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Good morning, Birdland. It's the third of final day of the January minicamp, so if you love reading stories about how players have renewed focus and are in the best shape of their lives, today will probably be your best chance for a month or so. There are 82 days left until Opening Day - I would've included a picture of an Oriole wearing #82, but no one in franchise history has ever done that. In fact, only one player in MLB history has ever worn the number - Johnny Lazor, who played for the Red Sox during WWII and whose position is listed as "pinch hitter" despite sporting a .263/.312/.357 career batting line.
Yesterday, the O's officially lost two players to free agency that nobody expected to return, and you can read Mark's thoughts on that here. Pretty much everyone else is writing about Wei-Yin Chen and Gerardo Parra right now too. Maybe if the O's actually do something significant, that'll change. On the links:
School of Roch: More thoughts on losing Wei-Yin Chen and Gerardo Parra
Nothing groundbreaking here, but Roch does touch on the O's/Rockies trade rumors and suggests that Colorado would be looking to get Kevin Gausman in return for an outfielder. No thanks. Also, in case you missed it, Roch points out that the Rays went out and signed a pair of former Orioles in Dana Eveland and Eddie Gamboa.
Steve Melewski: Orioles announce minor league managers and staffs for 2016
Looks like there will be very little turnover in the minor league system this year. If you're curious to see some former MLB names that you had no idea were working for the Orioles, this might be your link.
Rockies Acquire Future Pitcher by Signing Gerardo Parra | FanGraphs Baseball
More on the Parra deal, and some in-depth discussion of the trade market for the other Colorado outfielders. The author struggles to see a Rockies-O's trade coming to fruition, with anyone the O's could hypothetically give up either being too high a price (Gausman) or too low (pretty much anyone else).
Fishing and chill for Orioles' Chris Tillman at Ed Smith Stadium complex - Carroll County Times
Among other things, this article informs us that Suk-Min Yoon was Chris Tillman's fishing buddy last winter. Looks like that will be his lasting Orioles legacy.
Camden Depot: How The Garber Case Could Hurt The Orioles
An interesting overview of another court case, in which (gasp!) the Nationals and Orioles both want the same result. The Cliff's Notes are that if it goes one way, exclusive broadcast rights would go out the window, MASN would lose a lot of money, and our televisions in Maryland would be inundated with YES, NESN, and whoever shows Phillies games. Nobody wants that.
It's the birthday of Oliver Drake and former reliever Odell Jones, who had a pretty good 49.1 innings in 1986, his only Oriole season. Congrats, Oliver, you get the photo for this morning. It's also the birthday of hockey great Art Ross (the namesake of the trophy handed out yearly to the player with the most points), current hockey player Marc Staal, actors Patrick Dempsey and Orlando Bloom, singer Trace Adkins, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and actor / game show guest star extraordinaire Charles Nelson Reilly.