Two days before the winter meetings, the news sounded worse for the Orioles than it actually was.
Scott Erickson, their Opening Day starting pitcher last season, has a partially torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, a similar injury to the one that sidelined Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson in August.
Like Ponson, who returned to pitch in September, Erickson plans to rehabilitate the injury rather than undergo surgery, and the Orioles think Erickson, 34, will be ready to start spring training in two months.
"He just has a little twinge in there, some slight fraying and slight weakness," said Erickson's agent, Rick Thurman. "He's doing exercises to strengthen the [shoulder] area. He has no concern whether he'll be ready for spring training."
Orioles executive vice president Jim Beattie said Erickson's injury, which recently was diagnosed by Anaheim Angels team physician Lewis Yocum, did not affect plans for the winter meetings. The Orioles still intend to focus on finding a shortstop and a big bat for the middle of their lineup.
The Orioles will continue to comb the free-agent market, but Beattie and vice president Mike Flanagan have talked to several teams about potential trades.
Beattie said he spoke yesterday morning with Montreal Expos general manager Omar Minaya, who needs to slash payroll and might have to trade some combination of shortstop Orlando Cabrera, right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, second baseman Jose Vidro and pitchers Bartolo Colon and Javier Vazquez.
Beattie has spent the past seven seasons with the Expos, six as their GM and one as a special assistant under Minaya.
"I know Omar and that won't matter," Beattie said, dismissing any chance Minaya might do him a special favor. "We talked a little bit about names - all the guys making a lot of money. He's not looking to move the inexpensive guys."
Beattie downplayed the possibility of the Orioles trading for a major impact player, such as Guerrero or Cincinnati's Ken Griffey.
"In the offseason, it's easy to make splashes that in the short term can answer some of the fans' concerns," Beattie said. "But in the longer term, [fans] want a winning team. So our focus is going to be on whoever can help us win baseball games, not necessarily answering fans, saying, 'Oh well, we got Ken Griffey Jr., or something.'
"These players need to be worth the money we're paying them to help us win more baseball games."
Cabrera, 28, might be an interesting option for the Orioles. He made $2.4 million last season and hit .263 with seven home runs. In 2001, he played all 162 games and made just 11 errors before struggling last season with 29 errors.
After cutting ties with shortstop Mike Bordick, the Orioles know it will be difficult replacing a player who made one error all season.
"Defense is a priority," Beattie said, "and offense will be a plus [at shortstop]."
The Erickson injury ended possibilities of the Orioles exchanging him for New York Mets shortstop Rey Ordonez. Free-agent wise at shortstop, the Orioles are focusing on Deivi Cruz (.263, 15 errors with San Diego last season), Jose Hernandez (.288, 188 strikeouts, 19 errors with Milwaukee), Rey Sanchez (.286, five errors with Boston, primarily at second base) and Chris Gomez (.265, 12 errors with Tampa Bay).
Royce Clayton was on their list, but he signed a one-year deal with Milwaukee yesterday.
In their search for a slugger, Beattie and Flanagan will head to the winter meetings in Nashville tomorrow with tentative plans to meet with several agents, including those representing Ivan Rodriguez, Cliff Floyd, Hideki Matsui and Edgardo Alfonzo.
Rodriguez remains the primary target, especially since the Texas Rangers declined to offer their franchise catcher arbitration, which means the Orioles can sign him without surrendering a draft pick.
The Orioles and Chicago Cubs are believed to be the front-runners for Rodriguez, and the Cubs' interest is reportedly waning.
"Those are certainly two of the teams that have expressed interest, and there are others," said Rodriguez's agent, Jeff Moorad.
NOTE: Manager Mike Hargrove, who will join Beattie and Flanagan in Nashville, has just one year remaining on his three-year contract, but Flanagan offered a vote of confidence yesterday. "I think we're pretty happy to have him," Flanagan said of Hargrove. "Mike's tickled pink to be involved in what's going on here in what everybody's looking at as a fresh start, and I think all those things will take care of themselves as time goes on."
Sun staff writer Roch Kubatko contributed to this article.