More from Showalter's media session

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - You saw the bullet points from Orioles manager Buck Showalter's media session this afternoon. Now you can read the quotes.

On his reaction to big trades and signings at the Winter Meetings: "Sometimes we have a selective memory. I try to, but this went on last year to some extent and the year before, whether it's the Yankees or whether it's the Red Sox or the Blue Jays or whoever. It's part of the job description in our division. I was thinking about it today, it's kind of like the tortoise and hare story. We're kind of the tortoise in Winter Meetings. Sometimes they catch up to the hare. And they'll pick us to finish last in the division and we'll take on that role again."

On his confidence in the rotation: "We have six starters that are capable of starting and pitching well in the major leagues and have in the past. I hate saying that, we have four guys on the last year of their contracts because it's a reflection that they didn't put as much effort into the first whatever, and that's not the case. But it's obvious over the track record of people that they have a tendency to do that.

"We're actually getting calls on our starting pitching because we potentially have a surplus, and you put Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson and some other guys in there ...I was hoping to go to 26, that we might carry that 13th pitcher. We could also entertain going with six starters. We're not going to give them away. We'll see how Dylan (Bundy) is doing in the spring, about where he's going to fit.

"We're going to hopefully have a full season with Darren (O'Day) and have Donnie Hart maybe for all year, and those are two things that we didn't have last year. We think Mychal (Givens) has made great strides. He's a guy we can trust. I like where we are pitching. And I know that will probably bring some eye rolls from a lot of people, but you look at Dylan's progress and the way ... probably our best pitcher the last month or so, and (Wade) Miley finished up strong. A lot of our guys had their best months in September.

"I know what looks on paper, when you look at what the Red Sox are going to run out there and the Yankees and Blue Jays, but we'll see. We'll see."

On Bundy's innings: "I'm just going to say it again, I don't see we're going to do anything differently with Dylan that we wouldn't with (Kevin) Gausman or Mike Wright or any of those young pitchers. He's almost two years ... you've got to tell me exactly how long he's removed from that surgery. I was going to say he's probably healthier than some people who haven't had that surgery yet. So innings-wise I'm not going to penalize and let him get penalized for that to start in our rotation. I think he's one of our five best."

On Wright as a starter: "Yes, I think Mike, he's always got potential to do both, but I want all of these guys to continue down that path because we're going to need them. We're going to need all of them. And a lot of guys that have done well in the big leagues have followed the path that Mike has followed where they had some struggles early on. There's a guy (Jake Arrieta) pitching for the Cubs right now that had a very similar path to Mike Wright."

On the key free agents who could leave the Orioles: "Who knows what is going to happen with Matt (Wieters) and (Mark Trumbo) and Pedro (Alvarez). A lot of people keep forgetting about Pedro in that whole deal. He's pretty solid for us, one of the better DHs in the American League.

"Matt's going to end up a good place and I haven't turned my back on the fact that he might be with us, because this market, like back to the tortoise and the hare, you have to be good at judging how this thing is going to fall when the chairs stop moving around who has a chair. But Matt's going to have a big chair. He's going to do well."

On whether the door is open to re-sign Trumbo: "Oh, sure. It's always been. We made a big point of emphasis to know who we are and who we are not. Trying to stay consistent with that. Every once in a while you do something that might just step out of what that is, but that's not up to me. That's up to ownership. We've got as supportive of owner for our market as any manager could possibly ask for. Been rock solid."

On Adam Jones not being leadoff hitter in 2017: "I always leave myself some wiggle room. You all know enough and (have) seen enough. I'd really rather strongly not be. I would really rather strongly rather it would have been last year."

On whether he'd move Jones to right: "I don't see that. The way we're currently constructed, no, I'm not going to put that out there. Adam's our center fielder and does a great job with it."

On needing to decide on a catcher quicker than other positions: "That market goes in a hurry. There's times that we can see it, you don't have to strike with it, but a person's got to be there. I'm thinking the right person, you know, currently in-house, without getting into who that might be. We're going to have some maneuverability on our roster. We're only 36 now. We're going to be able to move some things around, unlike a lot of these clubs that aren't."

