Who's the next left-handed hitter coming to the Orioles?

Merry Christmas to everyone who observes the holiday. I hope your stockings are stuffed, your chestnuts are roasted, your lights are blinking only if you want them to and your credit card bill is lost in the mail.

The Orioles shopped early and picked up Korean outfielder Hyun Soo Kim. No assembly required, though I started to wonder as the days passed without any word on his physical.

I'm wondering how much we can read into the Orioles' desire to sign another left-handed hitter. When I asked executive vice president Dan Duquette on Wednesday whether he specifically was aiming for an outfielder, he also included first base and designated hitter as possibilities.

This takes us right back to all the moving parts, all the irons in the fire, all the baseball clichés.

Chris Davis would give the Orioles a left-handed hitting first baseman, which influences other moves, but they aren't waiting around for him. His refusal to bite on the offer complicates matters and has a ripple effect.

Moving Mark Trumbo to first base increases the need for a left-handed hitting designated hitter such as Pedro Alvarez, who was non-tendered by the Pirates and continues to interest the Orioles. Yes, another Scott Boras client.

I haven't heard that the Orioles are moving away from Alex Gordon, another left-handed hitting outfielder, but they're not giving him Davis money. Same with the other high-profile outfielders on the market.

MLBTradeRumors.com projected that Gordon would stay with the Royals on a five-year, $105 million deal, but they don't seem encouraged about their chances of keeping him.

Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes should earn bigger paydays, but the Orioles are talking to their representatives. They hit from the right side, which would require Duquette find his left-handed bat in one of the other spots he mentioned.

I mentioned to one club official this week that Denard Span, another left-handed hitting outfielder and also a Boras client, is scheduled to work out for teams near his Tampa home in January to prove that he's healthy. The official said that he had no knowledge of it, which could signal a reduced interest from the club or simply be a misdirection play. The Orioles don't advertise their interest in specific free agents, figuring it only hinders their attempts to work out a deal.

The Orioles won't go near Gerardo Parra if he wants a four-year deal.

The other question is whether the Orioles still could afford one of the top second-tier starters, such as Yovani Gallardo or Scott Kazmir, if they spend on Upton or Cespedes. If not, they need to take a harder look at Doug Fister or focus more on Gordon.

Again, all those moving parts make it extremely difficult to predict how this is going to play out.

The Orioles could spend big on another outfielder and attempt to sign Mat Latos to a one-year, bounce-back deal and plug him into the rotation. Then we can sit here and wonder how Latos over Wei-Yin Chen upgrades a rotation that dragged down the Orioles in 2015 - all the way out of the playoff hunt.

You can see why the Orioles are banking so heavily on improvements from Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez and Kevin Gausman.

A quicker decision from Davis might have provided some clarity, but we're past that point.