O's exchange salary arbitration numbers with Guthrie, Scott

The Orioles announced that they exchanged salary figures with their two remaining arbitration-eligible players today: pitcher Jeremy Guthrie and designated hitter/outfielder Luke Scott. According to an industry source, Guthrie is seeking $6.5 million and the Orioles countered at $5 million. He earned $3 million last season. Scott is seeking $6.85 million and the Orioles countered at $5.7 million. He earned $4.05 million last season. Hearings will be scheduled, most likely next month, if agreements can't be reached, but the sides usually compromise and avoid the process. Over the past few days, the Orioles reached agreements on one-year deals with reliever Jim Johnson ($975,000), outfielders Adam Jones ($3.25 million) and Felix Pie ($985,000), and shortstop J.J. Hardy ($5.85 million). Johnson, 27, went 1-1 with a 3.42 ERA in 26 appearances last season before being shut down with an inflamed right elbow. He's registered a 3.22 ERA in 144 games with the Orioles in the last three seasons. Jones, 25, batted .284 with 19 homers and 69 RBIs in 149 games. Pie, 25, batted .274 with five homers and 31 RBIs in 82 games. Hardy, 28, batted .268 with six homers and 28 RBIs in 101 games with the Twins in 2010. He hit 26 homers and was a National League All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007. President of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said he's optimistic that the Orioles can avoid arbitration with Guthrie and Scott. "Nothing really surprises us in the filing of the numbers and we should be able to work through a settlement," he said. "I'm pleased that we were able to knock off two-thirds of these before we got to exchanging numbers. We had a pretty heavy workload in terms of six potential cases and Matt (Klentak, director of baseball operations) did a good job whittling it down to two. I'm hopeful and confident that those two will be settled."