Will slow-moving free agent market impact the Orioles?

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, this time last year, 15 of its top 20 free agents had signed. This year that number is five of 20.

Why have the signings been slow to develop? When the situations with Shohei Ohtani and Giancarlo Stanton got resolved, some felt there would be a flurry of signings to follow. It didn't happen. Some thought the Winter Meetings would be active with signings. Nope.

We are closing in on six weeks to spring training and the movement has been slower than Matt Wieters legging out a triple. Plenty of good players still available.

The Orioles' Dan Duquette gets criticized by fans for his often wait-out-the-market approach. But it appears he has company this year.

At the Winter Meetings earlier this month, Duquette indicated the Orioles may have to be more aggressive this year in signing pitchers.

"There's so many teams looking for pitching, we might have to be a little bit more proactive. The market's dynamic and it's starting to take shape and you see a lot of these teams looking at who they want to sign and who wants to sign with them. We've probably got to move a little bit quicker," he said in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Except since he made those comments nothing has moved quickly. Jake Arrieta is still out there. So are Yu Darvish, Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, Andrew Cashner, Jason Vargas and Jamie Garcia to name a few. Chris Tillman can still be had, so too can former Oriole Miguel González.

The Orioles' public stance has been that they are still trying to contend in 2018 and will try to extract every win out of the upcoming season. But they have also been involved in trade talks for Manny Machado. Wouldn't dealing Machado make that harder? Wouldn't it widen the gap between the Orioles and their American League East rivals in New York and Boston?

If Machado is traded, the club may be more in rebuilding mode than ever, whether they publicly acknowledge that or not. Would that lead the Orioles away from signing multiple free-agent pitchers minus their best player for next season?

On the other hand, the current glut of pitchers available could bring the free-agent prices down for many of those still out there. The best pitching contract signed to date was the three-year deal for $38 million when the Cubs signed right-hander Tyler Chatwood.

The annual angst of Orioles fans at a lack of winter moves is underway. For now, the slow movement is not just being discussed in Baltimore.