Wednesday’s Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles might be making progress in their GM search

Good morning, Birdland!

It’s happening. The Orioles are narrowing their focus on who could be pushing the metaphorical buttons of the organization in the near future. These seem to be (at least some of) the folks that have interviewed:

All of these tweets say that this group is interviewing for the “GM” job. It’s unclear if that is just being used as a blanket term here because previous reports indicated the Orioles want both a president of baseball operations and a general manager.

All of the talk surrounding Ben Cherington has been that he wants to captain the ship. He would need to be named president in order to do so, and taking another GM job could be viewed as a demotion from his current position as vice president of baseball operations with the Blue Jays.

The other four mentioned seem primed for GM roles. Any guess as to who is leading the race seems to be pure speculation. Ned Rice worked for the Orioles as recently as 2015. Mike Elias is part of an extremely successful front office with the Astros. Scott Sharp won a World Series with the Royals. And David Chadd has an impressive resume of his own.

Links

Latest On Orioles’ GM Search - MLB Trade Rumors
Names have finally started to surface in recent weeks, and it’s been at least slightly encouraging. The company line being passed through the beats right now is that the Orioles aren’t concerned about make a quick decision; they want to make the right decision. That’s fair. But it still feels like they have had more than enough time to make that right decision by now.

Checking in on the O’s prospects in off-season leagues around the world - Baltimore Sun
Ryan McKenna’s star continues to rise. Everyone else? Eh, a mixed bag. Although Chris Lee had a solid showing in the Arizona Fall League and may be set up to finally contribute in the bigs are several disappointing seasons.

Even in tough times, embrace random performances from O’s Bleier & Fry - The Athletic
RICHARD BLEIER-ADORNED SOUVENIR SODAS AT CAMDEN YARDS IN 2019, OR WE RIOT!!

One potential free-agent target for every club - MLB.com
They have Marco Estrada going to the Orioles. OK. I mean, there is talk that the team may look to move Andrew Cashner during the offseason. Estrada might be better than Cashner, but it’s not clear-cut, so it would make little sense to trade away Cashner and bring in a similar pitcher in his place. That said, someone will need to pitch at Camden Yards next year. The internal options are not awe-inspiring, so the general thought that they could add a veteran hurler on a one-year deal is not far-fetched.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is it your birthday? Happy Birthday!

-Dariel Alvarez is 30 years old today. The Cuban outfielder-turned-pitcher signed with the O’s back in 2013 and cruised through the minors before arriving in Baltimore in August of 2015, but he never really stuck. He played in 14 games for the Birds between 2015 and ‘16, going 8-for-32 with two doubles and a home run. He converted to pitching in 2017, needed Tommy John surgery and became a free agent earlier this month.

-Former first overall pick Kris Benson is 44 years old. He spent just one season (2006) with the Orioles after being acquired from the Mets in exchange for John Maine and Jorge Julio. Benson accumulated a 4.82 ERA over 183 innings in the orange and black.

-It is also the birthday of the late Bob Hale (b. 1933, d. 2012). Hale was a first baseman in Charm City from 1955 through 1959, hitting .280/.308/.337 with 22 doubles and just one home run over 253 games.

1989 - Gregg Olson is named the American League Rookie of the Year. The 22-year-old pitcher had a 1.69 ERA and saved 27 games over 85 innings of work while striking out 90 hitters. Olson was the first relief pitcher to win the award.