Friday Bird Droppings: Back to business

Are you ready for second half baseball? More road trips? More hot AL East action than you can shake a stick out and, oh, the trades! The trade market has been on a slow simmer in the run up to the July 31 deadline, but the Drew Pomeranz trade may kick things up a notch.

The Orioles open the second half in Tampa against the hapless Rays. The O's last faced Tampa, mired in a seven game slide, in June and swept them in four games. They finished the first half in a six game slump and have been swept nine times this season. Stay tuned for a full series preview later today.

Another look at the first half - School of Roch
A good rundown of stats and ephemera from the self-styled Professor of Posts...

MLB Rumor Central: Baltimore Orioles trying to sign Preston Palmeiro - MLB Rumor Central- ESPN
"The Orioles are looking to sign draft picks Preston Palmeiro, son of Rafael, and Brandon Bonilla, son of Bobby." Sure they're sons of former Orioles, but do they have brothers?

Orioles Need to Push Wieters in Second Half | Baseball Essential I personally feel like while this has been a nice bounceback year for Wieters, his performance hasn't been so awesome that he needs to be pushed real hard physically. Caleb Joseph has been no great shakes at the plate, but is still pretty steady behind the plate and can't hit this poorly all year...can he?

Camden Depot: Matt Wieters HR Hypothesis: Blame Millenial Pitchers' Lack of Self Control A look at the 2016 homer phenomenon and why Matt Wieters shouldn't quit his day job.

Rounding out our Palmeiro-related coverage for July 15, on this day in 2005, Rafael Palmeiro collected his 3,000th career hit. Former O's swingman Billy Loes passed away on July 10, 2010 and former farmhand Oscar Brito passed away on July 15, 2014.

It's the birthday of former reclamation project James Baldwin.