The trade deadline is now five days away. The Orioles can try to help bury their neighboring Nationals before them by sweeping today.
Hello, friends.
When the Orioles lose, we all have to tell ourselves that the whole tanking endeavor is for the best because that’s the only choice. It’s so much more fun when the Orioles just win and we can all enjoy that. That’s what this weekend has been like so far as the O’s have taken the first two games of the series against the Nats. They held on for a 5-3 win last night to give them a chance for a sweep today. Check out Stacey’s recap of the game for the lovely totals.
Even more fun about the wins to start this series is that they may tip the Nationals up and out of the NL East race as the trade deadline approaches. The Nats entered the series five games below .500, surely telling themselves that with a sweep of the woeful Orioles they’d be only two games below – and that in the league’s weakest division, where the leading Mets have only 51 wins. Instead, the Nationals are one game away from being swept and being eight games under .500. Too bad, so sad.
As it turns out, Saturday’s win hasn’t even set the Orioles back in the possible chase for the #1 draft pick in 2022. The league’s worst team, the Diamondbacks, picked up a win on Saturday. That team remains five games “ahead” of the Orioles in the loss column, so the O’s are certainly within striking distance over the season’s final 65 games.
The approaching trade deadline is important for the Orioles as well, to figure out if they can deal players to improve the talent on the farm. There are only five days until the deadline; the usual July 31 date is July 30 this year. A deal could be struck at any time! Mike Elias has not waited until the day of the deadline in his tenure as general manager.
One other way for the O’s to improve the talent on the farm is to sign their draft picks. The Orioles announced several more signings on Saturday and they’ve now signed 20 of their 21 picks. Only their 14th round pick Daniel Lloyd, a right-handed junior pitcher from the University of South Carolina, has not been signed to date. The deadline for teams to sign their picks is August 1.
Around the blogO’sphere
Ranking the Orioles trade deadline candidates (Orioles.com)
The fact that Paul Fry has been deemed the Oriole most likely to be traded should be enough to remind everyone that there aren’t going to be big, fun prospects added to the system this trade deadline.
Conner Greene joins Orioles (School of Roch)
Greene did not pitch last night after taking the roster spot opened up when Tyler Wells went on the injured list. When he does pitch, 3/4 of the O’s unusually-spelled first name quartet from spring training – Konner Wade, Spenser Watkins, Greene, and Dusten Knight – will have pitched. Knight’s ERA for Norfolk is 0.77, so we may yet see him too.
Prospect Kyle Stowers showing prodigious power at Bowie: ‘This guy has a chance to be a big player’ (The Baltimore Sun)
Stowers entered Saturday’s Bowie game with an OPS above 1.000 through 28 games. The O’s second round pick in 2019 is staying interesting.
Orioles draft pick Reed Trimble: Journey to hearing name called in draft a blessing (Press Box)
The pick of Reed Trimble reminds me of when the Orioles selected Austin Hays several years ago. I hope that he can have Hays level talent with better injury luck.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2019, Stevie “Dr. Poo Poo” Wilkerson pitched a scoreless 16th inning to pick up a save in a 10-8 Orioles win over the Angels, though hardly anyone was awake back in Birdland when the game finally ended after 4am Eastern. I guess the save technically happened tomorrow in 2019, but you know. The game started on this day, though.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1988-91 pitcher José Bautista, 1998 pitcher Doug Drabek, 1972 reliever Mickey Scott, and 1959 first baseman Whitey Lockman.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: infamous assassin Gavrilo Princip (1894), actress Estelle Getty (1923), lynching victim Emmett Till (1941), and football Hall of Famer Walter Payton (1954).
On this day in history…
In 1603, Scotland’s king James VI was also crowned as king of England, becoming James I there. This brought the two countries thrones into a personal union, although they did not have formal political union until 1707.
In 1788, Mozart completed one of his best-regarded symphonies, No. 40 in G minor.
In 1866, Congress authorized the creation of a four-star rank titled “General of the Army.” The first to be promoted to the rank was Ulysses S. Grant. A five-star rank of the same name was re-created during World War II; the last living General of the Army was Omar Bradley, who was promoted to it in 1950 and passed away in 1981 at age 88.
In 1965, Bob Dylan performed at the Newport Folk Festival and famously used an electric guitar.
In 1978, a baby named Louise Joy Brown was born. She was the first human to be born following conception by in vitro fertilization (IVF).
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 25. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!
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