O's close in on O'Day on Day 1 in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It was quiet for much of Day 1 of baseball's Winter Meetings for the Orioles, but the club and reliever Darren O'Day finalized a four-year, $31 million agreement, pending a physical, on Monday night.

The deal initially leaked out on Sunday, but O'Day took to Twitter to clarify that a deal had not yet been signed.

Along with closing in on locking down the reliever, general manager Dan Duquette and the Orioles appear to be focused primarily on starting pitching this week in Nashville.

"That pitching market is moving quickly and hopefully we will be able to sign a couple of them this week," Duquette said, noting that the club had trade talks and met with free agents.

"There's some pitchers on the trade market from these teams signing other pitchers so that's where some of the activity is, the redeployment of the resource to another club."

• Hot Stove Tracker: Free agents and trades

While the O's continue to search for a left-handed-hitting outfielder, that doesn't seem as pressing since there hasn't been much activity around baseball in that market. The pitching, however, with names like David Price, Zack Greinke and Jeff Samardzija coming off the board, is moving quickly. Duquette said Monday he's optimistic that the O's can make something happen.

"I think we will be able to do some things to help the team that we will work on this week, try to get them done by the end of the week," he said. "If not, [they'll] come to fruition next week. There's a few things we got in the works."

News and notes

• Former Rule 5 Draft pitcher Jason Garcia has drawn some trade interest, according to Duquette. The O's are again hoping to make a Rule 5 selection on Thursday.

• The Orioles announced the hiring of Jeremy Kapstein as a baseball operations consultant. Kapstein was a member of the Boston Red Sox for over a decade. Prior to that, he served on the board of directors and was also an executive with the San Diego Padres.

• The team is finalizing a list for its mini-camp for pitchers, which will be held at its Spring complex in Sarasota, Fla., on Jan. 10-13.

• Orioles manager Buck Showalter is planning to have some discussions regarding filling the assistant hitting coach job over the next few days and is hoping to narrow down the field.