Monday Bird Droppings: Where all remains quiet in Birdland

Hello, friends.

There are now 113 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2018. Things are starting to kick a little bit in hot stove season, sort of, in that there appears to be movement towards Giancarlo Stanton getting traded and Shohei Ohtani winnowing down to a final list of teams.

Those moves will shake up the rest of the market even though the Orioles are nowhere near either one. Fortunately, it looks like none of the O’s most frequent opponents will be anywhere near them either. Stanton is reportedly going to have to decide whether to waive his no-trade clause to join the Cardinals, Giants, and Dodgers, while Ohtani has definitively ruled out the Yankees and Red Sox.

You kind of have to love the fact that Ohtani took a look at the idea of playing for the Yankees and decided, no thanks. It seems that he preferred to remain on the west coast, and sadly I don’t think the Orioles playing on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay is going to be a sufficient lure. That’s not even getting into the various dysfunctional things about the organization that might have scared him away.

The real question is whether the rest of the market will start popping quickly once these guys settle in to their new homes. Probably. Will Dan Duquette be ready to pounce? Probably not.

Around the blogO’sphere

Is there a short answer to left side of infield? (School of Roch)
An eyebrow-raising aside tucked into this article is the opinion of “one veteran” that Chris Davis didn’t help much with some of Tim Beckham’s throws from shortstop.

Tough market for top free agents looking to land with contenders (ESPN)
This has nothing to do with the Orioles at all, since they won’t sign a top free agent and probably won’t be contenders either. But there’s nothing else to talk about today, so enjoy the baseball analysis.

Birthdays and anniversaries

On this day in 1968, the Orioles received Mike Cuellar and two other players in a trade with the Astros, with the O’s giving up Curt Blefary and John Mason. Speaking of trades, in 1973, they got Ken Singleton from the Expos for Dave McNally and two other players.

Not every trade works out. On this day in 1988, the O’s traded Eddie Murray to the Dodgers for Ken Howell, Brian Holton, and Juan Bell.

There are a couple former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 1989-90 reserve Stan Jefferson and 1994 closer Lee Smith.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: social commentator and mathematician Thomas Carlyle (1795), actor Jeff Bridges (1949), actress Marisa Tomei (1964), and rapper Jay Z (1969).

On this day in history...

In 1674, a mission was founded on the shore of Lake Michigan by Father Jacques Marquette to try to minister to the native Illiniwek tribe. This later would grow into the city of Chicago.

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson set sail to Europe to participate in World War I peace talks (it wasn’t called that then, of course), becoming the first American president to travel to Europe while in office.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the Works Progress Administration, which was no longer needed due to wartime employment in the USA.

In 1965, the Grateful Dead performed their first concert as the Grateful Dead, a show in San Jose, California.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on December 4 - or at least, unless something happens later. Hey, you never know, right? Have a safe Monday.