FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.-- --The lockers along Recognition Row are about a foot wider than the others in the Orioles' spring clubhouse, a small courtesy to the handful of veteran players who remain on a roster that seems to get younger by the day.
The better-known players generally get extra locker space during the regular season, too, which is logical, because they have more stuff and usually draw a larger crowd of media after games. But, in this case, it is weirdly countersymbolic because there doesn't seem to be much room for these guys around here anymore.
Which led to this mini-conversation with Kevin Millar on the first day of full-squad workouts:
Me: "Wow, are you still alive?"
Millar: "Just barely."
Millar has a pretty good attitude about all this. He didn't even get mad when I told him that I dubbed it Recognition Row because Extinction Alley seemed a little harsh this early in spring training. He's willing to embrace his dinosaur status, which might end up being a good thing a few million years from now if crude oil prices continue to go up.
"I don't feel old," he said. "I love coming to the field. I love spring training. I'm in my 11th year in the big leagues. I'm 36 years old. I'm a young man in the regular world, but in baseball you become that older guy."
And, in this case, being one of those older guys might mean having to choose between what's best for your individual career and what's best for a team that is building toward a brighter future you almost certainly won't be around to enjoy.
If you're Melvin Mora or Aubrey Huff or Jay Payton, you have to decide whether you're willing to help some young player eventually push you off the field, not that any of them have much choice right now except to go along for the ride.
"I've had the opportunity to talk to a few of them," club president Andy MacPhail said. "I have had no indication there are going to be any issues. If they come up, you just have to be honest and explain to them the where and why of it. Where we are is self-evident at this point.
"There is something liberating about that. We know what we're trying to do. There's no doubt where our focus is."
Still, it could be quite an adjustment for some of these veterans, considering that no one even pondered such a radical rebuilding effort when the Orioles opened camp last year. Huff and Payton were signed as free agents before the 2007 season to plug holes in a roster that was supposed to be more competitive, only to find themselves in danger of being unplugged just a year later.
Payton got 434 at-bats last year but could see his playing time significantly reduced with promising Adam Jones being groomed as the center fielder of the future and newcomer Luke Scott tentatively penciled into the everyday lineup in left field.
"That's just part of this business," Payton said yesterday. "When I came up, I got my opportunity because Darryl Hamilton got hurt. That's how I got my chance. You have to be in the right place at the right time. This is not a situation I probably would have chosen, but if this was a new year and I was out there [as a free agent], the Orioles probably wouldn't be looking to sign Jay Payton."
Still, Payton said he'll do whatever it takes to help the team on the field and in the clubhouse and hopes the team will take that into consideration if an opportunity comes along for him to move into a winning situation.
"The way I look at it, if I play well and do right by them, they'll do right by me," he said.
MacPhail said he isn't worried about players pulling in the wrong direction, but he does wonder whether the departure of two top players and the large influx of young talent will put extra pressure on the remaining veterans.
"I think there are a couple of aspects," MacPhail said. "There are some players Dave [Trembley] has encouraged to take more of a leadership role and help some of the young players make the necessary adjustments. The other aspect is, there may be an additional burden because somebody has to pick up the slack for who's not here. Players, by nature, are fundamentally competitive. That competitive nature is going to show itself when they get into the competition."
Mora seems unconcerned. He was so upbeat this week that he told reporters Tuesday that the young Orioles were going to surprise people this year, even predicting with a wink the team might win 100 games. But he also made it clear the older players have to take care of themselves before they will be any good to the younger players.
"It's like on an airplane," he said. "They tell you to put your [oxygen] mask on first, then you worry about putting them on the kids."
peter.schmuck@baltsun.com
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