O's head to offseason market with quite a list

While all of you are enjoying the New York Yankees' first appearance in the World Series since 2003, Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and his staff will be mapping out the coming offseason and trying to figure out whether they have what it will take to make the team significantly more competitive than it was this year.

You have to wonder.

It's not like the Orioles are just a medium move or two away from putting a scare into the rest of the American League East. They need at least one big bat for the heart of the lineup and one of the corners of the infield. They could also use a veteran starting pitcher of decent quality and a couple of dependable relievers. This is not a modest shopping list.

The next step in MacPhail's rebuilding plan isn't going to complete the picture - far from it - but it has to help transform the Orioles from a divisional doormat into something formidable enough to energize the fan base and create real hope for a contending team in 2011.

MacPhail hasn't made any promises, but the signals he sent out when he rehired manager Dave Trembley seemed to confirm his intention to make some meaningful additions over the next two or three months.

If you recall, he said when he picked up Trembley's option for 2010 that the manager would be judged on wins and losses, and he indicated when he re-signed Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis last spring that the plan was to turn a competitive corner this winter.

Trouble is, the offseason landscape isn't particularly inviting. This year's free-agent market features some attractive hitters but nobody that would be a perfect fit in the Orioles' cleanup spot. The top starting pitcher - John Lackey - is all but certain to be out of the question, and this is one team that is going to be wary of spending too much for free-agent relievers.

So, what's a president of baseball operations to do?

Well, he already has ruled out doing the one thing that might make it possible to acquire a marquee power hitter. When rumors began to circulate that San Diego Padres slugger Adrian Gonzalez and Milwaukee Brewers star Prince Fielder might be available via trade, MacPhail made it pretty clear that he would not be willing to part with any of the Orioles' core prospects to make that kind of deal.

There will be lesser power guys available on the free-agent market, but nobody equivalent to, say, Mark Teixeira last winter and few viable possibilities who would fit the Orioles' position needs.

Is it just me, or is this shaping up to be one of the great challenges of MacPhail's career?

Of course, there are acquirable players out there. The Orioles could make a run at free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre or take a shorter-term chance on someone coming back from injury like Troy Glaus or Carlos Delgado. The name that was popular in the late-season rumor mill was first baseman Nick Johnson, though I don't know whether you could call him an upgrade over what the Orioles were working with before they traded Aubrey Huff.

Club officials have largely dismissed the possibility of moving Nolan Reimold to first base or designated hitter and shifting the free-agent focus to the more fertile outfield position, where a Matt Holliday could move into left field and shore up the offensive lineup. Maybe that will become a more likely scenario when the team knows more about Reimold's recovery from Achilles tendon surgery.

The pitching possibilities - behind Lackey - are even more limited, since many of the other really talented free agents have checkered medical histories, though that wouldn't necessarily preclude the club signing someone like former Orioles left-hander Erik Bedard if the price-plus-incentives package is reasonable enough.

Still, it looks from here like MacPhail will have to pull a huge rabbit out of his hat to create a dynamic competitive shift from 2009 to next season. He worked that kind of magic on another level a couple of years ago when he traded Bedard to the Seattle Mariners for a boatload of talent, but it's a little tougher when you're the team shopping for the established star and you're not willing to give up a chunk of your youth movement.

The time has come for MacPhail to take The Plan to the next level, but the timing - and the offseason terrain - could certainly be better.

Listen to Peter Schmuck | The Baltimore Sun when he hosts "Sportsline" on WBAL (1090AM) and check out "The Schmuck Stops Here" at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.