NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Orioles continued to concentrate their attention on signing free-agent catcher Ivan Rodriguez yesterday, discussing the length of a potential contract with agent Jeff Moorad without making an actual offer.
Orioles executive vice president Jim Beattie shot down a report that the club offered Rodriguez a three-year $36 million contract.
"We have not made an offer" Beattie said, "and we both agreed that we'll continue to talk."
Beattie said the discussions could last through the winter meetings and go into next week. With the Cincinnati Reds mending fences with Ken Griffey Jr., suggesting he is off the trade market, Rodriguez is clearly the Orioles' top priority.
Moorad met with the Chicago Cubs last night and said he met with a third team interested in Rodriguez earlier in the afternoon.
Moorad did not identify the third team.
"I'm guessing," Moorad said, "that in the end, Ivan will make an informed choice about his next organization from a pool of five or six interested teams?"
Rodriguez, 31, has spent his entire career with the Texas Rangers. A 10-time All-Star, he hit .314 this past season with 19 home runs and 60 RBI in 108 games, missing two months with a back injury.
"We talked about the positives of playing in Baltimore," Beattie said, "Obviously training in Fort Lauderdale, playing in the American League, catching 100 to 110 games, and allowing him to DH and still get his 500 to 600 plate appearances every year.
"This may be the last contract for him," Beattie added, "and he wants to be able to feel comfortable in the town where he goes. ... We got the sense that he doesn't want to be a hired gun and just go somewhere for one or two years?"
By not making an offer yesterday, the Orioles continue to wait for the market to define itself. But they have not been shy about expressing their enthusiasm for what Rodriguez could mean to their rebuilding project.
One Orioles official went through the lobby at the Opryland Hotel yesterday and said, "We're going to surprise some people." The club also met with Peter Greenberg, the agent for free agent third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo.
Beattie said it's possible the Orioles could add two impact players to next year's payroll.
"If we sign [Rodriguez) for what we would like to sign him for, that doesn't finish us," Beattie said. "That doesn't mean we'll always have money. We're looking at particular people and saying for these pieces, if they fit together, we'll have some resources?"
Another possibility is Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui. Orioles vice president Mike Flanagan is handling the club's discussions with Matsui's agent, Arn Tellem. The word yesterday was the Yankees' preliminary offer to Matsui was lower than expected.
"The window for conversation is still there (with Matsui]," Flanagan said.
The Orioles also need a short-stop, and they talked to the Montreal Expos yesterday about a potential trade for shortstop Orlando Cabrera.
Beattie said much of the discussions with the Expos focused on finding a third team to help complete the deal.
"They gave us an idea of the type of players they're looking for," Beattie said. "If we could go find them, and bring them back to them through other avenues, there's a whole kind of matrix of possibilities, really."
NOTES: Orioles manager Mike Hargrove was asked yesterday if he's concerned going into this coming season in the final year of his contract. "I'm a fairly patient person," Hargrove said. "If they want to do something tomorrow, that would be great, but if they want to wait to do something, that's fine, too. I haven't been given any indication by Mr. [Peter] Angeles or Jim [Beattie] or Mike [Flanagan] that they're unhappy with the job that I've done?"