Baltimore Orioles: Guide to the 2014 Free-Agency Pitching Market

For Baltimore Orioles fans, the fast-approaching offseason is what we're looking forward to.

The World Series is currently being played, but it's hard to get excited about it. The San Francisco Giants have been there and done that, and the Kansas City Royals quickly alienated themselves from O's fans with their behavior during the American League Championship Series despite their incredible Cinderella story.

After winning the American League East this year and re-signing shortstop J.J. Hardy for another three years (with an option for a fourth) the day before the ALCS began, the future of Baltimore baseball appears to be a bright one.

When this time of year rolls around, typically the biggest focus is on what the team is going to do about its pitching staff. Historically, the Orioles are a team that was starved of quality pitching depth, leading to countless offseason rumors about potential targets.

This time around, however, the O's aren't exactly in dire need of pitching. The team ranked seventh in MLB in ERA at 3.43, and although its starting rotation lacks a true ace, the team ended the season with five quality arms in its rotation that all posted ERAs of 3.65 or below.

Those five guys (Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez, Bud Norris and Kevin Gausman) are all quality arms who are likely guaranteed a spot in the Opening Day rotation in 2015 unless one of them is traded this winter.

Beyond the five listed, the O's have Ubaldo Jimenez with three years left on a four-year, $50 million contract and guys like T.J. McFarland who can come in from either the bullpen or the minor leagues to make a spot start.

There's also top prospect Dylan Bundy, who showed a successful recovery from Tommy John surgery this past season and could make his way up to the bigs sometime during the 2015 season.

So when it comes to the rotation, the O's are almost guaranteed to not make any big splashes this winter. The team will likely want to let the guys it has continue to grow and develop and will instead try to find a couple of pitchers it can sign to minor league deals in the hopes of adding some quality depth to the organization.

Guys like Josh Johnson, John Lannon, Paul Maholm and Jeff Niemann come to mind, as they've all had success in the big leagues in the past but also probably wouldn't command a huge market this winter.

Expect those to be the types of starting pitchers the O's target this winter as opposed to the James Shields and the Jon Lesters. The O's just simply aren't going to get into a bidding war for high-priced pitchers.

The bullpen, though, is a different story. We've all learned where a quality bullpen can take you, as the O's and the Royals both possess top bullpens in the majors. The O's are going to look to keep their bullpen at that same level and hope to add even more talent to it.

With lefty Andrew Miller entering free agency, teams are probably going to throw stupid money at him, and for good reason. He's a late-inning, left-handed pitcher who can get both lefty and righty batters out, and it wouldn't be surprising for a team to try to bring him on as a closer as opposed to a seventh- or eighth-inning guy.

The Birds would certainly love to keep Miller, but the market is going to determine whether they'll be able to or not. The team does have a little bit of money to play with, but it's never wise to throw it all at one or two guys, especially when said team has multiple free agents of its own to handle.

If Miller should end up signing elsewhere, the team could possibly turn its attention to lefty J.P. Howell, a guy who has posted an ERA of of 2.03 in 2013 and 2.39 this past year and has AL East experience with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Other possible late-inning targets include Pat Neshek (1.87 ERA in 2014) and Koji Uehara (1.75 ERA, 47 saves the last two seasons with the Boston Red Sox). Both of these guys have been in the O's organization before, and Uehara specifically is known to love the O's, the first American team he ever played for.

Being that the O's already have plenty of strong options for their bullpen in both the majors and the minors, the team won't be targeting too many big-name relief options on the free-agent market. Instead, the team will look to build depth like it did with the starting rotation.

Expect the O's to be active this winter, but they won't be going after the big-name targets on the pitching front. Miller will likely be the biggest name that the team targets, and otherwise, depth will be the name of the game for the team.

But that's okay. The O's have a good number of quality arms already. Right now, it's about making sure there's talent throughout the entire organization.