Monday Bird Droppings: Let Kyle play!

It’s quiet in Birdland but one young player is celebrating his 25th birthday today

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a nice weekend and, if you’re lucky, get an extra day off today for New Years Day (observed). I’ve been off work since December 23rd and getting back to it tomorrow will be rough.

There still isn’t much to talk about in Birdland, but one current Oriole has something to celebrate. Kyle Stowers, who made his major league debut in 2022, turns 25 years old today. Happy birthday to Kyle!

I have thought of Kyle Stowers over this offseason when we heard that the Orioles were looking for left-handed corner outfielders. Stowers IS a left-handed corner outfielder, and he’s not exactly chopped liver. Before his promotion, he feasted on minor league pitching in 2021 and 2022, but his playing time in Baltimore just didn’t translate.

I sure know less than the powers that be regarding the players on this team, but I still wish we had seen more of Stowers in the lineup last year. I am hopeful we’ll get to see him quite a bit in 2023, though his situation hasn’t really changed. He still has to break through the already full outfield of Anthony Santander, Austin Hays, and Cedric Mullins.

But the team hasn’t yet acquired that lefty outfield bat, if you don’t count Adam Frazier (and I do not). So at least there’s that. Give Kyle a chance!

Links

Tigers acquire INF Tyler Nevin from Orioles for cash | AP News
If you missed the news over the weekend, recently DFA’d Tyler Nevin has been sent to the Tigers for cash considerations. All the best to Tyler, who was a victim of the Orioles’ infield inventory squeeze.

A wish list for the 2023 season – MASN Sports
Steve Melewski kicks off the new year with some cheery wishes for the team.

Red Sox hire Kyle Hudson as new first base coach – NBC Sports Boston
There isn’t much reason to remember Kyle Hudson’s time with the Orioles. He logged 34 games with the team in 2011. But I remember him because he played a part in that magical game on September 28th. When Chris Davis doubled off of Jonathan Papelbon with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Hudson pinch ran for him and scored on Nolan Reimold’s double to tie the game. It was the last major league game of Hudson’s career. Now he’s the first base coach for the team the Orioles defeated that night.

Former Oriole and 2022 World Series Champion Trey Mancini is still unsigned for the 2023 season, but he and Sara Perlman had plenty to take their minds off of that so far this offseason. The two tied the knot on December 10th and Sara posted a great pic over the weekend to announce it to the world. Congrats to them!

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! In addition to the previously mentioned Kyle Stowers, it’s also the birthday of former Orioles Garrett Stephenson and Royle Stillman.

Stephenson made his major league debut with the Orioles in 1996. He pitched 6.1 innings across three appearances before being sent to the Phillies as a player to be named later in the trade for Pete Incaviglia and Todd Zeile. Stephenson turns 51 today.

Stillman, who is 72 today, had 40 plate appearances for the Orioles from 1975-76.

As one might expect for January 2nd, there is a dearth of Orioles history on this date. So instead I dug into the Camden Chat archives to see what our writers had to say on this day in history.

In 2017, Mark Brown looked at the upcoming 2017 and wondered if they were a playoff team. It seems wild now, but of course they were coming off their 2016 wild card game appearance and we did have some hopes going into 2017. They lost 87 games that year.

In 2014, we published a recap of the final game at Memorial Stadium in 1991, written by a CC’er who was lucky enough to be part of the crowd.

Also in 2014, Kevin Ebert focused on A.J. Burnett as a free agent target. Remember those days, when we were always wondering if Burnett would become an Oriole? Because he lived in Monkton! Burnett did not become an Oriole, he pitched for the Phillies in 2014.