As Orioles leave Camden Yards, it might be a farewell for some players

The Orioles will prepare to head off on their final regular-season road trip later today not knowing whether they will play another game this year at Camden Yards.Some of them don't know whether they'll ever play another game here in an Orioles uniform, but the tough job ahead in Toronto and New York precluded any talk Sunday about who will stay and who will go during the coming offseason. It's just a fact of baseball life that some of the players who will spend the next week fighting for a playoff berth will not be reporting to the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota, Fla., in February.Last year at this time, Orioles fans were growing increasingly fatalistic about the future of pending free agents Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, Darren O'Day and Wei-Yin Chen, but after Wieters accepted the club's one-year qualifying offer, the front office went on to lock up O'Day and Davis to long-term deals. Chen ended up signing a rich multiyear contract with the Florida Marlins.This year, the biggest names in question include Wieters, major league home run leader Mark Trumbo, designated hitter Pedro Alvarez and reliever Tommy Hunter.Wieters chose to accept the $15.8 million offer because he needed to show that he was completely healthy after reconstructive elbow surgery. He might have the same option this November, but he has re-established himself as an everyday player and likely will command a hefty multiyear deal. Whether the Orioles will be in the conversation remains to be seen.Trumbo is in a similar situation. He has raised his value with a career power performance and, in his new deal, should be able to find a multiple of the $16.7 million estimated salary that would come with this year's qualifying offer, which is determined by an average of the top 125 player salaries of the previous season.Though everyone, including Trumbo, seems to agree that he's a great fit in Baltimore, it will be interesting to see whether the Orioles will have the payroll flexibility to keep him. Ownership certainly loosened the purse strings last winter as the Orioles became one of the sport's top-spending teams.Alvarez has delivered a solid season for a platoon DH (22 homers, 49 RBIs) at a bargain price, but he should be able to command a lot more than the one-year, $5.75 million deal he got from the Orioles this spring, and appears unlikely to return. The Orioles might need to create some payroll space by replacing him with a low-cost player like emerging power prospect Trey Mancini.Hunter returned to the Orioles late this season after being traded away last year. He's well liked in the clubhouse and missed playing here, so he'll probably be back if the front office wants to re-sign him.The next week or two could determine whether management will be satisfied with what would be largely the same club in 2017. Club officials seem to pay lip service every year to the need for a better mix of power hitters and contact guys, so how the far the Orioles go into October could play a role in shaping the future of the roster.

As Orioles leave Camden Yards, it might be a farewell for some players

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