Free Agency

In the last installment of our position-by-position free agency primers, we will look at the safeties. The Ravens will likely have holes to fill at safety, but they aren't going to be in the market for a high-priced free agent, not with Ed Reed returning in 2012 and not after strong safety Bernard Pollard fit in so well in his first season in Baltimore. But Haruki Nakamura and Tom Zbikowski, reserve safeties whom the team drafted in 2008, are free agents and could leave for expanded roles elsewhere.

On Monday night, Eric DeCosta was in our house for once. The Ravens assistant general manager visited our offices down on Calvert Street to speak and answer reader questions in our latest Baltimore Sun Sports Forum. Among the highlights was DeCosta acknowledging that the team's “hunt goes on” for a veteran wide receiver . "We're still working. The roster is not set. We're always evaluating. We're always looking at guys,” DeCosta said. “Our pro personnel department looks at all available players and we'll make a decision at some point of what we want to do at that position.

The bidding war for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is about to begin. The 26-year-old Cuban defector was granted free agency Wednesday by Major League Baseball, meaning teams can begin contract negotiations. This week, Cespedes established Dominican residency, which was the major hurdle for him to become a free agent. The Orioles are one of six teams -- along with the Marlins, Cubs, White Sox, Tigers, and Indians -- that Cespedes recently said have shown the most interest in him. Baltimore is indeed interested.

The Ravens still have holes. They need to find a starting left tackle, and they could use a No. 2 receiver and add depth at the linebacker and offensive line positions as well. But as the NFL draft ended Saturday night and the Ravens walked out of the auditorium at the team's training complex in Owings Mills, the defending Super Bowl champions appeared to be potentially as good as last year. Because of retirement and free agency, which led to the exodus of several important veterans, the Ravens are lighter on experience but bigger, stronger and faster than a year ago on defense.

Maybe it's because I was a star mathlete in high school, but I love numbers. And we've spent plenty of time crunching them these past 10 days while waiting for the Ravens to make moves -- or purposefully not make moves -- in the new league year. Here is a handful of relevant numbers from this quiet free-agency period: $120.6 million: The salary cap ceiling for teams (excluding the Cowboys and Redskins), slightly up from 2011. $4.7 million: The amount of cap room the Ravens had available for purchases as of Wednesday morning.

Relatively quiet over the first 10 days of free agency, the Ravens dipped into the open market [Friday], signing four players in moves that will upgrade the team's linebacking and secondary depth and bolster special teams coverage units that struggled last season. The Ravens' biggest move was re-signing Jameel McClain, a starting inside linebacker the past two seasons, to a three-year deal. They also re-signed veteran linebacker and long-time special teams standout Brendon Ayanbadejo to a three-year pact, and agreed to terms with defensive backs Corey Graham and Sean Considine.

Unless you count Mario Williams , a defensive end who can also play outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense, there won't be any marquee lineback ers available in free agency this offseason . But there are a handful of solid start ers -- including a pair of Ravens -- scheduled to be available in a deep class of free agent lineback ers. Jarret Johnson, who has spent nine years with the Ravens, is among the top outside linebackers this...

Orioles lefty Dana Eveland and catcher Ronny Paulino have both elected free agency, an industry source has confirmed. The move is pretty routine for veteran players not on a team's 40-man roster, as is the case for both Eveland and Paulino. They can test the free agent market, but the door is not closed in terms of them re-signing with the Orioles. Eveland, one of the first acquisitions of executive vice president Dan Duquette last offseason, was a rare spot starter and long reliever for the Orioles, going 0-1 with a 4.73 ERA in 14 major league appearance (two starts)

Free agency began four weeks ago today (though after waiting days and days and days for the Ravens to make moves, it feels like it started four months ago). The Ravens lost three starters during the first week of free agency and a few reserves. But they locked down a pair of promising, young defenders in cornerback Lardarius Webb and linebacker Jameel McClain. That's how the Ravens make a splash. The Ravens don't have much salary cap space, but they say they aren't done signing players.

