The Buck Stops Where?

The changes are coming.

Big changes. It's just a matter of when.

Regardless of how the Baltimore Orioles fare in the second half of the season, the team that goes to spring training in 1999 will be radically different than the collection of veteran (read: old) players who were supposed to win the AL East this year.

"For us to be the type of organization we want to be, which is a championship club, we have to have an infusion of youth," assistant general manager Kevin Malone says. "The sooner we can get to that point, the better off we'll be."

The timetable for that youth movement is fully dependent upon the Orioles' performance leading up to the trading deadline on July 31. If it appears that Baltimore has a chance to sneak into the playoffs, then potential free agents such as Roberto Alomar and Rafael Palmeiro may be retained, for the time being, anyway.

"If we don't make up any ground, we need to look toward 1999 and the future and try to bring in some youth," Malone says.  "It's not easy to do that, but if that's your plan, at least you can work in that direction. I think all our fans will realize that's what we're trying to accomplish."

Regardless of what happens, many of the over-30 crowd won't be around in 1999. Joe Carter will have retired, while Doug Drabek, Harold Baines and perhaps Jimmy Key will decide to do the same or perhaps try their luck with another team. Roberto Alomar will almost certainly be playing somewhere else, most likely in Drew Carey's favorite town, Cleveland.

The plan is to jettison the free agents and spend the money on some talent to supplement a starting rotation that currently relies too heavily on Mike Mussina and Scott Erickson.

"We've got 11 players who are going to free agents after the season. Some we will decide not to re-sign and others will decide themselves to go somewhere else," says owner Peter Angelos.  "That will leave us literally tens of millions of dollars to correct our pitching and those deficiencies we have in various positions on the field."

The danger of putting together a team of veteran free agents is that sometimes the chemistry adds up to nothing more than one huge explosion.

Clearly, the 1998 Orioles are a gigantic bust.

"We knew there would come a time when this would happen," Angelos says, "and We're prepared for it.  Maybe more prepared than people give us credit for." The changes in 1999 will extend beyond the playing field. General Manager Pat Gillick is expected to retire after this season, and Malone is considered to be a viable candidate. But if he is offered the post, Malone would accept the position only if changes are made in the job description as it stands today. "I would have interest in the job, but I think there would have to be some changes made," Malone, 40, says. "The general manager needs a lot more authority in the decision-making process.  If Mr. Angelos wants me to stay, I'd like to think he would listen to my vision and my direction."

Angelos certainly has listened to Gillick over the past three years, but when push comes to shove, the owner has done things his way. For example, when Gillick wanted to trade Bobby Bonilla in July 1996, Angelos vetoed the decision.

"I would hope he would believe in me and allow me to do what I need to do to take the organization in the right direction," Malone says.  "If I can't perform and execute and use my talents and ability, I will possibly not be here next year."

Malone concedes that Angelos, as the man who writes players' paychecks, should have the final say in personnel matters.

"But if he's going to hire a baseball guy, if he's going to hire me, I'd like to be heavily involved in the decision-making process," Malone says.  "I would just hope that the general manager would have the necessary input to make the right decisions to make this organization better."

Working with a shoestring budget and a bunch of young no-names, Malone did an excellent job building the 1994 and 1995 Montreal Expos into a contending team.

"In Montreal we always brought guys to the major leagues and gave them a chance to develop there," he says. "I think certain players can grow and develop at this level, but it depends on the individual."

When asked if minor leaguers Ryan Minor and Calvin Pickering were ready to make that transition, Malone expressed a bit of caution.

"They probably won't be ready until the year 2000, but I'm not going to say that they won't be ready with [an accelerated] developmental program such as the Arizona Fall League and the winter leagues, which would give them more at- bats," says Malone.

All in all, the Orioles' farm system isn't quite the disaster that some people make it out to be.

"From what I've seen, we've got some good talent coming," manager Ray Miller says.

Ideally, the Orioles can use a mixture of veterans and young stars to assemble a team that will allow them to circumvent the traditionally lengthy rebuilding process.

"Peter and I have talked a lot. We have a consensus of opinion that it's all about starting pitching," Malone says. "We feel that if you've got quality starters, you might be able to grow with younger positional players. "Look at the Yankees and the Braves, they've done just that."

The Orioles were once mentioned in the same breath as the Yankees and Braves, but this year they're classified with the Seattle Mariners as two of the most disappointing teams of 1998.

Next year, Angelos vows, will be different.

"I'll make a prediction," he says.  "We will be contenders next year for the AL East title."