The glass is half-empty: Sherman Obando is an injury-prone defensive liability who has not proved he can hit off-speed pitches.
The glass is half-full: Obando has the best raw power in the Orioles' organization. He tore up Triple-A pitching (.330, 20 home runs, 69 RBIs, .600 slugging average) and in the process erased doubts about his ability to hit more than just fastballs. He also made progress defensively.
The glass is half-empty: Mark Smith has no single, attention-grabbing tool and grades out close to average across the board. He hit .246 at Triple-A Rochester last season.
The glass is half-full: Smith hit 17 home runs for Rochester, including nine in July, killing the notion he had no power.
The glass is half-empty: Damon Buford has a .235 batting average in 81 major-league at-bats. He struck out 78 times and walked 35 times for Rochester last season.
The glass is half-full: Buford not only is considered to be the best defensive outfielder the Orioles have, but he also is considered one of the best in baseball. He hit 15 home runs, stole 31 bases in 37 attempts and scored 87 runs in 108 games for Rochester.
By pursuing free-agent right fielder Jay Buhner so aggressively -- they offered $18 million over four years -- the Orioles appeared to be looking at their outfield depth through half-empty glasses.
Now that Buhner has chosen to stay with the Seattle Mariners, who paid him an industry-rocking three-year, $15.5 million, it behooves the Orioles to view their own outfielders through half-full glasses.
"We are blessed with a lot of young talent, and the opportunity to play is what enables them to be players," said general manager Roland Hemond. "It's nice to be able to give them that situation. It's going to be highly competitive."
Hemond said the club won't necessarily acquire an outfielder from another organization to team with Brady Anderson and Jeffrey Hammonds, who is rehabilitating from reconstructive knee surgery and hopes to be back by Opening Day.
If Hammonds is not ready by Opening Day, the Orioles could start the winners of two competitions for starting spots with Anderson.
Buford and Curtis Goodwin, who is hitting .350 in the Venezuelan League after completing play in the Arizona Fall League, could compete for the center-field job.
Obando, who is recovering from a cracked shin bone and from arthroscopic knee surgery, could compete for the right-field job, as could Smith. Double-A Bowie's Alex Ochoa, considered the right fielder of the future, is pegged for Triple-A duty, but conceivably could change the club's mind with a sensational spring training.
As a hitter, Obando most closely resembles Buhner, with power to all fields, and would need only to convince the Orioles that he is healthy and that he could drive in more runs with his bat than he would cost with his glove.
"To me, anybody who can hit like that deserves a chance," Hemond said of Obando, who as a Rule V draftee with the Orioles in 1993 hit .272 with three home runs and 15 RBIs in 31 games. "The Orioles have had so many outstanding fleet-footed outfielders that when we have someone not in a Brady Anderson mold, all of the sudden they look like they're secondary. Obando can outplay a lot of outfielders playing for other teams."
Obando's shin injury prevented him from playing for the Caracas team managed by Phil Regan.
"He'll be fine by spring training," Hemond said. "We haven't had any concerns about that."
Smith, the club's first-round draft choice in 1991, did not show the type of power the Orioles figured he would until last season.
"The thing we've been a little bit careful about is not to have him just think power because early in pro ball he wasn't hitting home runs," said Hemond. "Now he shows he can hit home runs and you have to be careful he doesn't alter his style too much."
Smith is a more polished outfielder than Obando.
"He can go get the ball," Hemond said. "He gets good jumps, knows how to play and has a strong arm."
Buford, Smith's college teammate at Southern Cal, could
compensate for any deficiencies the right fielder might have.
"He can go get them with the very best," Hemond said. "He made a play in the Arizona Fall League that was the best one that I can ever remember seeing."
Buford is looking into a potential playing opportunity in the Mexican League this winter.
Goodwin already is playing for Caracas in the Venezuelan League. Caracas coach David Jauss, the Orioles' coordinator of instruction, has sent favorable reports to Hemond.
"He's hitting .350, hit an inside-the-park home run, and really has improved his throwing," Hemond said. "He's really opening some eyes with his arm down there. Playing next to Ochoa all those years, people don't even notice his arm, but he can throw, too."
None of the candidates for the Orioles' outfield has the credentials of Buhner. Nor does any of them have the price tag, which frees money for the Orioles to bolster their pitching staff.
NOTE: The Orioles hired Claude Osteen as their Triple-A pitching coach. Osteen, who enters his 38th season in professional baseball, was the pitching coach for the Texas Rangers until they underwent a front-office change and cleaned house. Osteen, a former teammate of Regan's on the Los Angeles Dodgers, also has served as pitching coach for the Philadelphia Phillies.