Hello, friends.
There are now 116 days until Orioles Opening Day 2015. It feels like it's been longer than that since the Orioles did anything at all. It hasn't even been that long since the end of the season, strange as that sounds.
In the rest of the baseball world, like everyone got traded everywhere on Wednesday. The O's ... well, they've got the Rule 5 draft today. They'll take someone. That will be the big move of the winter meetings, barring something unexpected happening.
Here are your links from around Birdland on this Thursday...
Duquette: Orioles don't sign high-profile free agents | Comcast SportsNet Baltimore
Telling us what we already know, Dan Duquette reiterated to O's reporters on Wednesday that it isn't going to be the Orioles' style to sign big name, big ticket free agents.
'This isn't a goodbye,' Nick Markakis says in two-page advertisement - Baltimore Sun
If you didn't get a copy of the paper on Wednesday, you missed Nick Markakis' two-page ad thanking Orioles fans for their support. Most of the time, players take out a one page ad, so Nick really went above and beyond the call.
School of Roch: Boras on Davis, Wieters and Chen
Roch was there when Scott Boras held court. He said a few things about his O's clients who will soon be free agents. Those words mostly amounted to, "They're gonna get paid."
Steve Melewski: Checking in with Orioles scouting director Gary Rajsich
The other half of the MASN tandem talked to the O's scouting director about the state of the farm and what he might hope to accomplish with next year's draft, in which the O's have four of the first 73 picks.
Elsewhere on the SB Nation MLB network...
Dodgers sign, trade for everybody - McCovey Chronicles
On the Giants blog, one of my favorite bloggers, Grant Brisbee, reacts to the Dodgers getting like everybody. They don't like the Dodgers over there.
Could The 'Back To The Future' World Series Become Reality? - Bleed Cubbie Blue
The North Side Church of McFly will not be denied.
This day, December 11, was a big Rule 5 day for Orioles players in the past. Miguel Gonzalez and Darren O'Day were both plucked out of the Angels system in 2008. In 2000, the O's grabbed Jay Gibbons, and also traded speedster Jayson Werth to the Blue Jays for John Bale. It was a darker day in 1992; Billy Ripken was released.
There is one lone former Orioles birthday today: Hal Brown (no relation), who's hitting the big 9-0. Hal was on some of the earliest Orioles teams, taking the pitcher's mound at Memorial Stadium from 1955-1962.
And that's the way it is in Birdland on December 11 - or at least until something happens. Have a safe Thursday.