Orioles' outfielder options are dwindling

Right now it appears the Orioles starting corner outfielders are Alejandro De Aza and Steve Pearce. David Lough could work his way into the mix. Maybe at some point during the season Dariel Alvarez or Henry Urrutia find their way to the team. Chris Davis is a long-shot candidate to play right field. The O's have Pearce and Christian Walker who could play at first if Davis somehow wound up an outfielder. I still see a fit for free agent Nori Aoki although the Orioles interest seems to be lukewarm right now. In fact you don't hear much about Aoki linked with any team. I'm not sure what I'm missing, but he's hit .287 with an OBP of .353 over three big league seasons and will come at a reasonable cost. Of all Orioles with 300 or more at-bats in 2014, only Pearce had a higher average at .293 and only Pearce had a higher OBP at .373. Clearly opponent pitchers have learned how to attack Aoki after he came over from Japan. His homer total went from 10 in 2012 to eight and to one in 2014. His doubles total dropped from 37 to 20 to 22. But while that happened, his average and OBP remained steady. His slugging fell off, but the on-base stats remained solid over three seasons. The last two years Aoki hit .286 and .285 while Nick Markakis hit .271 and .276. Aoki had an OBP of .356 and .349 while Markakis' OBP those two seasons were .329 and .342. Aoki could bring some solid defense, a good OBP, speed and a leadoff hitter to the Orioles. Grouped with De Aza batting the top or bottom of the order, Aoki could add some speed and on-base capability ahead of the big boppers who can hit the ball out of the ballpark. He seems to provide a missing element. I see a potential fit here. Good average, good on-base, decent defense, comes at a reasonable price. The O's need a corner outfielder. Maybe Aoki remains a fallback option for them. Maybe they may have more interest now than they had a few weeks ago. Maybe they will add an outfielder via a trade. There is plenty of time for the Orioles to add to the outfield. Now we will wait to find out if they are going to do just that.