Sunday Bird Droppings: Where it’s one month til Christmas

Hello, friends.

There are now 122 days remaining until the next Orioles game. It’s also one month until Christmas.

Orioles fans already got the Christmas gift we might have wanted in the form of a general manager who seems to have a coherent plan that’s capable of achieving success in today’s baseball, with the authority and resources from ownership to put that plan in place. Which is nice... but there’s probably nothing Mike Elias can really do to put a good team on the field in 2019.

Hopefully there’s one more present from the Orioles to come before Christmas. That would be a new manager who’s clearly in line with the modern way of thinking about the game and how to get players on board with that in order to maximize their potential. From what he said in his introductory press conference, those are the only types of candidates he’d consider anyway.

Around the blogO’sphere

Top prospects eligible for Rule 5 draft (MLB.com)
The Rule 5 draft was Dan Duquette’s particular obsession, but there’s no reason for Elias not to dip his toes into these waters too, with the O’s having the first pick and all. Here’s one view of who is the most eligible player in each organization.

Questions about Beckham, Joseph, Villar, pitching, and 40-man (School of Roch)
The answers to the questions will be coming later, once Elias and company decide on them.

In a sense, John and Louis Angelos also were introduced to Orioles fans this week (Baltimore Sun)
“We hired a new GM who no one can say anything bad about” does seem to have been a good way for the apparent next generation of ownership to introduce itself.

Branden Kline’s fastball returned in 2018, but the changeup made the difference (Steve Melewski)
There will be a lot of stories written about Branden Kline between now and Opening Day.

Birthdays and anniversaries

One lone former Oriole has a birthday today: 2014-15 designated hitter Jimmy Paredes.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: Maryland namesake Henrietta Maria of France (1609), steel magnate Andrew Carnegie (1835), baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio (1914), author/illustrator Marc Brown (no relation) (1946), and actress Christina Applegate (1971).

On this day in history...

In 1491, the siege of Granada by Spanish forces ended with the Treaty of Granada. The treaty provided that the emirate would be handed to the Spanish monarchs in two months, effectively ending the Spanish Reconquest.

In 1758, during the French and Indian War - itself the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War - British forces, including future great American George Washington, captured the French Fort Duquesne. The French fort was soon replaced by the British Fort Pitt - today, Pittsburgh.

In 1863, during the Civil War, General Grant led the Union Army to victory in the Battle of Missionary Ridge, which broke the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In 1952, a murder-mystery play called The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie, opened in London. This is the longest continuously-running play in history - you can still see it today in St. Martin’s Theater in London’s West End.

In 1986, then-US Attorney General Edwin Meese made the announcement that the proceeds from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally used to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. This was neither the beginning nor the end of the Iran-Contra affair.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on November 25 - or at least, unless something happens later, which it probably won’t. Have a safe Sunday, especially if you’re traveling a long way at the end of this Thanksgiving weekend.