Vero Beach, Fla. -- The sign at the entrance still welcomes you to "Dodgertown," but it's fair to wonder what it will say next year.
The Dodgers might still be here, if the fancy new spring training facility being built for them in Arizona is not yet complete.
Or the place could be empty. Or the color scheme might be orange and black and the name could have more of an avian theme.
No one really knows and no one really wants to say, because there are so many contingencies and so many sensitive issues and the potential for a few hurt feelings.
This is and was always supposed to be the spring home of the Dodgers - from Brooklyn to Los Angeles - so the area is in a state of shock and limbo.
Officially, there is no word on whether the Orioles are coming here in 2009 or 2010, even though everyone in Vero Beach and Los Angeles seems to know the Orioles have signed an optional agreement to move here if something goes awry with the agreement they signed in Fort Lauderdale to renovate and expand their existing facility.
In fact, if one more Dodgers employee or city official refers to an undisclosed team and then winks at me, I'm just going to buy a condo here and get it over with.
It's a complicated situation, to say the least.
The Orioles have a deal with Fort Lauderdale, but it has been on hold for months awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, which controls the parcel of land under the current Orioles spring training camp and a soccer stadium set to be demolished to make room for the expansion.
There is no rushing the federal government when it comes to something like this, so it's possible the Orioles will still be waiting for an answer when it comes time to decide where to train in 2009.
If the FAA relents soon, work could begin next month and the Orioles probably could occupy part of the Fort Lauderdale facility next spring while the rest is being completed.
If the feds decide they might need that land to expand the airport sometime in the next 20 years, the deal could fall through and Vero Beach could become more than a stopgap option.
I'm betting on Dodgertown, or whatever the Orioles decide to call it when they get here.
It's not a sparkling new complex like the ones that have sprung up all over Arizona, but it's a very cool place with plenty of room for the major and minor league operations.
The compound even has nice little bungalows to house coaches and players, as well as amenities and recreational facilities that have made it the envy of other major league teams for half a century.
The Orioles could do a lot worse. Actually, they have done a lot worse for a long, long time.
They've been scuffling around South Florida for nearly two decades, trying to settle somewhere after moving out of Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium in 1990.
A tentative deal in Naples fell through before Peter Angelos bought the team, and they have dallied with Sarasota, Jupiter, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale during the past 15 years.
Meanwhile, just about every other team in baseball has been able to get somebody to build them at least one new facility.
If the Orioles come to Vero Beach, it might be a little uncomfortable for a while.
The place oozes Dodgers history and tradition, all of which will have to be uprooted to make room for the Orioles.
I mean, who's going to feel good pulling up the sign in front of the Roy Campanella Conference Room?
"That's just part of change," said Orioles coach John Shelby, who played for both organizations. "If you're going to make a change, you should make a complete change. You can't leave that history here. You have to take it where you go."
Maybe so, but it's still hard to imagine Dodgertown draped in anything but Dodger Blue.
"If they can build a new Yankee Stadium," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said, "they can put up new colors at Dodgertown."
I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.
peter.schmuck@baltsun.com
Listen to Peter Schmuck on WBAL (1090 AM) at noon most Saturdays and Sundays.