Saturday Bird Droppings: Where everyone waits on Ohtani

Hello, friends.

There are now 130 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2018. Eventually, something will happen, although for now there is nothing happening, supposedly because everyone is waiting to find out the status of Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani. They’re supposed to find out on Monday.

Even if there wasn’t the Ohtani uncertainty holding up the market, I wouldn’t expect a lot of activity anyway. You know how not a whole lot gets done at your work in the week before Thanksgiving, unless you work somewhere in the Thanksgiving food staple supply chain? That’s true in the baseball world too, especially with players sometimes being completely off the grid for a while.

The Orioles don’t tend to strike while the hot stove is hot in November anyway, so even once the market does get going, it’ll be them sitting around watching other teams sign players, some of whom might even have made good Orioles at a price they could afford to pay.

Around the blogO’sphere

Tillman still a possible target for Orioles (plus Rule 5 note) (School of Roch)
We should probably all accept now that one of the pitchers the Orioles sign is going to be Chris Tillman. Also in this article, Roch runs through players who might get added to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.

Orioles prospects wrap up Arizona Fall League having accomplished their goals (Baltimore Sun)
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Tanner Scott’s goal was not to have a 12.54 ERA and a 2.36 WHIP.

Still talking free agent pitchers, plus other notes (Steve Melewski)
Melewski is talking Tyler Chatwood today.

An estimate of every team’s payroll room (Fangraphs)
Fangraphs estimates that the Orioles will have a little more than $40 million available in free agency. That sounds about right to me!

Law’s bargain free agents (ESPN)
Keith Law thinks that Welington Castillo and Jeremy Hellickson could end up being the bargains of the offseason.

Birthdays and anniversaries

On this day in 1964, Brooks Robinson won the American League MVP award, beating out Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle.

There are two former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: The late Steve Bechler, and 1993-95 pitcher Jamie Moyer.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: Daguerrotype developer Louis Daguerre (1787), aircraft carrier namesake Carl Vinson (1883), novelist Margaret Atwood (1939), British showrunner Steven Moffat (1961), actor Owen Wilson (1968), and gold medal sprinter Allyson Felix (1985).

On this day in history...

In 1095, Pope Urban II’s Council of Clermont began, ultimately leading to the First Crusade.

In 1803, Haitian revolutionaries defeated Napoleon’s French in the Battle of Vertieres, resulting in the establishment of the Republic of Haiti. This was the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1901, Britain and the United States signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, in which Britain agreed to withdraw its objections to America controlling the canal in Panama. Two years later, the US and Panama signed a treaty giving the US control over the canal zone.

In 1916, Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, called off the Somme Offensive in World War I, ending a battle that saw more than one million British, French, and German men killed or wounded.

In 1928, the animated short Steamboat Willie was released. It was the first synchronized sound cartoon. This is also noteworthy for being one of the earliest appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse - Disney considers it Mickey’s birthday.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy sent 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on November 18 - or at least, unless something happens later. Hey, you never know. Have a safe Saturday.