Zach Britton to the Padres, bringing a starting pitcher and outfielder in return. The plan also would call for Kevin Gausman to be converted to closer.

Yes, it’s that time of the year. Rumors fly in all directions. It’s a nice way to prep for the Winter Meetings.

I was told that the rumor was “pure junk” and the Orioles have no intention of trading Britton or removing Gausman from the rotation. They’re already searching for one starter with Chen’s expected departure and they want to increase their depth. They need Gausman in his current role.

Britton, a Boras client, is under team control through the 2018 season. His salary keeps climbing, of course, with MLBTradeRumors.com projecting that he’ll receive a raise from $3.2 million to $6.9 million in his second year of arbitration eligibility. I don’t know if that’s a climb or a flying leap, but you get the idea. It’s a substantial amount for a reliever, but he’s emerged as one of the game’s top closers.

Gausman would be a cheaper alternative, but again, the Orioles seem intent on breaking camp with him in the rotation. It’s been their goal all along as they removed his innings limit and prepped him for a heavier workload in 2016.

* Yesterday, I passed along a few quotes from manager Buck Showalter’s interview on MLB Network. He also talked about the possibility of his club owning seven of the first 100 picks in next year’s draft.

“We can’t sign the $28 million-a-year guys,” he said. “Only four or five clubs can do that, so we have to draft those guys. If we end up with seven picks in the first 100, we’re going to have to draft the Kevin Gausmans of the world, the Friday night pitchers. That’s how we have to look at this draft. That’s an exciting time for us.”

What about signing young players to extensions and locking them up before they’d hit free agency? The Orioles talked about it with Manny Machado and figure to revisit the topic, though it’s more of a back burner issue at the moment.

“For us, you’d like to, but you also have to weigh the number of years you have a guy under control,” Showalter said. “I hate talking about this It’s so business-like, like they’re pieces of meat. These are human beings and they’re all making a great living.

“A guy like Manny, I think we’ve got two or three years with him. It’s not like he’s working for pauper wages. But we’d love to have those guys stay forever. We’ve got some good young players, like Gausman and (Jonathan) Schoop and Manny and so on, and we think if we can supplement that with some guys. … But we’re not going to spend a lot of time right now coveting other people’s players. We have to take care of our own right now.

“Those type of deals are always risky. How many of them have been great deals? Can you name them?”

Showalter also preached the importance of kids playing more than one sport. He sees no value in sticking only to baseball.

“I had a pitcher who was a high draft pick,” Showalter recalled, “and I said, ‘What did you play when you weren’t pitching? Did you play first base, did you play the outfield? What did you play?’ And he goes, ‘I didn’t play.’ I said, ‘What? You didn’t hit? You didn’t play another position? You didn’t play another sport?’ And it brought a lot of things into focus about the issues he had.

“The consistency of bios in media guides will tell you that the really good guys played multiple sports and they had their time occupied between sports. They let the joints, the body, the shoulders, the elbows, the growth plates close completely and they had fun as a young kid. I tell that to parents all the time. They say, ‘What should I do with my son?’ I go, ‘Let him have fun, let him be a kid, let him grow up, let him find something that he has a passion about.’

“A lot of really good baseball players and golfers I know pick the game up late, real late. People have to make these decisions as a parents. Don’t put it in the hands of a coach.”

* My confidence in the Orioles re-signing Darren O’Day erodes a little more every o’day.

The Dodgers can flash as much cash as he wants. The Nationals can offer him a home that won’t disrupt his wife’s job in D.C. And they, too, have a tendency to spend big, if not always wisely.

Anyone interested in Drew Storen, who reportedly is available and in desperate need of a change of scenery? I’m talking as a set-up man, of course.

I’d pass on Jonathan Papelbon, to the point where I’d be willing to print T-shirts with that saying, but Storen is an intriguing guy.

Would the Nationals and Orioles be willing to talk trade? And as always, we must ask what the Orioles can offer in any deal.

It’s obvious that they won’t part with Gausman or second baseman Jonathan Schoop, two of the more popular targets of rival executives.

* Infielder Steve Tolleson actually signed his minor league deal with the Orioles on Nov. 16, though it wasn’t reported until yesterday.

Baseball America’s minor league free agent tracker also shows that the Orioles re-signed catchers Shawn McGill and Pedro Perez.

It’s up to you whether you want to start printing those playoff tickets. I know some of you are considering it.