DALLAS — Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said tonight that he hopes to make a deal or two over the next couple of days and characterized his pursuit of new talent as 65 percent pitching and 35 percent hitting.
The Orioles contingent met with about a dozen teams and talked with several more before Duquette held his news briefing. He said that the Orioles have a lot of "irons in the fire" and are in on a couple of pitchers who could help stablize the young O's staff.
"They were mostly trade discussions today and a few free agent discussions,'' Duquette said. "Normally, we might have met with them at the World Series or the general managers meeting. We didn't get the opportunity to do that, so we're following up on that right now."
It probably should come as no surprise – considering the premium every team places on good starting pitching – that there are more bullpen options out there than starters. Duquette confirmed that, but seemed to indicate that he still is holding out hope that he can add a veteran starting pitcher to the developing rotation.
"It seems to be there are more relievers on the market," Duquette said. "I haven't found anybody to make a deal with yet, so I can't confirm whether they will part with them, but there seems to be a few more relievers in the market."
When asked what kind of relievers he was interested in, Duquette did not hesitate.
"Good ones," he said. "We're looking for good ones who can get out both lefties and righties. If we get some good ones, then the manager can decide when to employ them. If they can get out righties and lefties, the manager doesn't have to work so hard on the timing. That's the kind of pitchers we're looking for."