The land of opportunity: Duquette and Showalter work the roster as well as anyone

I would guess a lot of fans that heard or saw these transactions and news from the Orioles' offseason either had little reaction or one that may have even been somewhat negative:

* 12-12-14: Orioles sign pitcher Chaz Roe to a minor league contract.
* 1-26-15: Orioles sign outfielder Chris Parmelee to a minor league contract.

How about this one from last summer:

* 7-24-14: Orioles purchase contract of infielder Jimmy Paredes from Kansas City.

The Orioles initially acquired Paredes on waivers on Feb. 15, 2014, lost him to the Royals on a waiver claim and then got him back.

These seemingly small moves sometimes pay off with big results. Even if only some of them pay off with smaller results, it can help a team win games. It can help a team build depth. It can help a team win a division championship.

Under executive vice president Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter, the Orioles can, as Showalter likes to say, "out-opportunity" people. What appear to be fringe players and/or players who have not gotten a chance to show what they can do know they can sign with Baltimore and they might get a shot. They know few work the rosters from Double-A to Triple-A to the majors better.

Remember when Lew Ford helped the Orioles? He played in Japan, Mexico and the independent Atlantic League before the Orioles signed him to a minor league contract in May of 2012. But by July, he was back in the big leagues for the first time in five years. He went from the scrap heap to a playoff roster and went 3-for-8 versus the Yankees in the 2012 American League Division Series.

The O's resurrected Nate McLouth's career so well in 2012 after the Pirates had released him that after the 2013 season, he got a two-year deal worth $11 million from the Nationals.

Miguel Gonzalez? They found him in the Mexican League. Fans wonder if Dariel Alvarez will help the Orioles this year. Signed out of Cuba for $800,000, he is now the club's No. 5 prospect. Jomar Reyes made the All-Star team this year at age 18 at Single-A Delmarva. Signed at age 16 out of the Dominican for $350,000, he is already No. 10 on the club's prospect list and moving up fast.

Under Duquette and Showalter, the Orioles know they can't outspend Boston and New York, but they can still beat them and that they can do a better job than the big spenders with less.

No American League East team has more wins or playoff appearances since 2012 than the Orioles.

They are also not afraid to move on if a player is not producing. Alejandro Da Aza and Everth Cabrera can tell you all about that. They add players, but are not married to them.

Adam Jones feels the players in the clubhouse need to "keep grinding" and "stay hungry." That applies to the dugout and Warehouse too.

Duquette received much criticism by some readers here for not re-signing Nelson Cruz, Andrew Miller and Nick Markakis over the winter. He was not proven wrong when those players got off to good starts and is not proven right now as Cruz has trailed off a bit at bat and Miller got hurt. But he chose to move on from those players. The Orioles certainly like all three players, but not at the length of contract and total dollar amounts of those deals. They saw risks and all three went somewhere else.

The Orioles are trying to build a winning core of players - a group that includes Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Matt Wieters, J.J. Hardy, Zach Britton and Chris Tillman to name just a few - and surround them with role players that have something to contribute to a winning effort.

As the Orioles have won 11 of 14 games to move over the .500 mark, showing signs of life and that they may again be an AL East contender, they are getting contributions from a lot of players. These includes some they seem to specialize in - under the radar signings that don't grab headlines, but provide needed depth, help fill out a roster and look a lot better in the field during the summer than they did on the agate page during the winter.