With less than a month to opening day, key free agents are still out there

The Orioles could still use a pitcher and three key free agent pitchers are still available in Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb. Opening day in Baltimore is now less than four weeks away and that trio is still out there.

It has been a strange, bizarre and confusing free agent winter, one that could have long-range ramifications. But that is a story for a different day.

For now, the O's could still get Lynn or Cobb. Arrieta is in play for everyone, but has not been linked to the Orioles. What are these players seeking and how far have their prices fallen? Good luck trying to figure that out. Not only has this has been a free agent season with very slow movement, but the information - heck, even the flat-out speculation -seems lagging, as well.

By my count, the signings of Chris Tillman and Andrew Cashner brought the O's payroll into the $120 million range for 13 signed players. But Tillman and Cashner have a combined $12 million they can add to that if both reach all their 2018 incentives. It would seem the Orioles still could fit a Cobb or Lynn into the payroll and probably wind up at around a similar payroll number to last season.

Of course, both Lynn and Cobb turned down qualifying offers. The Orioles would have to forfeit their third-highest draft high pick for signing one of the duo. They have the No. 11 pick in the first round and the No. 36 overall pick in Competitive Balance Round A. Their third highest pick - one they would lose - would be No. 51 overall, a second-round selection.

Cobb went 12-10 with a 3.66 ERA for the Rays over 29 starts and 179 1/3 innings last year. He pitched better over his last 17 starts, going 8-5 with a 3.07 ERA. He is glad baseball didn't institute a pitch clock for this season. His average last year of 26.2 seconds between pitches was one of the highest in the majors.

Like Lynn, Cobb has undergone Tommy John surgery. He had the ligament replacement procedure performed by Dr. James Andrews on May 14, 2015. He didn't return to a big league game until September 2016.

Lynn went 11-8 with a 3.43 ERA over 33 starts and 186 1/3 innings for St. Louis in 2017. He allowed more homers than usual, with 1.3 per every nine innings, and had a high walk rate of 3.8 per nine. But he tied for the major league lead, allowing one earned run or less 15 times. Despite that, the Cardinals went 14-19 in his starts. He missed the entire 2016 season after Tommy John surgery in November 2015.