O's, Showalter still working to hammer out extension

BALTIMORE -- While there is every expectation that a deal will get done to extend Orioles manager Buck Showalter's contract, the process is coming along slowly and there's no exact timetable on when a formal announcement will be made.

Showalter, who was set to fly back to Dallas on Tuesday night, has been traveling back and forth to Baltimore to meet with owner Peter Angelos to hammer out extension details as well as attend normal offseason meetings with executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette.

Showalter hasn't made any public statements regarding his contract and has said previously that he is signed through 2013 and would continue to honor the commitment made in August 2010. But the feeling in the organization -- not to mention a city that helped name him "Marylander of the Year" -- is still that an extension will be formally reached well before Spring Training and likely prior to FanFest on Jan. 19.

Angelos said in October that he had every intention of keeping the 56-year-old Showalter, who had a heavy hand in engineering Baltimore's turnaround in 2012. In his second full season, Showalter guided the Orioles to their first winning campaign since 1997, and he took home Manager of the Year honors in this year's Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards and was named runner-up to Oakland's Bob Melvin for the Baseball Writers' Association of America's American League Manager of the Year Award.

A previous two-time Manager of the Year winner, Showalter strategically used his bullpen to help the Orioles go 29-9 in one-run games and 25-14 during two-run games. The O's were 16-2 in extra-inning contests, winning their final 16 extra-inning games in the regular season to finish 93-69 and claim an AL Wild Card spot. They beat the Rangers in Arlington before losing in the AL Division Series to the Yankees.