The Orioles surrendered Pedro Strop and right-handed Jake Arrieta to land Scott Feldman for the second half of 2013 and there is mutual interest in continuing that partnership in 2014 and beyond. It won't be cheap for the O's to keep him, however. Our own Steve Adams recently sized up Feldman's free agent stock and estimated that he could be in line for a two-year, $17MM deal with a three-year, $25MM pact as his ceiling. Here's more out of Baltimore and the AL East..
- Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz could be on the block as he made $1.6MM last season and is due for a pay bump in 2014, writes Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com. The left-hander posted a 3.53 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 65 relief appearances last season.
- Alexi Casilla's time with the Orioles has almost certainly come to an end, but manager Buck Showalter wishes things went differently for him in Baltimore, writes Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com. “He’s the one guy who I wished I’d been able to play him more. Whether it’s with us or somebody else, they’re going to get a good teammate and good player next year. He’s allowed us to do a lot of things that we couldn’t have done because of his versatility,” Showalter said. The O's have a $3MM option on the infielder but they'll almost certainly buy him out for $200K instead.
- Red Sox GM Ben Cherington didn't just add pitching, power, and defense last winter, he built the team with an emphasis on character, writes Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. "You don't hear that that often," said Jonny Gomes. "You hear a lot about different ways to win. The Giants did it with pitching. The Cardinals do with by bringing up a lot of young players. But maybe this (the attention to makeup) is the new way."
