By Mike Lurie
CBS SportsLine Staff Writer
July 1, 1998

BALTIMORE -- Kevin Malone walked from field to dugout to clubhouse Tuesday evening, prepared to feel like the old local train on the B&O Railroad. With every few steps there was another stop. Everyone wants to know whom the Baltimore Orioles are dealing, and when.

Malone

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is the team's assistant general manager and the far more vocal part of the partnership with general manager Pat Gillick, who is all but certain to move on from Baltimore when his contract expires at the end of this season. With a fatalistic brand of humor, Malone tries to address the current state of the Orioles.

Everyone knows that state is shaky, at best. Fixing it is the issue. And time seemed to be more of the essence a few hours later, when the Orioles surrendered a 5-0 lead handed to its second-best starter, Scott Erickson, and lost their seventh consecutive game.

THIS DEFEAT CAME TO THE Florida Marlins, making it the fourth loss in a row to a National League team notorious for cutting payroll (the other three were at Montreal during the weekend).

What happens from here?

"That's up to the owner," Malone said in a hallway outside the Orioles' palatial clubhouse at Camden Yards, a slight smile on his face.

The

Rafael Palmeiro figures to be on the move out of Baltimore if owner Peter Angelos decides to break up the disappointing Orioles. (AP)

owner, Peter Angelos, is an attorney who has won billion-dollar settlements in litigation cases and approaches life with corresponding bravado. Angelos is saying he wants another two weeks to determine whether the '98 Orioles have any shot at contending before he begins to break up a team with 12 free agents. Just for starters, it is known the San Francisco Giants, whom Gillick scouted recently, have interest in two such outfielders, veterans Eric Davis and Joe Carter.

The question boils down to how much further the Orioles go. First baseman Rafael Palmeiro? Second baseman Roberto Alomar?

The stark reality is that the Orioles are to the first-place Yankees what Earth is to Pluto -- light years apart. The Red Sox, anchoring the wild-card race, now hold a 12-1/2 game edge on the Orioles while a few other clubs stand between them. It would take a turnaround of momentous proportions, bigger than the one Baltimore engineered midway through the '96 season when a blowout sweep by the Yankees at Camden Yards had seemed to doom the Birds' chances.

WHEN THE TEAM CAN'T HOLD a five-run lead against the Marlins, at home, the obvious indication would be that the playoffs aren't happening this year.

Easy for all of us to say. Trouble is, Angelos -- for all his millions -- signs the checks on his roughly $70 million payroll. No wonder he wants to wait for a return on his investment.

"We've got until the end of July, or at least until the middle of July, to make some tough decisions," Malone said. "There's some interest in our players."

It all boils down to which proposals form the right fit. All of which makes this a critical time. In 1988, after a historic 0-21 start, it was pretty clear in-season deals were coming. Those moves turned out to be good ones. Fred Lynn went to Detroit for minor-league catcher Chris Hoiles. Mike Boddicker went to Boston to help the Red Sox win the division; in return came Brady Anderson and pitcher Curt Schilling.

The Orioles will need long-term benefits for dealing players of the caliber of Palmeiro and Alomar. For all the talk they need to go, neither one really wants to. And if the team's pitching was anywhere close to what it was last season, there would be few complaints about the right side of the infield.

"We'll wait until the timing's right. The timing's not right, right now," Malone said.

The timing might look perfect in about two weeks.

The Angelos theory boils down to contending in '99. Honestly.

IT WOULD MEAN USING THE MONEY saved if Palmeiro and Alomar are not Orioles to acquire one or two other impact free agents, especially a pitcher. It would mean seeing if a deal in July or August can bring in a prospect who might contribute as soon as late in the '99 season and thereafter.

"I would love to stay here," Alomar said. "Baltimore's been good to me for three years. I have no complaints at all. The fans have been great. The owner's been great to me."

Alomar's wish might not be granted. And while his affection for the city and the team is sincere, so is his preference to play for a contender. Alomar has taken heat for not handling a down season as well as other players do. That might be unfair. He certainly wasn't dogging it Tuesday in his new role as leadoff hitter, helping to ignite two big innings with a single and double in his first two at-bats.

In the end, the Orioles might be able to convince critics they indeed are trying. Manager Ray Miller bristles at the suggestion they are not, asking if players have to run the bases "with pom-pons" to project the right image.

It all might be a moot point by the end of the month. By then, Alomar might be checking on his old friends' progress through the box score, reading the paper in a hotel lobby while traveling with a different team.

Mike Lurie is a CBS SportsLine staff writer.