It’s Opening Day (sort of!), projecting the roster, and Burdick gets claimed.
Good Morning, Birdland!
Today is when the offseason truly feels like it’s in the rearview. Pitchers and catchers reporting is fun—although injuries kinda soured that this year—and watching bullpens and batting practice from side angles serves to whet the baseball-watching appetite. But today is the real deal: an actual structured baseball game. We made it!
In case you missed it, today’s game will get the regular season treatment from Orioles media. There will be both a TV and radio broadcast. Man, they are spoiling us!
Mark compiled a helpful article this week that shows when and how you can enjoy every most of the O’s spring games. Thanks to opposing team broadcasts, there will be coverage of some kind for 26 of their 32 Grapefruit League contests. That’s not bad, but many of them are radio-only and from the perspective of another organization. It’s not the ideal way to enjoy an Orioles game.
But at least we get today. Better yet, Corbin Burnes will get the start. Let’s see what the new ace can do in his first inning or two as an Oriole. I’m sure none of us will overreact one way or another. First pitch is 1:05 from Sarasota.
Links
Some early camp observations before today’s exhibition opener | Roch Kubatko
The update on John Means is helpful. As Roch indicates, the lefty is not hurt. He is just being slow played so that he is 100% when he gets on the field and then stays healthy. It makes the lack of urgency in adding another rotation piece understandable.
Orioles roster projection: Questions remain in bullpen, bench as spring training games begin | The Baltimore Sun
It’s nice to only have questions in the bullpen and on the bench. The Orioles know who their key contributors will be, and it’s a good group. Of course, there will be speculation around Jackson Holliday until Opening Day. For now, I agree that he won’t make the roster. But he seems likely to earn a call up relatively early.
Orioles announce 2024 broadcast team | Orioles.com
Everyone is back, and the play-by-play role has been boosted by the addition of Ben Wagner from the Blue Jays Radio Network. I have no knowledge of Wagner other than what is provided in the press release. It sounds like, for now, he will mostly be on the radio.
White Sox Claim Peyton Burdick | MLB Trade Rumors
Burdick was an Oriole for just over a week. Perhaps the plan all along was to hope he could sneak through waivers and spend the season as depth in Norfolk. That didn’t work.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Chance Sisco turns 29 today. Once treated like the club’s “catcher of the future,” Sisco ultimately spent five underwhelming seasons with the O’s from 2017 through 2021.
- Chris Parmelee celebrates his 36th birthday. He spent a month-and-a-half with the O’s in 2015, during which time his final stats weren’t great. But he did hit three home runs in his first two games before falling off.
- Gustavo Molina is 42 today. He had a seven-game stint for the 2007 Orioles.
- Eddie Murray turns 68. An Orioles legend, Murray played 13 total seasons in Baltimore. The prime of his career ran from 1977 through 1988 with the O’s, and then he returned to the club in 1996. Murray was named a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2003.
This day in O’s history
2003 – The use of ephedra is banned in the minor leagues following the death of Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler. The supplement is not prohibited for players on 40-man rosters because they are covered by the CBA’s drug-testing rules, which only covers drugs of abuse and some steroids.