For Orioles, Free Agency Is More Like a Free Fall

Thirteen Orioles are eligible for free agency, and assistant general manager Kevin Malone believes that the uncertainty surrounding those players might be affecting the club’s performance.

Scary?

It could get even scarier if the Orioles don’t make a quick recovery from their 4-11 slide entering Friday night.

Players don’t know if they’ll be back. Malone and General Manager Pat Gillick don’t know if they’ll be back. Yet, they’re all supposedly pulling toward one goal.

That goal is the World Series, and it would be quite an achievement for a lame-duck team with a lame-duck front office, a fragile, combustible mix that can hold together only if the club is successful.

If it isn’t, the foundation might crumble, with certain players becoming more concerned with individual goals.

And if Gillick and Malone then try to trade veterans, owner Peter Angelos might again dismiss their advice if he thinks the two executives are on the verge of departing.

Davey Johnson guided the Orioles to the wild card under somewhat similar circumstances in 1996. But now the manager is Ray Miller, and no one knows if he’s capable of pulling off such a feat.

To Malone, the picture already is disturbing, and not simply because his own future is undecided. The Orioles have performed so sluggishly, he and other club officials now think the large number of free agents might be a detriment.

“That thought has crossed our minds,” Malone said Friday. “The way we initially evaluated it, we thought it should be a positive. Normally, most players use upcoming free agency as a motivator, as an incentive to perform and produce and warrant a nice contract for the following year or years.

“You’d have to look at each player individually. As a group, it does maybe have an unsettling effect. I don’t think it should be like that. It should be that every year you’ve got to prove yourself and perform. I guess it would just depend on the mental toughness and personality of each individual.”

Even then, it’s difficult to identify which Orioles are being affected. In fact, Miller and several players disagree with Malone’s premise, saying there is no correlation between the team’s performance and the players’ contract statuses.

“I don’t see it,” Miller said. “I’m not saying it ain’t there, but I certainly don’t see it. I don’t see anyone coming in here and complaining that they’re not getting a chance, that this is my free-agent year.

“If most of these guys were not already extraordinarily wealthy people, it probably would be a bigger thing. For the most part, the big-name guys are pretty well off. They’re going to be all right.”

The question isn’t effort -- Miller said the entire team has continued to work hard during the team’s sudden fade. He did, however, meet with several players in Anaheim, saying, “guys weren’t focused on what was going on.”

None of the potential free agents is slumping miserably. B. J. Surhoff entered Friday night batting .307. Jimmy Key and Scott Erickson have combined for seven victories. Rafael Palmeiro led the team in RBIs and was tied for the team lead in doubles and homers. Roberto Alomar was batting .200 left-handed, but .378 from the right side.

“I think Kevin said it right - everyone handles things differently,” Key said. “Some guys are more relaxed when they’re under contract. Some guys perform better when they’re not. But I don’t think it’s going to affect the club as a whole.”

Surhoff agreed.

“As a team, I don’t think it’s affecting us,” he said. “You don’t think about that stuff when you’re playing. You never know when your last year might be, or where you’re going to be year-to-year.”

Most of the Orioles’ free agents understand the process -- they’ve been through it before. They’ll get their money. They always get their money. So, really, what’s the problem?

Well, Gillick acknowledged last week that Alomar might be distracted, but cited the harsh treatment that the All-Star second baseman continues to receive in visiting parks, not his pending free agency.

Palmeiro also is difficult to read. He led the league with 22 walks, so it’s not as if he’s expanding his strike zone in an attempt to improve his statistics. Yet, he also has made several base-running mistakes, an indication that his concentration might be waning.

“I don’t think free agency has anything to do with it if a guy makes a mistake,” Surhoff said. “On the flip side, if a guy’s playing really well, people say he’s on a salary drive. Which is it? It could be he’s just playing, and everyone else is talking about his pending contract status.”

Surhoff makes a valid point, but the questions will only intensify if the Orioles continue to falter. The entire organization is at a crossroads, and even with the safety net of the wild card, it’s possible to envision the Orioles coming apart.

Most of their players under long-term contract are aging veterans. The farm system is at least two years away from providing replacements. The starting pitching -- the team’s saving grace -- was devastated by a wart.

Gillick? It’s becoming difficult to envision him remaining GM. He doesn’t negotiate with free agents during the season. He doesn’t award pitchers five-year contracts. But here are the Orioles, trying to sign Erickson to such a deal.

Malone? He’s now the one negotiating with the free agents, with Angelos tied up by his law practice. He could be the scapegoat if the deals collapse. He could be the next GM. No one knows.

Lame-duck team. Lame-duck front office.

Much to overcome.