On whether it's wise for Hyun Soo Kim to play in the World Baseball Classic: "I'm real sensitive to the pressure those guys are under. I know a little bit more than what I'm going to speak about here about where he is at playing or not playing.

"We're going to support all of our guys in the WBC. I'm going to look out what's best for the Orioles, but also you're trying to bridge that with what pressures. I know it's real important to Korea. And whichever way he decides to go, we're going to be in full support of it.

"Would I rather he play, not play, we all have a perfect world scenario. I think about all the things that challenged him last year that are not going to challenge him this year, and we talk about guys that could go to another level, I think he's got that potential. We saw flashes of it. You know, the left-handed pitching thing just kind of snowballed. He's a lot better than that. I think he's an adequate defender, a guy that I could play right field instead of left field if we needed to, especially in our ballpark. There's a lot of things that we talked about, some other people."

On whether Kim has the skill set to lead off: "He's got statistical skills. We were in the meeting today, how much strikeouts are at an all-time high, walks are at an all-time high, stolen bases on the bottom. I think we're seeing the evolution of a lot of things as we viewed them growing up. So what's the most important attribute of a leadoff guy? Only leading off one time per game, once, and we put so much on this. So I guess it's on-base percentage."

On whether it's important for the club to steal more bases: "You've got to understand who you are, and I understood who we weren't. We've tried a little bit pushing it, trying to make it happen and it just wasn't there. It wasn't in our skill set. It's something that Dan (Duquette) talked a lot about, but you just can't ... You can take a guy that can steal some of bases and can't hit or you take a guy that can steal a lot of bases in the minor leagues, but he can't steal in the big leagues because the pitchers are faster to the plate and the catchers throw better.

"I think that's part of the evolution of stolen bases is how much better pitchers are at holding runners. They're teaching the change-up at Aberdeen and also telling them to be below 1.3 at the plate."

On whether there's interest in Chris Carter: "I haven't heard that one time in the room. But that doesn't mean ... Dan does a lot of things stealth, but where I'm concerned, ignorance is bliss."

On Michael Saunders: "That's a name, that's a name. Definitely from a medical standpoint, he should be fine. Someone will end up with a good player there."

On Nick Hundley: "Always talk with and about Nick. Good for somebody. Obviously, he's on our list."

On whether Michael Bourn's name has come up: "Oh, yeah. That's the thing, when Dan is looking at the Rule 5 guys, if you view guys as a fourth outfielder and they look at themselves as a second or third, and God bless them, they should, but it's what price you're paying. I don't want to mention names because that doesn't mean they're a fourth outfielder and getting $7 or $8 million and projected not to start for a team, we can't do that.

"Talk more about Dariel Alvarez. Wouldn't forget about him."

On whether Chris Davis is fine with playing right field: "Chris will do whatever the team needs him to do, but over the long haul I wouldn't want to do it. I think physically it would be a big toll on him, and before I came here I kind of weighed into him about, I want to make sure I wasn't saying 'no' and he wants to do it. You don't assume anything. But Chris will do whatever the team needs him to do for periods of time. Like Manny (Machado) going over to shortstop. But we tried to create that, what the team needs. But long term, right field, I don't think it's good for our infield defense."

On decompressing after a disappointing end to the season: "I think they all do. I think that's why spring is so ... I don't know, I don't want to get too deep, uplifting, whatever the word you want to use. It's a fresh start. It's spring. You know, flowers are blooming, everyone is going to hit .300 that hit .190 last year and some pitcher is magically going to be throwing the ball over the plate and you're going to be playing in late October, and then reality sets in.

"The way our season ended, it was a deep cut and abrupt and hurts and still hurts. I'm hoping at some point it goes away, but I think I will abate some, but never completely go away. You wear it real deeply."

It's time for Duquette's media session. I'll pass along more from Showalter later today.