OK, so what about today?

Yesterday passed without the Orioles doing anything. President of baseball operations Andy MacPhail might have made contact with more agents or rival executives, but that's only an assumption. The media has been left in the dark because he's no longer returning our calls. I can confirm that the Orioles didn't sign any free agents or complete any trades. Only four shopping days left until Christmas. I'm actually stopping the count after Thursday, so make it three. Assuming that Adam LaRoche is sitting on a three-year offer in the vicinity of $21 million, he clearly is waiting for a better offer or sorting through identical ones. You'd think that a guy who settled for a one-year deal last winter and didn't spend last month sorting through all of his MVP votes would jump at that kind of cash. Should the Orioles be developing a complex here? Do they already have one? I'm not aware of any imposed deadlines, but if I'm MacPhail, I'm giving LaRoche a cutoff date. And then I'm making an ultra-aggressive play for Derrek Lee or Vladimir Guerrero. If Guerrero agrees to a contract, I'm shipping a first baseman's mitt to Luke Scott - assuming he receives mail in his tree stand - as a reminder that he needs to get more comfortable at the position. I'm including a map of Sarasota and a razor. I'm also signing Jorge Cantu to back up at the infield corners. And I'm feeling a whole lot better about my bench. He gets a deadline, too. And I'm reminding him that he's Jorge Cantu. Three more shopping days. Still plenty of room in the stocking. Going back to my previous entry, here are the nine Orioles whose last names begin with the letter V: Fred Valentine, Fernando Valenzuela, Dave Van Gorder, Andy Van Slyke, Dave Vineyard, Ozzie Virgil, Jack Voigt, Rick VandenHurk and Pedro Viola.