Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where we always knew Chris Tillman would be back

Hello, friends.

There are now 37 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. This number is currently in use by Dylan Bundy, so make like a #4 overall draft pick today, as long as you don't make like Brian Matusz instead.

We're also now down to three days until the first group of players wearing Orioles uniforms takes the field to play what is nominally a game of baseball but has no resemblance to a regular season game. You know how those early spring games go: Scrubs after the fifth inning or earlier, scrubs on the road, nobody throwing more than a couple of innings.

That game will be both televised and on the radio locally, and as much as I am way too cool to care about spring training, there is something at least a tiny bit special about having baseball on television for the first time in over four months, even if it's baseball that doesn't count.

One player who probably won't be appearing in that first game is Chris Tillman, since the Orioles have only just signed him. It's a signing so fresh that it's not even official as of this writing, which most likely doesn't mean anything, although this is the Orioles we're talking about, so who knows. Someone will have to be moved off the 40-man when the Tillman signing takes place.

Around the blogO'sphere

Gausman, Bundy, and O'Day on Tillman's return (School of Roch)
Safe to say that Tillman’s Orioles teammates are more excited than you are to have him back.

Chris Davis's preparation for 2018 will focus on getting his swings in early (Baltimore Sun)
Chris Davis knows he looked at too many strikes last year. Whether his promised fix materializes in the regular season is something we all would like to know.

Alex Presley among Orioles signings (Orioles.com)
Presley is a left-handed hitting outfielder who received a minor league contract with a big league camp invite yesterday. This is probably not the lefty outfielder Duquette has said he wants to sign.

Yefry Ramirez made nice first impression with his new team (Steve Melewski)
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that if Yefry Ramirez makes the big leagues in 2018, as Melewski’s first paragraph offers as a possibility, that will mean little has gone right for the Orioles at the MLB level.

Predicting the Hall of Fame chances of our favorite players (Beyond the Box Score)
Old Camden Chat friend Ryan Pollack is over at SB Nation’s sabermetrics-focused blog to run down the Hall of Fame chances of some active players, including Oriole (for now) Manny Machado.

Player opt-out clauses could (have) really help(ed) the Orioles this offseason (Camden Depot)
I don’t agree with this article about opt-outs at the Depot, but I present it for your consideration all the same.

Diamondbacks select Jarrod Dyson from value menu (Fangraphs)
There are those who hoped the Orioles might sign the bench-warming gum-flapper from the 2014 ALCS. They may yet sign someone worse for more money.

Birthdays and anniversaries

There are two former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2016 short-timer Julio Borbon, and the late Jim Wilson of the 1955-56 Orioles rotations.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: director Robert Altman (1925), actor Sidney Poitier (1927), auto racing magnate Roger Penske (1937), Mystery Science Theater 3000's Joel Hodgson (1960), Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain (1967), actress Lauren Ambrose (1978), Daily Show host Trevor Noah (1984), and singer-songwriter Rihanna (1988).

On this day in history...

In 1472, Scotland received the islands of Orkney and Shetland from Norway as a dowry for Margaret of Denmark, who married its king of the time, James III. Margaret died 14 years later. Orkney and Shetland remain a part of Scotland.

In 1792, President Washington signed the Postal Service Act, which established the United States Post Office Department.

In 1816, the opera The Barber of Seville, by Rossini, premiered in Rome.

In 1877, the ballet Swan Lake, by Tchaikovsky, had its premiere performance in Moscow.

In 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth during the Friendship 7 mission. Glenn completed three orbits around the planet in just under five hours.

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And that's the way it is in Birdland on February 20 - or at least, until something happens later. Hey, now that Dan Duquette has gotten into the habit of making some signings, you never know. Have a safe Tuesday, and go Team USA!