After a flurry around the winter meetings, things have gotten quieter for a few days.
Hello, friends.
There are now three months and 12 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2025. We’re talking probably just shy of two months until pitchers and catchers report to spring training – though that exact date has still not been officially announced.
For those who still have Christmas shopping to do, which includes me, you’ve got ten days until you’ve got to give the gifts, so it’s time for us to get on it. Mike Elias is not working under the same deadline for finishing up his offseason moves, which is good, because a frenzied rush between now and Christmas would probably not result in anything fun happening for the Orioles.
This was a tough week for people who wanted to see the Orioles improve the starting rotation. Several options, whether signings or trades, came off the board. Should the Orioles have ponied up what it would have taken to sign Max Fried rather than have him on the Yankees, or acquire Garrett Crochet instead of have him on the Red Sox? It’s easy to have heartburn about these things in the offseason.
Even the Athletics got in on this party once again on Saturday as they worked out a trade with the Rays that brings starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs out to Sacramento. I will refuse to believe you if you say you ever had strong feelings about Springs. The now-Athletic has thrown 49 innings since the start of the 2023 season and is signed to a potentially team-friendly contract that could pay him another $36 million over the next three seasons.
There is no particular reason to want Springs. Yet I get the frustration with the ex-Oakland team now having signed Luis Severino and acquired Springs while the Orioles have not accomplished anything yet.
There was a similar grumpiness about the Orioles rotation one year ago that wasn’t chased off until they acquired Corbin Burnes with a couple of weeks to go until spring training. The window is not closed for that to possibly happen again until every interesting pitcher is off the market. That’s just not happened yet, so I think some patience is more called for than apocalyptic panic.
Having said that, if nothing is done and the rotation is a glaring weakness for the 2025 Orioles, that would be an infuriating mistake because it was so easily preventable.
Around the blogO’sphere
Here’s who is left in the pool of potential Orioles starting pitching additions (The Baltimore Banner)
The market isn’t closed yet, but much of the inventory is cleared away.
Red Sox interested in ex-Orioles All-Star John Means (Mass Live)
I don’t particularly want an Orioles reunion with Means, but would be a little bit annoyed if it’s the Red Sox who step in to snag him as he goes through the second half of his rehab.
Rookie coach brings veteran experience to the Orioles (Orioles.com)
It’s about Robinson Chirinos. He was teammates with six current Orioles position players in his time here in 2022.
Double-A skipper Roberto Mercado on several of the 2024 Baysox (Steve Melewski)
Some thoughts from the Double-A manager on pitchers Trace Bright and Alex Pham, as well as outfielder Dylan Beavers.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2022, the Orioles signed Adam Frazier to a one-year contract for $8 million. We are still waiting for Mike Elias to sign a free agent substantially above that level of player. (I’m not feeling optimistic about Tyler O’Neill as I write this, okay?)
There are several former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2019 reliever Ryan Eades, 2008-10 outfielder and ancient Camden Chat meme subject Luis Montañez, 2003 pitcher Rick Helling, and 1957 four-gamer Eddie Robinson. Eddie Robinson’s 13-year MLB career – with three seasons lost to World War II military service – ended in Baltimore in that ‘57 season; he passed away in 2021 at age 100.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: infamous but probably apocryphal fiddling emperor Nero (37), architect Gustave Eiffel (1832), oil magnate J. Paul Getty (1892), author Muriel Rukeyser (1913), Hall of Fame baseball manager Jim Leyland (1944), actor Adam Brody (1979), and Haim guitarist Alana Haim (1991).
On this day in history…
In 1791, the Bill of Rights was officially ratified into the Constitution upon their approval in the Virginia General Assembly.
In 1890, Sitting Bull, a leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota tribe, was shot and killed on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. In the aftermath of the shooting, Army soldiers shot and killed nearly 300 Lakota people. The Wounded Knee Massacre is, in Army history, a battle.
In 1939, the movie Gone with the Wind received its premiere at a theater in Atlanta, Georgia. When adjusted for inflation, this remains the highest-grossing film of all time, estimated at roughly $4.3 billion in 2023 dollars.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on December 15. Have a safe Sunday.