It seems like the Orioles are playing the free agent game with movie prop money. The money looks good all stacked up but it isn’t worth a plate of beans in the real world. It makes for the same types of headlines every year, “Orioles offer Adam Dunn 4 years $40 million but signs with the White Sox for 4 years $56 million”, “Orioles offer Victor Martinez 4 years $48 million but he signs with the Tigers for 4 years $50 million”, “Orioles offer Mark Teixeira 7 years $150 million but he signs with the Yankees for 7 years $180 million” and coming soon, “Orioles offer Paul Konerko 4 years $48 million but he signs with the White Sox for 4 years $48 million.” Can you believe Paul Konerko would take the same amount of money from another team and not come to Baltimore? Well that is just crazy talk. Doesn’t he like crab cakes? Doesn’t he like Baltimore? It is not about that. It is the same game played for years by agents of players that want to win AND want the money. They do the old V-Mart Contract Shuffle, it is just like the Crab Shuffle at Camden Yards except the crabs can go around and around as much as they want but you know in the end which crab isn’t going to have it and that crab is the Orioles. Andy MacPhail was disappointed when Victor Martinez’s agent never called him back so he could make a 4 year $51 million bid. At that point Martinez didn’t want the one million dollars, he wanted to win, but he did it in a way so that he didn’t have to leave any money sitting on the table and he used the Orioles to up the bid from a team with a chance to win. I salute Mr. Martinez for getting a great paying contract to play with what should be a contending team without totally embarrassing the Orioles organization, that is until MacPhail opened his mouth and said they never called him back so he could make another offer. MacPhail could have just let the egg on his face but he decided to share that egg with the fans and the city of Baltimore. No thanks Andy, I am not that hungry, you keep the egg next time. In order for the Orioles to make a splash in free agency, they are going to have to way overpay for the player they think they want. To get a high quality free agent to give up on winning, you are going to have to make sure he has enough money that his kids’ grandkids will be winners, at least in a financial sense. Here is an example. Do you think the Nationals wanted to give Jayson Werth a contract for 7 years $126 million? No. Did they overpay? Definitely. Did they have to overpay? Yes, in order to get him to go to a losing franchise like DC.. But did they understand the parameters involved with being a losing organization trying to lure a coveted free agent to your team? Yes. Do the Orioles understand the parameters? No. The Orioles think they can play cards with the big boys. Well, the ante starts at more-than-they’re-worth and the Orioles are going to have to overpay to play. Michael P. Wherley Twitter @mpwherley