Saturday Bird Droppings

School of Roch: This, that and the other
"The Orioles are continuing negotiations with pitcher Yovani Gallardo on a three-year contract. As expected, the talks have moved into the weekend. Don't say that I didn't warn you."

Steve Melewski: As Yovani Gallardo's strikeout rate decreased, so did his ERA (plus prospect notes)
"So Yovani Gallardo is striking out fewer batters in 2014-15 than in 2012-13, but still getting the outs. One key for him is left-on-base (LOB) percentage. Last year he stranded 77.2 percent of runners on base and American League hitters batted just .215 against him with runners in scoring position."

Indians sign reliever Tommy Hunter to $2 million deal – HardballTalk
"Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that right-hander Tommy Hunter has agreed to a one-year, $2 million contract with the Indians. It’s a major-league deal, so Hunter gets a spot on the 40-man roster and will be in the Opening Day bullpen if he’s fully recovered from core muscle surgery."

Baltimore Orioles farm system earns low rankings as team debates keeping picks or signing free agents - Baltimore Sun
"Even before they were ranked near the bottom of baseball in a slew of farm system rankings, the Orioles’ minor league system and perceived dearth of impact prospects was a topic for debate this week when considering whether they should sacrifice early draft picks for free agents."

Baltimore Orioles hire former New York Mets exec Joe McIlvaine to front office post
"The Baltimore Orioles have hired Joe McIlvaine as senior adviser of player personnel. McIlvaine will work with the front office staff at the major league level and help with scouting, with a strong focus on this year's draft. McIlvaine was the New York Mets executive vice president of baseball operations from July 1993 thru July 1997."

Orioles lose left-hander C.J. Riefenhauser to Cubs off waivers - Baltimore Sun
"The Chicago Cubs on Friday claimed left-hander C.J. Riefenhauser off waivers from the Orioles, who designated him for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Odrisamer Despaigne last week."

Orioles Buzz: Out of the Park: Truck arrives at Ed Smith Stadium as Birds prepare to fly south
"Last week, we showed you the Orioles packing up the truck headed for spring training. This week, we show you the truck arriving at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla." Actual baseballs and stuff, folks. It's really getting near!

Ah, Spring! What Could Go Wrong? - The New York Times
Here's the only part you really need to know: "BALTIMORE ORIOLES The strategy of spending $207.8 million to keep Chris Davis, Darren O’Day and Matt Wieters — but of letting go of starter Wei-Yin Chen — proves to be disastrous. A rotation with a 4.53 E.R.A. last season only gets worse, sentencing Baltimore to its first losing season since 2011."

Oriole boys romp Vikings on the road - Sports - Butler County Times Gazette - El Dorado, KS
As it is the editorial policy of this blog to celebrate all teams Orioles, we congratulate the Augusta (KS) Orioles on their HS boys' basketball road win.

Happy Birthday to Henry Urrutia and former Orioles Howie Clark, Todd Williams, and Jim Brideweser. They share this birthday with 1754 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French politician; 1885 Bess Truman, US First Lady; 1887 Alvin York, famed US soldier with 25 kills in WWI; 1919 Tennessee Ernie Ford, country vocalist and my grandmother's favorite singer; 1923 Chuck Yeagar, US test pilot and first man to break sound barrier; 1933 Kim Novak, actress; 1942 Peter Tork, one of two actual musicians in The Monkees; 1944 Jerry Springer, talk show host and note check writer; 1944 Stockard Channing, actress; 1961 Henry Rollins, vocalist/poet; 1974 Robbie Williams, English singer; and 1979 Mena Suvari, actress.

On this day in Baltimore baseball history... not much happened. It's the middle of February, what did you expect?

On this day in world history...

1258 Baghdad falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed
1601 First East India Company voyage departs from London, lead by John Lancaster
1689 British Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights which establishes the rights of parliament and places limits on the crown
1942 Hitler's Operation Sealion (invasion of England) cancelled
1945 Allied planes begin bombing Dresden, Germany; a firestorm results and over 22,000 die
1945 USSR captures Budapest, after a 49-day battle with Germany; 159,000 die

I would say consider this your discussion space for the Deadpool movie, but that would involve a bunch of spoilers, so, instead, I'd say talk about NCAA Womens' Softball: Maryland vs San Diego at the Kajikawa Classic.