Baltimore Orioles

According to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes, Vladimir Guerrero has signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles. Ken Rosenthal and Buster Olney have since confirmed the news.

The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a one year, $8 million deal with Vladimir Guerrero. Add him to fellow 2011 offseason acquisitions Derrek Lee, Mark Reynolds, Justin Duchscherer and JJ Hardy and suddenly, this team looks like it can compete right now.

They will need Brian Matusz to mature a great deal, and it still doesn't look like they will be close to the Yankees and Red Sox, but to put it in perspective, they could finish with a better record than anyone in the AL West.

First, let me make this very clear.

The Boston Red Sox will win the American League East, barring a major injury bug or lack of team chemistry.

That lineup, full of left-handed hitting power (Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz), speed (Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury) and pure hitters (Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis) is a force to be reckoned with.

Just a few months removed from being a major contributor to the American League champion Texas Rangers, Vlad Guerrero is a man without a team. The free-agent DH turns 36 next week, and his push for a multi-year contract has gotten him nowhere thus far. Right now, his biggest suitors appear to be the Baltimore Orioles, who have offered him a one-year deal in the $4 million range.

Since the hiring of manager Buck Showalter in late July, the Orioles had an incredible end to the season. Finishing at 34-23 under Showalter, the Orioles had a better last two months than the Yankees, who finished a mediocre 29-30 in the same time frame.

Showalter made an immediate impact for a team that was thought to be lost. Can last year's late success translate into a possible postseason run in 2011? 

Nick Markakis averaged 99 runs, 20.3 HRs, 100 RBI and 11.3 SBs while hitting .299 from 2007-2009. He didn’t excel in any one category, outside of the 112 RBI in 2007, but he was a solid contributor across the board.

Then last year happened.

The only area in which Markakis looked like himself was his batting average of .297. He scored just 79 runs; he hit just 12 HRs.

The Orioles have agreed to sign free-agent starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer to a one-year deal that could be worth up to $4.5 million, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.

Duchscherer will make a base salary of $700K guaranteed, and another $1.1 million when he makes the roster, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. To obtain the entire $4.5 million on the contract, he'll then have to make at least 30 starts at the major-league level.

The MLB Hot Stove is starting to cool as we get ready for Spring Training. Pitchers and catchers report in less than three weeks. So let’s stoke that fire a bit with more prospect talk. This series on prospects will cover a wide range of players as well as positions. We’ll cover sleepers as well as some of the more obvious stars of the future.

On Wednesday, I was playing around on Twitter and I tweeted “If the #Orioles offer Vlad 1 yr and $2MM, can he really turn it down? Where else is he gonna sign?”

While the starting pitching market has dried up considerably at this point, there are a couple of interesting names still out there that are worth a second glance:

Justin Duchscherer and John Maine.

In my opinion, those guys are the two best options left, though I'll admit, their injury history does scare me. But both have had some success in their careers, which is why it might be worth it for the Orioles to take a chance on one of them. Not to mention they'd probably come cheap.