All of the Orioles' preliminary off-season work, for whatever it was worth, is completed. The minor-leaguers and handful of free agents who have been using the Camden Yards facilities had their final workout yesterday.
The bags are packed and the equipment is being loaded onto the moving van, which departs tomorrow. Most of the baseball operations personnel in the front office will relocate to Sarasota, Fla., this weekend. New manager Phil Regan will begin three days of meetings with his coaching staff on Monday.
What happens after that still hasn't been finalized. But barring a turnaround in the labor negotiations, this promises to be a spring training unlike any other in baseball history.
The only beneficiaries, if there are any, figure to be the cluster of minor-leaguers caught in baseball limbo on a Double-A or Triple-A roster. They are either career minor-leaguers, veterans trying to return to the big leagues, fringe prospects who didn't make the 40-man rosters or youngsters with only token pro experience.
Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report Thursday and begin workouts the next day. The rest of the squad is due Feb. 22.
Under normal conditions, the Orioles would have about 50 players in the big-league camp. But these are hardly normal conditions.
Unless the strike is settled, there will be no big-leaguers in camp on their due date. But by Feb. 22, Regan will have 76 players in camp, most bearing names he's hardly heard.
Although owner Peter Angelos steadfastly has insisted replacement players will not be used, either in the regular season or spring training, the Orioles will have a full complement of bodies when camp starts. What happens once the exhibition season is scheduled to start remains anybody's guess.
General manager Roland Hemond said this week that the Orioles have alerted everyone on the rosters of their Triple-A Rochester and Double-A Bowie teams to be ready to report earlier than usual. Those players normally would not report until the first week in March -- after the exhibition season had started.
In addition, the Orioles also have invited 31 of their best young prospects for an early instructional camp. This is a practice started two years ago, dealing mostly with first- and second-year players, as a substitute for the fall Instructional League team.
Regan continues to harbor hope that his first camp as a big-league manager will resemble ones he's attended in the past as a player, coach and scout.
"I'm going to operate on the assumption that everything will go as planned until we know differently for sure," said Regan, who is in Puerto Rico watching the Caribbean Series.
That Regan will know differently shortly seems to be apparent to everybody else, even the perennially optimistic Hemond. He sent instructions to the minor-leaguers to report early only a few days ago.
"Some of them may just now be getting the notice," said Hemond, who typically managed to come up with a potentially positive side to the strike. "It would be a great opportunity for some of these young players to work with the big-league staff.
"We'll have more instructors available, and it will give our staff a chance to see them that they wouldn't otherwise have."
Twenty minor-league pitchers and five catchers are scheduled to be in Sarasota on Thursday. Another 20 position players are to arrive Feb. 22. The 31 youngsters invited to the early instructional camp are to report Feb. 19.
What promises to be an interesting conflict, if it reaches that point, is the definition of replacement players. Are they only those who were signed from outside the organization specifically for that purpose? Or are they any players, including those in the organization, who participate, even in spring training, in the absence of big-leaguers?
Hemond wouldn't give any interpretation, other than to say the Orioles have not signed anyone as a replacement player.
"And it has not been suggested to any of those we invited to camp that they would be, could be -- or should be -- used as replacement players," he said.
So basically, what the Orioles are not prepared for is an extended minor-league training camp. Which could be a necessity.
With the 15 top prospects (those on the 40-man roster who wouldn't play in the big leagues) sidelined by the strike, the makeup of every minor-league team would be affected. At least 50 percent of the players at each level, more than that at the lower echelon, would be playing one classification higher than his ability and/or experience warrants.
The ripple effect would touch every level of baseball. It all starts in one week unless the bitter, 6-month-old strike can be settled in the next few days.