Hello, friends.
There are now 98 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2018. Let's hope that doesn't prove to be one day for every loss that the 2018 Orioles will suffer, although with the way that things are going lately, it's hard to be too optimistic about that. The good news is that a baseball team can be pretty bad and still not lose 98 games.
There are now just five days until Christmas. Where did the time go? The days between now and Christmas could be truly significant ones for the future of the Orioles franchise. Are they going to make the move to deal Manny Machado, or make the series of moves that would make keeping him seem to be a better idea?
If it's the second one, I don't think we're going to get that answer by Christmas. If it's the first, well, other teams are going to want to be making their decisions soon, so the Orioles had better make theirs, too.
This remains a not particularly fun process for Orioles fans. Why should it be fun? Only losers have to trade away their best players because they're about to be free agents. The Orioles were not losers from 2012-16, and that was nice, but they were losers last year, so here we are. And as we all know, they were losers because of a horrible starting rotation that they have, as yet, done nothing to improve and may not be able to improve this offseason.
So here we are. Maybe today will be the day.
Around the blogO'sphere
A Manny Machado trade would be historic (Fangraphs)
Turns out that players who are as good as many, as young as Manny, hardly ever get traded.
Analysis: What potential trade partners could offer the Orioles for Manny Machado (Baltimore Sun)
There are some names that would be at least a little bit exciting here...
Let's talk about Manny Machado's trade value (Fangraphs)
...unfortunately, as Fangraphs is quick to remind us, as good as Manny is, he’s probably not worth the most exciting names at this point in time.
Myriad Orioles thoughts: Machado and the Angelos factor, Manny dominoes, more (Baltimore Baseball)
Dan Connolly tries to peel back the curtain on a little bit of what occasionally makes the Orioles dysfunctional.
Manny Machado is the new Jason Heyward (Viva El Birdos)
Our friends over at SB Nation’s Cardinals blog feel like they have seen this Manny Machado story before - and perhaps it’s an idea of what he’s worth.
Wondering about Beckham and the left side of the infield (School of Roch)
Nothing to do with the headline, but “Adam Jones is staying in center field, with the understanding that he’s likely to slide over to right field at some point if he signs an extension” is interesting.
A scout's tale: Meet Kirk Fredriksson (Steve Melewski)
In the first of what should be a neat series, Melewski profiles an Orioles scout. First up is the guy who, among others, recently helped find Austin Hays and Trey Mancini for the Orioles.
Report: Former Orioles outfielder Kim returns to play in South Korea (Baltimore Sun)
One more time all together: Na na nanana...
Birthdays and anniversaries
On this day in 1991, the Orioles signed Rick Sutcliffe as a free agent. Sutcliffe pitched three complete games, with two shutouts, in his first four Orioles start, including the CGSO in the first game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
There are a few former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 1998-99 swingman Doug Johns, 1991-93 reserve Chito Martinez, and 1999 reliever Mike Fetters.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev (1906), Baltimore-born Baseball Hall of Famer Al Kaline (1934), pro football Hall of Famer Reggie White (1961), actress Alyssa Milano (1972), fantasy author Brandon Sanderson (1975), actor Jake Gyllenhaal (1980), and journalist Ronan Farrow (1987).
On this day in history...
In 1606, three ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery, set sail from England. These three ships would go on to found a colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that later became the United States of America.
In 1776, Thomas Paine published the first of his "Common Sense" pamphlets, The American Crisis, which began with the famous declaration, "These are the times that try men's souls."
In 1983, the original FIFA World Cup trophy was stolen from Brazil's football headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. This trophy was never recovered and it is believed to have been melted down.
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And that's the way it is in Birdland on December 19 - or at least, unless something happens later today. As we are on Machado trade watch still, it's always possible. Have a safe Tuesday.