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Good morning, Camden Chatters.
How was your Thanksgiving? Has your stomach recovered after gorging yourself on turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, or whatever else was on your dinner menu? Did you pass out on the couch watching football? Were you able to get along with your out-of-town relatives and deftly steer the conversation away from politics?
After a day off for feasting and family, newly minted GM Mike Elias can get back to work on reshaping the Orioles. He’s already checked one item off his list, bringing on his former Astros cohort Sig Mejdal as assistant GM and analytics head honcho. He’s also made a bit of roster maneuvering by adding Dillon Tate to the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Next on the agenda is finding a new manager, who will have big shoes to fill in replacing the popular Buck Showalter. A few candidates have been bandied about in the media, but so far Elias has kept mum on who he intends to interview. Also on the horizon is the non-tender deadline in one week, when the Orioles will have decisions to make about whether to extend contracts to Tim Beckham, Caleb Joseph, and others.
It’s been a long, slow offseason up until last week. But now that the new regime is in place, we might finally see some action pick up in Birdland.
Links
Separating fact from fiction - School of Roch
Roch Kubatko runs through a variety of Orioles topics, including the rave reviews for their hires of Elias and Mejdal. He also includes the out-of-nowhere idea of Chris Davis moving to third base, which he shoots down as fiction. Who was even suggesting that as a possibility?
With Sig Mejdal, O’s should take big leap forward in analytics - Steve Melewski
Considering the Orioles’ previous analytics department consisted of, like, three people and a dog-eared copy of the 1977 Bill James Abstract, the Mejdal hire is a big leap forward indeed.
Jones to host 6th annual #StayHungry event - Orioles.com
Adam Jones’s Orioles career may be over, but he’s still involved in charitable contributions in the Baltimore community, because he’s awesome like that.
Oriole fans have much to be thankful for - Baltimore Baseball
This headline may seem jarring for a team that just finished a 115-loss season. But Rich Dubroff gives thanks for a bunch of recently departed ex-Orioles, as well as a few guys who are still in the black and orange.
Orioles birthdays
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have six Orioles birthday buddies, none of whom was a star. Well, one of them — Justin Turner — is a star now for the Dodgers, but his O’s career lasted just 17 games before the Birds let him go in waivers in 2010. That’s a decision they’d probably like to have back. Turner is 34 today.
Other living Orioles with birthdays are 2010-11 infielder and cooking aficionado Brandon Snyder (32); pitcher Adam Eaton (41), a 2009 righty not to be confused with the current Nationals outfielder of the same name; and 2002 first baseman Ryan McGuire (47). It’s also the birthday of late 1983-84 third baseman Todd Cruz, who would have been 63 today, and 1960 righty John Anderson, who would have been 89.