Werthan walks, my case for Cain and more

The Phillies keep dipping into the Orioles' baseball operations department, mining for talent that again leaves a sizeable void back in Baltimore.

Ben Werthan won't return in 2018 as the Orioles' advance scouting coordinator, accepting a job yesterday as Phillies minor league player information coordinator. He held his position in Baltimore for the past six years.

Werthan, 31, reported directly to manager Buck Showalter and led the team's advance scouting process. Showalter often raved about Werthan's ability to take on a heavy workload, especially after rosters expanded in September, and anticipate the opponents' starters long before receiving confirmation.

His duties branched off to replay until the Orioles needed to free him up for his scouting responsibilities. He wore more than one hat in the organization.

According to the press release, Werthan and former outfielder Sam Fuld, hired as major league player information coordinator, will "work closely with the Phillies players, coaches, front office staff and research and development department. They will help integrate the use of information in all areas of on-field performance and preparation and make recommendations regarding the most effective areas of future research and analysis."

As an added perk this spring, Werthan served on Team Israel's staff in the World Baseball Classic. He helped prepare the club for each opponent, touching on one of his primary skills, and Team Israel defied the odds by winning its first four games.

The Phillies gave Werthan a three-year contract. His deal with the Orioles expired on Tuesday.

The Orioles have a handful of qualified internal candidates, but they're going to miss Werthan.

Werthan is the latest Phillies hire to come from the Orioles organization. It's an active pipeline with president Andy MacPhail, vice president and general manager Matt Klentak, assistant general managers Ned Rice and Scott Proefrock, and director of player development Joe Jordan.

Pat Gillick, the Orioles' general manager from 1996-1998, is senior adviser to the president and general manager.

* Because we've moved into the hot stove portion of our baseball season, it's time to uphold the tradition of throwing names against a wall and seeing which ones stick or slide down to the floor and leave a sticky mess.

We don't need facts to bog us down. Who cares if a team really has interest in a specific player or whether the dollar figures work? Pitchers and catchers don't report for another three months. This game fills the void until the real fake ones are played in Florida and Arizona.

Get ready for more "could, should, might, maybe, perhaps" reports on potential free agent signings and trades. Opinion and rumor becomes fact. It beats rehashing a last-place finish.

(A fun spinoff is running a published name past someone in the organization just to get the head-exploding response. It usually includes, "Absolutely not" and "Where are you hearing that?")

I'll be careful to distinguish confirmed interest from opinion, leaning heavily on the former if it's possible to obtain it. The Orioles, like most teams, don't distribute lists of players they're trying to sign and agents they've met with, though I keep circulating the petition every offseason.

There's no reason for me to believe that the Orioles will be a suitor for Lorenzo Cain, the seventh-ranked free agent on the market according to MLBTradeRumors.com. He doesn't bat from the left side and he can't pitch. He's projected by the site to receive a four-year, $70 million contract from the Giants.

The Orioles would be wiser to spend on pitching, of course. The rotation is and should be the top priority by a wide margin. But they won't shell out that kind of money for a starter unless we've entered the Bizarro World, in which case they'll re-sign Ubaldo Jiménez to pitch on opening day.

Here's my thinking on Cain, who's expected to decline his qualifying offer: He's a career .290/.342/.421 hitter who batted .300/.363/.440 this year with 27 doubles, five triples, 15 home runs and 26 stolen bases in 28 attempts over 155 games with the Royals, making him the on-base guy this lineup sorely needs. He can play an above-average center field if the Orioles prefer moving Adam Jones to right. He can play right if the Orioles prefer keeping Jones in center. They can alternate.

Cain can be the center fielder in 2019 if Jones leaves as a free agent. He also could bat leadoff and allow Showalter to lower Tim Beckham in the order. And he's a career .295/.376/.377 hitter in 31 postseason games, going 8-for-15 against the Orioles in the 2014 American League Championship Series.

The Orioles wouldn't need to rush Austin Hays, giving him at-bats at Triple-A Norfolk or keeping him as an extra outfielder with his ability to move around. A starting job eventually will come to him.

It's not going to happen, but I can play this game, too.

* Pitcher Jesus Liranzo is no longer on the Salt River Rafters roster in the Arizona Fall League. He's been replaced by Ryan Meisinger.

Liranzo made four appearances in relief and posted an 11.57 ERA with six runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked six batters, a control carryover from the 2017 season, and struck out three.

In his last outing on Oct. 25, Liranzo walked three in a scoreless inning. He issued 43 walks in 65 innings this year at Double-A Bowie.

I've heard that Liranzo claimed to have "some soreness," considered to be mild, and the Orioles decided to get him checked out. Nothing serious. Just a precaution.

Meisinger went 4-3 with a 3.00 ERA in 41 relief appearances with Bowie. He walked 21 and struck out 67 in 63 innings.

* The Orioles' spring training schedule is coming into clearer focus as more teams reveal their home dates.

The Orioles play the Twins on March 6 and 13 in Fort Myers. They play the Yankees on March 21 in Tampa.

You can find the updated Grapefruit League schedule here, courtesy of springtrainingonline.com.

I've heard that the Orioles will play another exhibition at Norfolk after breaking camp, but there's been no official word. Nothing is set until the team announces it.

Shameless plug alert: I'm back on "Wall to Wall Baseball" from noon-2 p.m. on MASN.