Bird Talk: Machado extension speculation, more on Meek, Hunter, Britton and others

The Orioles opened the first week of the season with series against two American League offensive powerhouses: the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. While the club only came away with two wins during the first week, the offense seemed to come alive on Tuesday against the Yankees. Here are some stories you may have missed about the Orioles from other media outlets. * In the wake of Mike Trout's six-year contract extension with the Angels, former Nationals general manager Jim Bowden, now of ESPN, has compiled a list of young stars he would lock up to long-term extensions. Orioles third baseman Manny Machado is the top young star he would sign to an extension. Bowden believes once Machado is healthy and is no longer showing signs of his knee injury, the club should be "aggressive" in signing him to an extension. * Ken Rosenthal has a nice note on Orioles reliever Evan Meek in his column from Tuesday. Meek signed a minor league deal with the Orioles in early February. The former All-Star had suffered from shoulder injuries in the past. After having a hard time finding a job, Meek called former Pirates manager, John Russell, who is now the Orioles bench coach. Russell arranged for Meek to have a tryout with the club, and the rest as they say, is history. Read more from Rosenthal, here. * The Orioles apparently tried to trade Zach Britton in the offseason for Mets first baseman Ike Davis, according to the New York Daily News. Davis played in 103 games in 2013. According to the Daily News, the Orioles now consider the trade chatter to be dead and will not revisit the trade with the Mets. Read more here. * The Orioles made ESPN's The Sweet Spot's blog about opening day. Closer Tommy Hunter still concerns The Sweet Spot, however. He cites Hunter's tight opening day save situation against the Red Sox. Keep an eye on Hunter and don't be surprised if the O's make a change at closer later in the season, according to ESPN. * Finally, I'll leave you with FOXsports.com's power rankings after the first week of the season. After a rough start to the season, the Orioles dropped two spots in FOX's poll to the No. 17 spot. FOX says Chris Tillman has been the best starter in the Birds rotation, but the rest of the rotation members need to pick it up. Want to see the other power rankings? Click here. That's a wrap of this week's Bird Talk. Don't forget to check MASNsports.com daily for complete Orioles coverage.