Harold Baines was the latest free agent to meet with the Orioles' front office and was the latest to leave the vicinity without a signed contract in hand.
What are the Orioles waiting for? Jack Sands, Baines' agent who accompanied him to Camden Yards yesterday, had the best answer of anyone for that pressing question.
"They're waiting to see what the tax is going to be," Sands said, referring to the possibility that the new Basic Agreement will include a tax on baseball's big spenders.
Without knowing what economic rules will govern the game, the Orioles and the other 27 major-league clubs are moving slowly on the free-agent front. When an agreement is reached, the Orioles will be armed with knowledge about several free agents whose medical records they have reviewed.
"You proceed to some extent, but you're not sure how fast you can or should go," Orioles general manager Roland Hemond said. "We're doing homework, having preliminary discussions, doing some physicals. It gives you an idea what you might do."
Free agents who have had or have been scheduled for physical examinations include pitchers Bill Swift, Kevin Brown and Todd Stottlemyre, outfielder Jay Buhner and catcher Matt Nokes. Buhner and Nokes were due in town last night. Swift and Brown already had physicals. And Stottlemyre is scheduled to have one next week because holiday plans booked him for this week.
The Orioles also have had preliminary discussions with some of their own free agents -- Baines, Lee Smith, Mark McLemore and Tim Hulett.
Sands termed yesterday's meeting, "preliminary."
"We just wanted to see if they were still interested in Harold and they are," Sands said.
An Eastern Shore native who is active in community relations for the Orioles, Baines has been contacted by the New York Yankees, but would prefer to return to the Orioles, all things being equal.
Baines, who will turn 36 in March, hit .294 with 16 home runs and 54 RBIs for the Orioles in 94 games in 1994.