The question looms over Camden Yards like the big, antiseptic convention hotel that has blocked out the best part of the Baltimore skyline:
What will Andy do now?
The Orioles' two-week downturn heading into the All-Star break has given club president Andy MacPhail new license to steer the team in the direction he originally intended, but that question oversimplifies the situation that faces the front office as the O's open the titular second half of the season against the Detroit Tigers tonight at Oriole Park.
What MacPhail wants to do is one thing. What he will be able to do might be another.
When he set about the task of restocking the organization and rebuilding the Orioles' player-development pipeline during the winter, he was working with stationary targets. He could identify the teams that needed Miguel Tejada, Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts, look over their organizational rosters and spend weeks playing chicken with his front office counterparts.
Nobody played the offseason game any better. The value he received for Tejada and Bedard made an immediate and long-term impact on the franchise and positioned him very well for the period that ends July 31 for dealing players without waivers. No one should doubt his ability to follow through with the in-season phase of his rebuilding program, but what happens over the next couple of weeks depends far more on circumstances beyond his control.
Case in point: The likelihood of getting top value for Roberts during the winter was based largely on the identifiable needs of the Chicago Cubs. Ultimately, the deal didn't get made, but only because the two sides could not agree on the price. The in-season equation is far more complicated because it includes variables that are almost impossible to predict.
The Cubs have moved on. They became more comfortable with their second base situation and used some of the players in the proposed Roberts deal to trade for quality starting pitcher Rich Harden. There are believed to be several teams interested in Roberts, but the possibility of replicating the returns for Bedard and Tejada is more likely to come down to competitive bidding between two division rivals or some contender's urgent need that has yet to become apparent. The same goes for anyone else MacPhail wants to unload.
