Garrett Stephenson

MINNEAPOLIS -- There's a chance Bobby Bonilla will be traded to the Atlanta Braves or San Diego Padres today, and maybe David Wells will be dealt to Cleveland. But it's highly unlikely because, according to club sources, owner Peter Angelos has decided he wants to keep the Orioles as competitive as possible for the rest of the 1996 season -- against the advice of his baseball staff and for the sake of fans who've already invested in this year's team.The policy decision virtually guarantees the Orioles will be delving into the free-agent market again this off-season as they attempt to acquire a catcher, an outfielder and pitching.

BaseballOrioles: Signed P Kent Mercker to one-year, $2.825 million deal with an option year. Agreed to terms with P Garrett Stephenson (Linganore, Boonsboro). Roving minor-league hitting instructor Mike Easler resigned, effective Feb. 15.Red Sox: Agreed to terms with IF Luis Alicea on one-year contract.CollegeIndiana: Named Kit Cartwright quarterbacks coach.HockeyNHL: Suspended Blackhawks RW Bob Probert one game and fined him $1,000 for elbowing Blues' Tony Twist on Thursday.Kings: Traded F Pat Conacher to Flames for RW Craig Ferguson.

The prospect of going to arbitration with newly acquired Oriole Kent Mercker two days before spring training began didn't exactly appeal to club executives, who felt relieved after signing the pitcher to a contract yesterday.Mercker, 28, will be paid a base salary of $2.825 million in 1996, and if he pitches 180 innings, a $3.3 million option for 1997 will automatically go into effect. The Orioles can exercise the '97 option even if the left-hander doesn't reach 180 innings.Mercker's contract is thick with incentives: If he reaches 170 innings, he'll receive a $25,000 bonus, and an additional $25,000 for reaching 180 innings, and then 190 and 200. If he pitches 210 innings, he'll get an additional $50,000, and another $50,000 for 220 innings.

BOWIE -- The Bowie Baysox were in danger of falling 14 games below .500 for the first time this season, but they quickly perished the thought last night.They scored 10 runs in the first three innings and went on to a season-high runs total in a 16-1 rout of the Norwich Navigators at Prince George's County Stadium.Bowie (29-41) also had a season-best 19 hits with Jim Wawruck singling five times.Norwich, whose six-game winning streak ended, pitched in by walking eight Baysox batters, hitting two with pitches and committing two errors.

Twice, he has been disappointed that he was sent to a lower level than he expected.It started after 1993, when Garrett Stephenson and Armando Benitez shared the Jim Palmer Prize as the Orioles' top minor-league pitcher.Stephenson says he thought he deserved a shot with the Double-A Bowie Baysox after leading the system with 16 wins and pitching the organization's only no-hitter, for the Single-A Albany (Ga.) Polecats, but began the year with the Single-A Frederick Keys instead.Then, 1 1/2 months after he was promoted to Bowie, Stephenson was shipped back to Frederick.

BOWIE -- In a series that has meant nothing but misery for the home team, the Harrisburg Senators came back from the brink of elimination last night.Down 3-0 after two innings, the defending Eastern League champions awoke with a vengeance and slugged Bowie into submission, 9-3, before 6,388 at Prince George's County Stadium, forcing a decisive fifth game in the Southern Division playoffs.The Senators and Baysox will meet tonight at RiverSide Stadium Harrisburg to determine an opponent for Northern Division titlist Binghamton in the league championship series.

FREDERICK -- Before the Frederick Keys played the Lynchburg Red Sox yesterday, a cardboard "Fantastic Enlarger Box" turned a miniature basketball into a regular-sized one, a stick into a baseball bat and a plastic baby doll into a grown man.The box, which was set up at home plate, did not instantly transform the Keys into the Orioles. Most of these guys will never make it to the majors. The lucky few probably are two years away. At least.So when the major-leaguers say they are striking for the younger guys in the minors, it does not mean much to members of the Orioles' Single-A affiliate.

HAGERSTOWN -- Jose Serra went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Roy Hodge went 3-for-3 with two runs scored as the Albany (Ga.) Polecats (1-1) defeated the Hagerstown Suns (1-1), 3-1, in a South Atlantic League game at Municipal Stadium yesterday.The Polecats, an Orioles affiliate, scored with two outs in the first inning when B. J. Waszgis doubled in Hodge. They extended the lead in the sixth when Waszgis again drove in Hodge, this time on a ground out.The Suns' only run came in the bottom of the sixth as Chris Harms grounded out to score Jose Herrera, who had doubled.