Are some potential free agents already eyeing Baltimore?

No one is naming any names, but some players from other teams have expressed an interest in joining the Orioles through free agency. This is a bit of a gray area, since players can't even file yet for free agency. But when asked today if the O's improved play since August 3rd might help the club attract possible free agents this winter, O's manager Buck Showalter indicated that answer might already be yes. "I know Andy and I get calls and whatever. Some of them don't completely make you comfortable from an ethical standpoint, so you just don't return them. But there are people that have expressed interest. There is always something behind the scenes. That are currently working for other clubs, I'm talking about players and stuff. You have to be real careful with that. I don't want to treat it, like I would want to treat it with one of our players." In the end, of course, it almost always comes down to the money and contract offer first and Showalter said as much in his first response when asked about free agents and the Orioles. "There's a smart-aleck answer to that I'm not going to give you, where money is concerned." So is money going to almost always be the biggest factor? "Not in all cases, the way baseball has evolved there a lot of guys in late January and early February that are still kind of out there, a different tier of guys," Showalter said. "Some trades are with different frameworks because people want to see what the free agent market is like before they commit to a trade. Some things can happen late. "I know the six year guys (filing for free agency) they moved that (filing date) up to five days (after the World Series) which is a big change, I'm telling you. Presents a different dynamic. "You want people to be attracted here for the right reasons. I don't know, I'll get a better feel for it once we get into it."