Jim Beattie had a key. Mike Flanagan didn't.
On their first full day in office as the top two members of the Orioles' baseball operations department, Beattie and Flanagan had to take care of the basics before they could start addressing matters such as the free-agent market.
With snow falling outside the B&O; warehouse, Flanagan had to find someone to let him into the Orioles' offices. Once inside, Flanagan and Beattie had the same type of questions most new employees have upon starting a new job.
"Where are the legal pads?"
"How do you dial out on these phones?"
Outgoing vice president for baseball operations Syd Thrift started cleaning out his office, which will eventually go to Flanagan, who also inherited Thrift's title.
Beattie, the new executive VP of baseball operations, will likely move into the office team owner Peter Angelos has kept at the warehouse.
So Flanagan and Beattie will each have offices flanking a conference room, with views of the field at Camden Yards. But yesterday, they were still vagabonds without their own phone number or address.
Once these two get settled, they will find something very comforting about their new jobs. After drastically lowering payroll in recent years, Orioles owner Peter Angelos has made it known the club can spend more this offseason.
This year, the Orioles' payroll for their 25-man Opening Day roster was $41 million. Their actual payroll, counting deferred payments to Mike Timlin and the portion of Albert Belle's salary not covered by insurance, was closer to $50 million.
This year's number could reach $60 million or higher, but the exact amount will depend on the market.
Orioles vice chairman and chief operating officer Joe Foss said the club is watching closely to see how the new collective bargaining agreement and tougher insurance premiums affect salaries. If the right free agent is available at the right price, Flanagan and Beattie apparently have the green light to get him.
"I think there's going to be opportunities yet this winter that we're certainly going to be active and exploring," Foss said. "Whether the dollar amounts that players are going to demand will be met by us or other clubs remains to be seen."
Before stepping down Wednesday, Thrift identified several free agents that the club was interested in pursuing. Searching for a big bat, the Orioles expressed interest in Jim Thome before he signed his six-year, $85 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Their target list also included Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui, Boston Red Sox outfielder Cliff Floyd, Texas Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez and New York Mets third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo. But with Thrift leaving office, there are no guarantees Beattie and Flanagan are interested in the same players.
"I had numerous discussions with Syd," said Floyd's agent, Seth Levinson, "and it was made very clear that there is interest in signing him there, both from the Orioles and Cliff."
Levinson said he had yet to speak with Beattie or Flanagan.
The new Orioles regime talked in general terms Wednesday about the way the team could be improved this offseason, and their words sounded rather conservative.
"I think our basic foundation," Flanagan said, "will be to try to find players either via free agency or trade that are on the upside of their career and not on the downside."
Said Beattie: "Most teams are saying, 'I don't want to go out and sign a guy because I'm not sure what the market is anymore.' All you heard in the last year is that people are losing millions and millions.
"Maybe some owners are taking these things to heart. So you don't want to be the first guy to jump up and give someone $5 million when maybe you could have gotten him for $1 million."
Which brings them to free-agent shortstop Mike Bordick, who is 37 and made $5 million last season. Bordick's agent, Joe Bick, had a 10-minute conversation with the Orioles yesterday, as the Saturday deadline neared for the club to offer Bordick salary arbitration.
If the Orioles decide to keep Bordick, they will try to work out a one-year deal for less money than he made last year. So offering him salary arbitration seems illogical, since it would certainly put him in line for a raise.
If the Orioles let Saturday pass without offering Bordick arbitration, however, they won't be able to re-sign him until May 1, and that would be like cutting the cord.
One possibility has the Orioles extending their negotiating window by offering Bordick arbitration with the understanding that he will decline it. Under that scenario, they would have until Jan. 7 to work out a deal.
Bordick hit just .232 this year, but he finished with a 110-game errorless streak, a record for a major-league shortstop.
"I talked to them today, and they told me how they foresaw Bordy fitting with the club," Bick said. "I'm going to take that information to Mike, but for now that's all I can really say."