The Orioles' official motto for 2008 is, "This is Birdland."
The unofficial one, the one club president Andy MacPhail and the front office discussed extensively in the spring, is, "We're not in the 2008 business. Or the 2009 business."
It's bad form - and terrible marketing - to announce that your team has given up on a season before it has begun. So that was never proclaimed, just assumed. The fans seemed resigned to it. The club would lose a bunch, but it would develop young talent, maybe trade for some more and be ready to make a statement in a few years.
A funny thing happened along the way, though. These hardworking, victory-starved Orioles started out hot - 6-1 and then 14-9. They were over .500 a week into July.
Newcomers such as George Sherrill, Matt Albers, Luke Scott and Adam Jones made an immediate impact and mixed wonderfully with holdovers such as Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff.
Somewhere in that success, the supposed lost season of 2008 got, well, lost.
MacPhail, who always plays it close to the vest, said he is staying the course, hasn't abandoned the original plan. But there also is an undercurrent within the Warehouse that he shouldn't break up a team that has such great chemistry and a legitimate chance at finishing .500 for the first time since 1997.
We should have a better idea of what he is thinking by 4 p.m. Thursday, the deadline for nonwaiver trades. We should know more about the Orioles' future by what uniform Sherrill is wearing Aug. 1.
The best guess is that the deadline will come and go and the 25-man roster will remain the same, as will this franchise's prospects for 2010.
Part of it is beyond MacPhail's control. The majority of his potential trade chips - Kevin Millar, Huff, Jay Payton, Chad Bradford, Jamie Walker and Ramon Hernandez - likely will pass through waivers in August because of hefty existing contracts, ineffectiveness or limited skills.
As he did with starter Steve Trachsel last season, MacPhail can hold on to them and wait to see whether another club gets desperate and overpays.
So the July deadline is somewhat artificial to the Orioles in that they will likely be able to make moves next month. The problem is that none of those trade chips will yield real building blocks for the future.
The reality is the Orioles have two players older than 30 with legitimate value to other teams: second baseman Roberts and Sherrill, the club's first-year closer.
