Orioles Notes: Soriano, Pitching, Ramirez, Miller

Yesterday, we heard that the Orioles and Cubs talked about a deal involving Alfonso Soriano.  In order to ship the outfielder elsewhere, the Cubs would have to eat a substantial portion of the $54MM remaining on his contract.  Here's more on Soriano and the Orioles.. Talks between the Orioles and Cubs were probably not very serious, sources told Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com.  Dan Duquette doesn't want to spend heavily on a designated hitter and even if the Cubs ate about 80% of the $54MM owed to Soriano, the O's would still be on the hook for $3-4MM for each of the next three seasons. Dubroff adds that if Duquette shells out a big contract this winter, it'll be for a pitcher, not for a one-dimensional DH.  Former O's reliever Mike Gonzalez is still on the open market, but it's not likely that he'll get the chance to redeem himself in Baltimore. The Orioles and Blue Jays have both evaluated Manny Ramirez, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDepo...