Pitching staff flexibility: Those with options give O's more options (updated)

Orioles lefty Zach Britton is out of options and that might give him an edge in the battle to win the fifth starter's job. Of course, he'll have to pitch well and won't get the job simply because he can't be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. Britton could also wind up in the bullpen, which became a bigger possibility when lefty Troy Patton was suspended for the season's first 25 games. But among the Orioles' candidates for rotation spots, most do have options remaining and could begin the season in the minors. One potential Triple-A rotation right now could include, in no particular order, Kevin Gausman, Steve Johnson, T.J. McFarland, Mike Wright and Eddie Gamboa. That would be a real strong starting five for Norfolk and give the O's some decent looking options when they need to look to the farm for a starter. And you know that time will come. It always does. If that did turn out to be the starting five at Triple-A, that leaves out two others that could wind up there in Liam Hendriks and Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez was ranked as the Orioles' No. 3 prospect by Baseball America, No. 43 in the top 100 by ESPN's Keith Law, No. 61 by Baseball Prospectus and No. 68 by MLB.com. Rodriguez ended last season allowing just one earned run in 25 innings over his last four starts with Double-A Bowie. Despite that stunning finish, he did make only 11 starts, throwing 59 2/3 innings with the Baysox. Sending the 20-year-old lefty (who turns 21 April 7) back to Bowie to get more experience there would be a logical move. With some pitching depth between Baltimore and Norfolk, there's no reason to rush him to the next level. By the way, the Double-A rotation could be led by Rodriguez, Tim Berry and Zach Davies, and that would send three of the club's promising young pitchers to Prince George's Stadium in April. If the O's add a free agent pitcher to their rotation before opening day, that could bump another pitcher back to Triple-A or the big league bullpen. This won't be a popular opinion, but I'd almost rather see the pitchers mentioned above compete to join Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez, Wei-Yin Chen and Bud Norris in the rotation than sign Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana. I'm not against giving up the draft pick for the right player, but for the $40 million or more, it would probably cost to get either pitcher - and both had ERAs over 5.00 in 2012 - I'd take my chances with a starting five made up of the current internal candidates. Santana or Jimenez could help, and they'd help a lot pitching as they did last season, but the price of the dollars and the pick is too risky for me. As for the current spring training list of available pitchers, the Orioles certainly have some options do to the amount of pitchers with options. About that first-round pick: The Orioles are willing to give up their first-round draft pick to sign a player. That has been true for a while and I wrote about that more than two months ago in this story at the Winter Meetings. Last night, Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com filed this story with some Dan Duquette quotes on the topic. "I've said all along that we would take a look at it," Rosenthal quoted Duquette as saying. "We do have a little bit better talent base in our organization. Our scouts have done a decent job recruiting internationally, as well as domestically. With the maturity of our team, we have to take a look at it." This falls under the much-discussed window-of-opportunity theory and that the Orioles need to add a pitcher and/or others now to go for it. We'll see. None of this means they are going to sign a player, but it means at least they won't let the pick stand in their way. Update: Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com published this story this afternoon He wrote this about the current market for Jimenez and Santana: "General managers seem to suggest the price for these two pitchers could fall somewhere between the $33 million, three-year deal Kyle Lohse signed last year and the $50-million, four-year deal Matt Garza signed this year. While Garza had more physical questions than the healthier Santana and Jimenez, Garza did not have a draft choice attached to him, which is viewed as a major advantage in free agency these days." Meanwhile, Rosenthal tweeted this earlier today: Burnett on whether he had interest from #Orioles and #Nationals, both of which play closer to his home in Monkton, Md.: "Not much at all." Isn't this all fun? Mystery markets, the frozen five and O's fans still waiting.