FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Orioles designated hitter Jay Gibbons has repeatedly said he has come to terms with his 15-day suspension for violating Major League Baseball's substance-abuse prevention program.

Gibbons, who admitted to using human growth hormone, won't be eligible to play his first game until April 15, giving the Orioles a little more than a month to mull over a potentially difficult decision about one of their longest-tenured players.

With a crowded outfield and plenty of designated-hitter types on their roster, the Orioles don't appear to have a role for Gibbons. And the size of his contract, injury history and recent on- and off-the-field struggles have sapped his trade value, spurring questions about what the club will do when Gibbons' suspension ends.

"We're really in the process of letting him play," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said. "It's one of my beliefs that you don't make decisions before you have to. The landscape is always changing."

Still, Orioles manager Dave Trembley said he has given plenty of thought to Gibbons' situation. The Orioles will need to drop a player from their 25-man roster when they activate Gibbons from the suspended list.

"Obviously, you think about it all the time and you know it's something you are going to have to face sooner or later," Trembley said. "It's in the back of your mind, and I'm trying to plan and prepare for it. But right now, it's not on the front burner for me. I think there are some other things I've got to straighten out first."

Asked about his precarious situation, Gibbons said: "Contrary to what a lot of people think, it's been a very fun seven years for me here. Whatever happens here in the next five weeks or two years, I've made so many friends and I've had so many good times. If my career ended tomorrow, I'd be satisfied. I know I've done everything I can, worked as hard as I can and put it out on the field. I want to be an Oriole and I want to live out my contract, but it's not up to me."

The Orioles don't have many options with Gibbons, 31, who has two years and $11.9 million left on the four-year contract he signed in January 2006. The amount of money he is owed makes it unlikely that team owner Peter Angelos, who has always liked Gibbons, will release the veteran and absorb the rest of his contract.

But trading him - at least now - doesn't appear feasible. Gibbons is seven months removed from surgery to repair a labrum tear in his left shoulder, a procedure that prematurely ended the worst season of his career. He hasn't played more than 90 games in a season since 2005, and he has totaled just 19 homers and 74 RBIs in 174 games in the past two seasons.

The only way for Gibbons to enhance his trade value is to play, but barring injuries, it will be difficult for Trembley to get Gibbons into the lineup. The Orioles' projected left fielder is Luke Scott, who is a left-handed hitter like Gibbons. Their likely Opening Day designated hitter is the left-handed-hitting Aubrey Huff.

"It's pretty apparent," Gibbons said. "You look at that and think, 'Who am I going to spell?' Usually, left-handers don't spell left-handers. But it's really not my job to worry about that. I'm just going to go out there and work hard, and things will work out one way or another."

Gibbons is 4-for-39 (.103) in his career as a pinch hitter and was 0-for-11 in that role last year with six strikeouts and hit into a double play. To get regular at-bats, he'll likely have to prove he's capable of producing as a reserve.

"If certain things fall into place, he can help this club because I believe he can hit," Trembley said. "But we do have a surplus of left-handed bats, and we probably have three guys that do similar things. You can only play one."

Showing remorse

Gibbons has said all the right things since reporting to camp last month. He again accepted responsibility for and the ramifications of his use of hGH, acknowledging that he was embarrassed and humbled. He also conceded that he felt he needed to win a spot on the roster for the first time since 2000, when the Orioles picked him in the Rule 5 draft.

"I'm not uncomfortable with that at all," said Gibbons, who was 3-for-15 with two RBIs and four strikeouts this exhibition season but says he feels good physically. "It's my own fault for playing bad. You don't perform up to the level they expect, you don't deserve to play."

Gibbons insists he still has plenty left and is more than capable of being a productive offensive player. He's aware that there are people, including many Orioles fans, who attribute some of his past seasons - he hit 23 or more homers in 2002, 2003 and 2005 - to the use of performance-enhancing drugs and question whether his days as a legitimate power threat are over. He has said he used hGH for medicinal purposes and to speed his recovery from various injuries.

Ready to go

He said he reported to camp at 199 pounds - 4 pounds heavier than he was at this time last season and 6 pounds lighter than he was at this time in 2006. Trembley said that it's the best shape he's ever seen Gibbons in.

"I know I still have ability. I know my bat speed is the same and all of that. It's just going out there and doing it," Gibbons said. "I don't have anything to prove to anybody, as far as I'm concerned.

" ... If people want to judge me and think I did something that helped me, that's fine. They can judge me all they want. They have every right to. ... I'm not really concerned with that. I've come to terms with it and moved on."

Now, Gibbons says all he needs is a chance. He'll be allowed to work out at the club's minor league facility during his suspension.

"I've put in the time in the offseason," he said. "That's all I can do. Am I going to get 500 at-bats this year? I don't know. With the Orioles, that's highly doubtful. But I've also seen other people sitting on the bench and all of a sudden, they start to play every day. If you hit, you'll be in the lineup. That's the bottom line."

jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com