Wednesday’s Bird Droppings: Where everything must go

Morning, Birdland!

It’s kind of a bummer to see your favorite team picked apart like a rotting carcass on the side of the road. But when you’re 40+ games out in July, that is the baseball correlation of what you are. Zach Britton was traded to the Yankees late last night in exchange for three pitching prospects. Mark went more in depth and introduced you to the new Birds.

However, it sure does seem like the Orioles have an actual plan, and that’s encouraging. All of the players added so far have been assigned to Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk. These aren’t 19-year-olds in Delmarva. The front office has made a concerted effort to reinforce the high levels of the minors with talent that has an excellent chance of making in impact in Baltimore relatively soon. For those that feel ill when thinking of a rebuild, that should mean a quicker turnaround time.

They do lack that one stud at the top of their prospect charts, but he could still be coming. There are assets yet to be traded. The team is going to have a high draft pick next summer. And remember, this year’s draftees are yet to be ranked. They will further improve both the farm and the organizational depth chart.

If you are still into the product on the field in 2018, the O’s beat the Red Sox 7-6 last night. Stacey stayed up through the rain delays to recap the action.

Links

Moving on from Manny Machado - Camden Depot/The Warehouse Podcast
How did the Orioles fare in the Manny Machado trade? What will they get for Zach Britton? Who will be on next year’s souvenir cups? This week’s podcast gets into all of that and more.

Jones named Orioles’ Heart & Hustle winner - MLB.com
This is the third time Adam Jones has won this award. That’s cool! I don’t really know how significant this award is, but it’s nice for Jones to win something this year. Hey-oh!

Someone among the Orioles’ brain trust should take a bow for trades - The Athletic
The early word is that the O’s did well in the Britton trade, or at least better than the Royals did with Kelvin Herrera and the Mets with Jeurys Familia.

Return in Zach Britton trade should add up for Orioles - ESPN (insider)
Told ya!

O’s Schoop continues hot July as aggressive approach pays off - Baltimore Sun
“Do the Dodgers need a second baseman too?” - Jonathan Schoop probably.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is it your birthday? Happy Birthday!

Jose Bautista (no, not THAT one) is 54. He was a right-handed pitcher in Baltimore from 1988 through 1991 and accumulated a 4.79 ERA in 281.2 innings. Doug Drabek had a 7.29 ERA for the ‘88 Birds. He is 56 today. Mickey Scott pitched with the O’s in ‘72 and ‘73 and had a 2.92 ERA in 24.2 innings.

Other notable birthdays: Walter Payton (1954), Geoffrey Zakarian (1959) and Matt LeBlanc (1967),

1967 - race riots in Detroit postpone the Tigers-Orioles game. Two games later in the week are moved to Baltimore.

1999 - Albert Belle hits three home runs and drives in six RBI as the O’s win 8-7 over the Angels.