Baltimore looking to add talent

Updated: December 22, 2003, 11:14 AM ET

Are the Baltimore Orioles in a position to buy themselves back into relevancy?

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By By Jim Baker
MLB Insider

Are we, the public, at fault for debating and caring about the "dire straits" of a well-paid player like Alex Rodriguez? Who is more to blame: the owners for making these players rich, the players for taking the money or the fans for actually giving a damn what happens to them? Bill Reynolds poses this question in the Providence Journal.

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle takes a look at the two Bay Area teams and wonders just what the plan is. Can they repeat with the deals they have been and not been making?

Remember when the Orioles mattered? The last time was 1997 when they won 98 games under Davey Johnson and took the American League East. (Johnson is the only manager to get them to the playoffs in the last 20 years.) Are they in a position to buy themselves back into relevancy? Do they have a cohesive plan other than to make good offers to free agents? Drew Olson of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel examines their current situation.

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