Player reaction to Pedro Alvarez

SARASOTA, Fla. - Ryan Flaherty couldn't resist, but he sure tried.

Flaherty was asked earlier today about the Orioles reaching agreement with Pedro Alvarez, his close friend and former Vanderbilt teammate. He immediately shot a glance toward Adam Jones, a clear reference to the Dexter Fowler debacle.

The Orioles thought they had an agreement with Fowler, who spoke to Jones on the phone and expressed his excitement over joining the club. Fowler shocked the industry by returning to the Cubs.

"Let's just hope that I'm better friends with him than ...," Flaherty said, as reporters prodded him to finish his thought. "Let's hope he shows up."

It may have been Flaherty's finest moment with the Orioles, at least off the field.

If Alvarez unexpectedly shows up in Bradenton and starts hugging his Pirates teammates, at least it's a short drive for the Orioles beat crew.

Flaherty said he spoke to Alvarez "a little bit" last night.

Who reached out?

"Back and forth," Flaherty said.

Will Alvarez deny it later?

"No guarantees," Flaherty said, smiling.

Too soon? Nope. We're having fun with it.

Though Flaherty and Alvarez lived together for two spring trainings and remain friends, there was no recruitment going on before last night's agreement.

"No, I wouldn't convince him," Flaherty said. "He's my friend first and foremost. He wanted to go to a place that's a good fit and he wanted to play for a team that's going to compete. I think it's a good fit for him.

"He's a powerful bat, as big as there is in the game. I think a lot of the things he does is what this team's had success the last four years or so. He can definitely help.

"He's a good teammate."

Pitcher Vance Worley confirms it, having played with the Pirates last season.

"I'm excited to have him over here," Worley said. "We played against each other a long time and then we finally got to be teammates over in Pittsburgh and we became really good friends. I've been trying to keep tabs on him and see what's going on and I got the news on social media, of course. So it's like, 'Is it true?' but you guys are coming up to me, so it must be. I'm looking forward to having him over here.

"He's another great clubhouse guy. I think he fits really well with these guys. Obviously, he's got a bat, and the more pop in the lineup we have the better. It's going to help us out a lot."

It just took time, with Alvarez remaining on the free agent market into the second week of March.

"Yeah I think it's tough when you have some really, really big names early out there early on, so those guys are getting taken care of first," Worley said. "I was definitely surprised that he lasted as long as he did, but I'm glad these guys pulled the trigger and got him."

What does Worley think when he sees this lineup?

"I'm thinking I got a good shot at winning," he replied. "We definitely have a dangerous lineup. Spring training numbers don't necessarily show it at this point, but once these guys all get rolling, it's going to be fun."

Chris Davis was having a blast with reporters at his locker this morning.

Asked how he would pitch to Alvarez, Davis replied, "I'd throw him all splitters. That's my out pitch."

Yes, we remember.

"It's exciting," Davis said. "I think any time you add a player like that it's obviously exciting. We've got a lot of power potential on this team. We did before, but we just keep adding to it. I'm sure he's excited to finally have a place to call home and finally get after it. We'll see what happens over the next few days.

"There's good balance in this lineup, both right- and left-handed. From what we've seen so far. We haven't scored a ton of runs, but you see the body of work. It's going to be fun to see what this lineup can do."

Davis still projects as the everyday first baseman, but he could get more reps in right field, with Mark Trumbo playing first base. It's a work in progress.

"I'll never play right field again. Never, ever," Davis quipped.

"I think it's going to shake things up a bit for the most part. I think I'm probably going to be at first base most of the time. That's kind of the indication that I've gotten, but you never know. With Buck (Showalter), it can be a coin flip sometimes. I never expect too much. I'm still waiting for that day when I come in and see my name in the leadoff spot playing short. I'm not going to hold my breath.

"Having three guys that have played first, a little bit of outfield and obviously me and Pedro playing third - I don't know if Mark has played third - it gives us a lot of options, so we'll see what Buck does with that."

In typical fashion, the Orioles continue to tweak and turn around the roster while playing exhibition games. There's no real deadline. Moves can come at any moment.

"I think that's kind of the goal," Davis said. "You want to exhaust any option you have. Obviously, we like the guys we have in here right now, but if we feel like there's a guy out there that can help us out, I don't see any harm in adding him.

"Still pretty early right now, so we don't really know what it's going to look like, but as long as there's time left to make your team better, you want to do everything you can."

Miguel Gonzalez is starting today for the Orioles. Other available pitchers include Odrisamer Despaigne, Darren O'Day, Oliver Drake, Chris Lee and Todd Redmond.

For the Red Sox
Mookie Betts RF
Brock Holt 2B
Chris Young DH
Travis Shaw 3B
David Murphy LF
Allen Craig 1B
Jackie Bradley Jr. CF
Devan Marrero SS
Christian Vazquez C

Roenis Elias LHP