Why Would the Orioles Sign Chone Figgins?

Lost in Tim Kurkjian's piece about the offseason is this nugget about Chone Figgins and the Orioles:

"Figgins had a poor postseason at the plate, but will be coveted by several teams (White Sox? Orioles?) if he gets to free agency. Chances are, the Angels won't let him get away."

Now, I can understand why the White Sox would want Figgins given his speed and ability to get on base. He would be the ideal leadoff hitter in that lineup and would make the White Sox lineup much, much better.

However, I'm failing to understand why the Orioles would even get involved in the Chone Figgins sweepstakes. I understand that with Melvin Mora moving on, the Orioles will need a new third baseman in 2010.

But why would Chone Figgins be the answer? Sure he's the best third baseman on the free agent market, but he makes absolutely no sense for the rebuilding Orioles for the following reasons:

1. He will be very, very costly ($11-$13 million annually)
2. Figgins will be 32 next season and is not a long term building block
3. The Orioles already have a player with the same strengths as Figgins (Brian Roberts)
4. The Orioles are finally devoid of any bad contracts or again veterans...so do they really want to commit an expensive, long term deal to a player, who will eat up roughly 1/8th of their total payroll? Not in my eyes.
5. The Orioles have no chance to compete in 2010
6. The focus has to be on building for the future and developing their young players...not bringing in aging, expensive, veteran players!

In short, there is no plausible reason why the Orioles should covet Chone Figgins right now. None whatsoever.

Thoughts?

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