The Orioles could put the Oriole Bird in the field and improve their production and stability at shortstop in 2009.
The team used six starters at the position after trading former American League MVP Miguel Tejada last December. Now, the Orioles have plenty of options to fill what was a gaping hole in 2008. While opting to spend bigger money elsewhere, the Orioles are more likely to sign journeyman Cesar Izturis than to sign one of the three higher-profile free agent shortstops -- Rafael Furcal, Orlando Cabrera and Edgar Renteria -- according to The Sun.
"Whatever we are going to do, I am pretty confident that it's going to be a significant improvement over what we had, not that that is a high bar," Orioles president Andy MacPhail told The Sun.
The Orioles had yet to make a contract offer to Izturis.
The club opened the hot-stove season rumored to be a potential suitor for Padres shortstop Khalil Greene. But talks with San Diego, as well as Pittsburgh (Jack Wilson), Milwaukee (J.J. Hardy) and Oakland (Bobby Crosby) never materialized.
Unlike the other injury-prone shortstops available, Izturis, 28, would be a short-term solution with few question marks.
"Cesar has received a lot of interest since the market opened up," Izturis' agent, Chris Leible, told The Sun. "Certainly, Baltimore's situation would be one that Cesar would be interested in."
