Hearing from Duquette

SARASOTA, Fla. - Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette met with reporters in the workroom for about eight minutes today and provided updates on Everth Cabrera and Paul Janish, among other topics.

On Cabrera's pending deal:
"I don't know that it's going to be done this week. There's a couple of issues that need to be resolved. We've had some discussions. There's not a lot that I can say about players while we're in the process. The rules don't allow it, but we've done a lot of research on this player, and his skill and ability is very good, and we think there may be a fit."

On Jayson Nix:
"We had an opening for shortstop and we needed help in terms of the depth of the organization. We signed a kid, Paul Janish, who has an issue with his elbow. He had to have some bone chips taken out, and Jayson Nix, he's a veteran infielder. He can play shortstop. He played on the Yankees' playoff team a couple of years ago. He knows his way around the league, and I think he'll be a real good addition to the depth of our ballclub."

On Janish:
"He had to have some bone chips taken out of his elbow, so he will be out about 6-8 weeks. It was a couple of days ago. But this should be a good ballclub. We're returning the core of the team. We've got some young guys coming back and good leadership on the team. (Adam) Jonesy's back, we've got J.J. Hardy back. And I like the left-handed hitters that we added. I think that they're going to be helpful."

On other possible additions:
"We're still looking at a couple possibilities for players that could help our club, notably in relief, and we will continue to monitor that market. Probably minor league. We have some pretty good pitching depth already in camp and that's one of the most interesting parts about this year's camp is that the pitching depth we have, both starting and relief, is going to make for some very interesting competition in spring training. And I think also we'll have a couple more pitchers than we'll have spots. I'm hopeful that we'll have that at the end of spring training.

"We have some good starters, good depth. We're looking forward to taking a look at the two Rule 5 pitchers, (Logan) Verrett and Jason Garcia. These guys have got some good talent and they're hungry and they want to solidify themselves as big leaguers and we're going to give them an opportunity here in the spring. And if they pitch well and some of our other guys pitch the way I think they're going to pitch, we'll have some good depth to our bullpen.

"Our bullpen has been a strength for a couple of years and we're returning them all except (Andrew) Miller. We signed (Wesley) Wright and added a couple other guys. We've got Tommy Hunter back in form. We should be pretty good again in the bullpen. And then we've got six starting pitchers and a couple guys at Triple-A, so that's the good news. Plus we've got good defense at every position."

On the offseason:
"The most powerful thing we've done for our team in the offseason is to get (Matt) Wieters and (Manny) Machado and (Chris) Davis back on it and get them healthy and playing ball. And that's significant because you're talking about three everyday ballplayers who are good defenders. Wieters is a Gold Glover, Machado is a Gold Glover and Davis was second in the Gold Glove and they can hit and they've got power. So, we're adding them to the ballclub. The most powerful thing we could have done of any offseason move was getting those three guys back and getting them into our lineup. There's nothing else we could have done that would compare to those guys coming back and being healthy for our team.

"We picked up (Alejandro) De Aza at the end of last year because we knew (Nick) Markakis was going to be a free agent. We picked up (Travis) Snider who we think is coming into his own and we think is going to give us some effective at-bats. He's a very patient hitter who should be additive to our lineup and then we're adding those three guys back.

"We've got pitching depth, we've got good power up the middle, good defense at every position and that's a pretty good recipe for a winning ballclub."

On whether he has pitching depth to trade:
"Very rarely do you find a surplus of starting pitching and that has a way of leading to trades throughout the industry, so that's something we can take a look at. But the important thing in the spring is to figure out who are your best men and get them ready to start the season.

"This should be a good ballclub. We're returning the core of the team. We've got some young guys coming back. We've got good leadership on the team. Jonesy's back. We've got J.J. Hardy back. I like the left-handed hitters that we added. I think they're going to helpful."

On the surplus:
"We have the pitching depth and we have the defense. We're going to see what remains to be done for our lineup to see what we have to do. There's no perfect team, but we have a lot of complementary pieces here that Buck (Showalter) will put together properly and we'll be ready to go."

On having a winning culture:
"The other thing that we have is a winning culture here. These guys know that they're going to have to come to spring training, they have professional work habits. They get themselves ready to play. Buck does a great job with his staff helping them develop their skills and this is a team that, going into spring training, expects to contend. We have every right to be able to contend. We've earned that right to contend. We're returning these guys. Every team, when you start the spring, you want to be able to win the last game of the season. I'm sure this team will have that as a goal."

On whether the club could settle with De Aza before Friday's hearing:
"Yeah, I'm sure there's a chance, but we're at this stage of the game. We'll probably see the hearing through."