Baltimore Orioles Rumors: Playing Fact or Fiction with the Latest Talk

The free-agency period for this offseason is in full swing, and rumors are swirling all around for the Baltimore Orioles, who have a slew of issues to address concerning the team's personnel.

Big signings have already gone down up to this point, including one in which Miami Marlins All-Star Giancarlo Stanton signed the largest deal in major league history, agreeing to a 13-year, $325 million deal.

The deal may or may not have an affect on the Orioles' chances of signing either Nick Markakis or Nelson Cruz for a reasonable price considering the extremely long length of Stanton's contract.

One thing is for sure though: Baltimore may be looking to sign only one of its corner outfielders since the club needs to first address the abundance of players set to hit arbitration.

There have been a number of rumors that have surfaced recently concerning the Orioles and what they will do to either free up money or bring back some of their key players. Let's play Fact or Fiction and see what is true and what you can disregard completely.

Sign Nick Markakis: Fact

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

The Orioles and Nick Markakis are inching closer to a deal that most in the baseball realm believe to be around $10-12 million per year.

Per Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, the Orioles and Markakis are in serious talks again, and the belief is that a contract involving four years of service will result.

There was a break in negotiations at one point, but it is believed that the lifelong Oriole will re-sign with the team, especially since owner Peter Angelos has been a Markakis fan since day one.

The Orioles need to pay Markakis what he is worth to the club and not low-ball him with a hometown-discount pitch. Only then will Markakis rule out other competing clubs and return to the team he calls home.

Trade Ubaldo Jimenez: Fiction

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

For once in a long while, the Orioles' starting rotation looks to be in excellent condition heading into the 2015 season, so naturally with six starters, one can be moved.

The obvious pick to go is Ubaldo Jimenez, who severely underperformed in the first year of his four-year, $50 million deal with Baltimore.

The 30-year-old with the awkward delivery set a career high in walks per nine innings with 5.5 while throwing only 125.1 innings for a 4.81 ERA.

The Orioles are hoping to dump off Jimenez's contract, even if they'll need to eat up some of it themselves.

Heyman reports that the Orioles are fielding offers on the righty veteran and says the Indians make sense as trade partners. The Indians are looking for starting pitching to complement Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, who came on strong in the final third of the season.

Jimenez may regain the success he had in 2013 with Cleveland in which he pitched to a 3.30 ERA, and Cleveland would certainly be hoping to get him back to somewhere close to that form.

However, the Indians would more than likely be asking for another piece, most likely a minor league prospect to go along with Jimenez, considering he is coming off a dreadful season and the Orioles simply cannot afford to diminish their already depleted farm system.

The offers that have been fielded thus far, however, have only been moderate, per FOXSports' Ken Rosenthal.

Baltimore may have more success baiting this next starter out for fellow general managers...

Trade Bud Norris: Fact

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

Bud Norris had a career year in 2014, winning a career-high 15 games in 28 starts and posting a career-low ERA of 3.65.

These numbers are more appealing than Jimenez's less-than-pedestrian stat line, and Norris can be had for a lot cheaper.

Per Rosenthal, The Orioles may be willing to move Norris, who is projected to earn $8.7 million through arbitration. Norris would also be a free agent following the 2015 season.

Trading Norris would solve the issue of having to move one of the Orioles' six starters to the bullpen and would alleviate some of the cap hit that arbitration would bring for the club, allowing them to sign one or two pieces to improve the team.

Sign Yasmany Tomas: Fiction

Koji Watanabe/Getty Images

Last Tuesday, Ken Rosenthal tweeted that Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas was drawing interest from the Orioles.

He also noted that the chase is heating up, with two teams set to visit him in the Dominican Republic this week with others still in pursuit.

FanGraphs projects an upside for Tomas of a .275/.350/.480 line with 25-30 homers, fringy defense and baserunning value in left field.

With the value put on sluggers in today's game and the number of teams in contention to sign Tomas, the Orioles almost have no chance to sign the Cuban star, especially when you add in the fact that they need to take care of their own players first and foremost.

All stats provided by Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.