BALTIMORE -- Brian Roberts may not have been at the news conference to announce the Orioles' six-year contract extension for Nick Markakis on Thursday, but he was there in spirit. Immediately, questions turned to whether the club will also reach an extension with its second baseman, whose contract runs out after the 2009 season.

Andy MacPhail, Baltimore's president of baseball operations, fielded some of those questions and said he doesn't feel that Roberts is "an expiring asset." The Orioles have reportedly made a three-year offer worth $30 million to retain the two-time All-Star, but a slow free-agent market and the team's recent history may be standing in the way.

"We've made no secret of the fact that we'd love to have Brian come back," MacPhail said Thursday. "We're still working on it. The market hasn't completely played itself out yet. Hopefully we can get something done."

Roberts, one of Baltimore's longest-serving players, has dealt with trade rumors for much of the past two seasons. And those may only intensify if the Orioles aren't able to reach a contract extension with him before the season or by the non-waiver Trade Deadline in late July, a situation that both the player and the team would like to avoid.

As of now, part of the problem with signing or trading Roberts is that there's a similar player on the open market. Orlando Hudson, formerly of the D-backs and Blue Jays, is having trouble finding the type of offers he expected in free agency. In turn, that might make Roberts less likely to sign in what seems like a depressed market.

If Roberts plays out the season without an extension and doesn't get traded, Baltimore would still have some options. The Orioles could extend him an offer for salary arbitration, and if he accepted, he'd be bound to the team for at least one more season. If he declined, then Baltimore would be eligible for Draft pick compensation when he left.

Markakis, who signed a six-year extension worth $60.1 million, was also asked about playing with Roberts. The right fielder said he doesn't really have a sense of where they stand, but hopes to see a favorable outcome.

"Most of the time when I talk to him, it's really not about baseball. It's just conversation," Markakis said of Roberts. "But it's come up, and a player of that caliber, you'd definitely love to have. He's a great teammate. He does a lot for the fans, he does a lot for the community [and] he does a lot for the organization. Why wouldn't you want to have him?"

Roberts, a past nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, was drafted and developed by the Orioles and has been part of the parent club since 2001. The switch-hitter earned a starting job in '03 and has been an All-Star in two of the past four seasons, and he's overcome a potentially career-threatening left elbow injury along the way.

MacPhail knows that the fleet-footed infielder is among his most accomplished homegrown players, and he spoke of a similar phenomenon in reference to the lucrative Markakis extension. In MacPhail's mind, it can be even more energizing for an organization to retain its core players than it is to sign a prime free agent.

"I do think it sends an important signal up and down your organization," MacPhail said of signing Markakis. "On the flip side, when you sign a marquee free agent from somewhere else, you're adding a player that you didn't already have. I will reiterate this: Clearly, from the time we threw our last pitch last year, talking to people, this was our priority."

Roberts' importance to the organization was also touched upon later in the day, when MacPhail began talking about some of his offseason acquisitions and what he considers to be the team's guiding philosophy.

"We understand, to make our pitching as good as it can be, it's important that we record the outs when there's an opportunity," MacPhail said. "That's one of the reasons we're delighted to have Cesar Izturis as our shortstop. We want to make this as good a defensive club as we possibly can. I've always felt and I've often said that [defense] is an underappreciated asset. This is one franchise that is always going to try to value it and put it in every equation."

So where does that leave Roberts? At the moment, it's still a mystery, but it's a conversation that will heat up as Spring Training approaches and perhaps consume the team by midseason. And as far as Markakis is concerned, the next few years would look a lot brighter if he still had Roberts getting on base at the top of the batting order.

"I talk to him quite often," said Markakis. "He's one of the guys that I'd say I'm closest with on the team. I can't say enough about him. He's a great player, if not the best leadoff hitter in the game. On the field, there's things you can go on and on about. ... Hopefully he'll be around and I'll play a couple more years with him."