Orioles holding firm on offer to Chris Davis

NASHVILLE - The Orioles held another round of negotiations with agent Scott Boras today, but the conversation took place via a phone call and involved managing partner Peter Angelos.

According to two industry sources, Angelos and Boras spoke again while trying to strike a deal with first baseman Chris Davis. They met in person before the Winter Meetings and were in contact again today while Angelos remained in Baltimore.

The Orioles' offer hasn't changed, according to the sources. They're still willing to give Davis approximately $150 million over seven years, believing it's the best deal available to him.

Boras, meanwhile, is meeting with other clubs while the Orioles try to gauge whether there's an actual market for Davis, who's led the majors in home runs in two of the last three seasons.

Boras suggested today that there's no deadline for Davis to make a decision, that no line has been drawn in the sand, but the Orioles are prepared to reallocate that money in an attempt to sign an outfielder and at least one starting pitcher.

Duquette has made trade and free-agent proposals to fill both needs. He's known to have interest in left-hander Scott Kazmir and right-hander Yovani Gallardo. He's met with Justin Upton's agent. And that's just the tip of the Winter Meetings iceberg.

The media gathered in Duquette's suite for the final time today. If the Orioles make a blockbuster trade or signing, he will be available at the podium. Otherwise, he's going to comment on his selection in the Rule 5 draft and head to the airport.

Here are more quotes from his session at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center:

Asked about his relationship with Boras: "I believe the relationship is fine. Actually we've done a lot of deals with Scott Boras, and we have a number of his players in the organization. The most recent multi-year deal we did with him, we did with this kid Suk-min Yoon, the Korean pitcher, and we had negotiations with Scott both coming to the country, and when it didn't work out, going back to Korea. That took a lot of time and effort. He's represented Zach Britton and Matt Wieters and Chris Davis for several years. Then, we had some of his players on minor league contracts, too, so I think all in all we have a pretty solid relationship. He's got a great sense of humor."

More on Boras: "He's very passionate about his clients. He wants them to do well. He wants to see them play well. He always talks about contract execution. That's the club paying the player after the player's performed and the player continuing to perform. I think all that is good and helpful for a healthy relationship."

On whether Boras is respecting the Orioles' timeline for reaching agreement: "I know what the timeline is for the team, and the timeline for the players isn't always aligned with the team, but when they do choose to sign with the team, that's when they line up."

On what transpired today: "We've been working on some offers for some other players to staff our outfield. That's what we've been working on today and then we also had a couple of trade discussions for players to try to acquire by a trade to man the outfield. Those haven't come to fruition, yet. They're moving toward a resolution, probably by the end of the week or the first of next week."

Asked whether Orioles have interest in Cliff Lee as reclamation project: "Every year we try to sign some pitchers that are coming back from injuries. They're generally veteran pitchers. Some people call that the Red Cross list. So we have a couple pitchers like that that we're considering."

On whether the pitching market has developed as he expected: "I think the market is developing on those pitchers. I think you'll see some of those pitchers sign here pretty soon."

On the Rule 5 draft: "I think we look at the talent and then we look at how they fit on the roster, because you have to accomplish both at some point. I think some people would argue that it's easier to keep a pitcher in the Rule 5, but they all have their challenges. I will say this, I think the clubs spent a lot of time and energy determining who they wanted to protect on their 40-man, because that draft last year was a pretty talent-laden Rule 5 draft. There were some good players playing in the big leagues.

"I think clubs did a much more precise evaluation of their players prior to completing their 40-man roster given the quality of the players who got to the big leagues last year from the Rule 5 draft that stayed and made a contribution to their teams. There were some good players last year."