Today's start of the NFL's free agency period will bring hype, hope and anticipation to many football cities across the country. But in Baltimore, fans will start to hold their breath at 4 p.m. as they wait to see if Ben Grubbs finds a better deal elsewhere than the one the Ravens have offered him to remain here, and they will be crossing their fingers that their pricy, purple Jarret Johnson jersey won't become obsolete by day's end. We expect to...

The Ravens continued the renovation of their defense on Wednesday, signing former Oakland Raiders safety Michael Huff to a three-year deal worth $6 million. He is the fourth defender the Ravens have signed in free agency, along with pass rusher Elvis Dumervil and defensive linemen Chris Canty and Marcus Spears. With the Ravens being forced to pinch pennies and cut ties with a couple of valuable veterans due to their tight salary cap situation, we have been talking a lot about the “right player at the right price” this offseason.

The Baltimore sports scene is blessed with a bunch of talented bloggers who bring their unique perspective to the conversation. Each week, I hope to chat with one of them in a regular feature called Blogger on Blogger. This week, I exchanged emails with Chris Worthington, who blogs about the Ravens for Baltimore Sports and Life . MV: The Ravens made a splash Sunday, agreeing to terms with Elvis Dumervil. Your thoughts on the move? CW: My initial thought is that this is a very good signing for the Ravens.

Would you march out of a movie theater seven minutes into the feature presentation because there weren't enough explosions for your liking? Would you take a couple nibbles out of a grilled cheese sandwich, only to send it back to the kitchen because, for whatever reason, you were hoping it would taste more like lobster? Would you sell the big, brand-new house you just moved into because you found a leak in your basement? How about this one: Would you throw your hands up in disgust if your favorite team -- one that happened to win the Super Bowl just a few weeks ago -- didn't make any major moves in the first 11 days of free agency?

Ravens officials made it clear at this week's NFL meetings that their primary focus over the next month is not what remains on the free-agent market. With 12 selections in next month's draft, the organization is busy evaluating college players who will help replenish a roster that has been hit hard by free agency, releases and retirements. But with a little over $7 million of remaining salary-cap space, the Ravens are still looking to add a couple of free agents, hoping to find a couple of bargains that will help fill some holes.

I sat down with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti today at the league meetings and we discussed a variety of topics. The Q&A will be on our site momentarily. However, since I've been getting the most questions about his thoughts on free agent safety Ed Reed, I figured I'd put up his comments that just related to that topic. They are below: Where are things at with free agent safety Ed Reed and would it be tough to lose Reed and Ray Lewis the same offseason? Bisciotti: " I don't think the same offseason matters much.

The league's top decision makers will spend the next three days at the posh Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix for the NFL Annual Meetings. On the agenda is voting on several potential rule changes, along with an address by commissioner Roger Goodell . It also could be a particularly significant week for the Ravens, who will make a final pitch to try and re-sign free agent safety Ed Reed , learn how many compensatory picks they'll have in...

Brian Billick was coach of the Ravens the last time the team had a chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions, so I was interested to hear his thoughts on what the Ravens are doing the second time around. In 2001, a season after they beat the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, the Ravens made that notorious switch from Trent Dilfer and Elvis Grbac at quarterback. But they kept the rest of their roster mostly intact by restructuring contracts to keep players such as Shannon Sharpe and Rod Woodson around for another run. The Ravens lost in the divisional round the following postseason and soon had to overhaul their roster.

The Ravens almost lost another key player in free agency. Oh, ho-hum, another day, another top player gone. Who cares, and at this point, did anyone expect anything different? Despite the exodus of players, the Ravens haven't made any major mistakes in cutting players or not re-signing them. So far, the offseason has gone as expected with the Ravens losing six starters from last season's Super Bowl championship team. On Friday, future Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed almost became the latest before he left Houston without a contract.