Monday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles have a day left to make trades

Hello, friends.

Another day has dawned with the Orioles in last place in the American League East. They continue to trail the division-leading Red Sox by 41.5 games, having gained zero ground this weekend since the Red Sox also pulled off a sweep. The O’s trail even the fourth place Blue Jays by 17 games.

One area where the Orioles actually gained ground is against the Royals in the quest to avoid the worst record in MLB. Those who want the Orioles to get the #1 pick next year might see it instead as losing ground. The O’s are now just a half game ahead of/behind the Royals, losers of two in a row. The Royals are at 32-73 while the O’s are at 32-74.

In their 106th game in the 1988 season, the Orioles were also winners. They beat the Indians, 5-0, to secure their third consecutive victory. Mickey Tettleton drove in two runs on the way to the win. This raised the team’s record to 35-71, or three games better than the 2018 team has managed through as many games.

After the weekend’s sweep, just their second 3+ game winning streak all year, the Orioles are on pace to win 49 games, if you round to the nearest whole number. That is five games fewer than the 1988 O’s, previously the worst imaginable O’s team, ended up winning. It’s that bad.

The Orioles will not play another game before the trade deadline, which comes along on Tuesday afternoon. It seems that there may not be any more deals to be made. If you haven’t heard, the O’s traded Brad Brach to the Braves for international signing bonus money, and, as we will discuss later, it appears that Adam Jones is not going to waive his no-trade rights for any deal.

Add to that an apparent reticence - though of course we don’t know what kind of deals are actually being offered - to deal players with more team control remaining beyond this year, such as Jonathan Schoop, Kevin Gausman, and even Dylan Bundy and Mychal Givens, and it seems a lot like the O’s might be done trading, barring some kind of unexpected low-stakes swap involving Danny Valencia.

Around the blogO’sphere

It’s becoming clear that Adam Jones wants to stay and the Orioles aren’t interested (Baltimore Sun)
Peter Schmuck sees a disconnect between the interests of Adam Jones and the interests of Dan Duquette in kicking off an Orioles rebuild. I’m not so sure that he’s wrong.

Can the rebuilding Orioles afford to hang on to the best starter in their rotation? (The Athletic)
There is a surprising assumption here about who the best Orioles starter has been, but if you want to look purely at ERA, it’s not necessarily wrong. Anyway, there has been zero talk about whether the Orioles would trade Andrew Cashner, so it’s probably not worth any hand-wringing.

Orioles trade Brach to Braves for international bonus slot (School of Roch)
Brach weighs in on the trade, and so does Duquette.

Rickard has another strong night, but he faces more competition in the Orioles outfield (Baltimore Baseball)
Joey Rickard had a good night against his former organization. Unfortunately for him, there are a number of younger, more exciting outfielders who could be up as soon as tomorrow (if the Orioles do the right thing about Cedric Mullins) and that could squeeze Rickard out of the big league picture.

Familiar faces in crowd a factor as Trey Mancini breaks out on bobblehead night (Baltimore Sun)
A large contingent of Mancini family and friends were in attendance as the O’s gave away his bobblehead. Mancini himself had a huge game. Maybe we can find a way to convince him that it’s his bobblehead game for more games in the future?

Orioles fan sends letter to team (Cut4)
There is a very good chance that this is the most adorable thing that you will see today.

The Orioles did well in dealing Zach Britton to the Yankees (Beyond the Box Score)
Our friends over at SB Nation’s Beyond the Box Score like what the O’s were able to get back for Britton. Let’s hope that a year down the road, O’s fans still like the return as well.

Birthdays and anniversaries

In 2009, the Orioles traded George Sherrill to the Dodgers for Josh Bell and Steve Johnson, the latter of whom played a key role towards the end of the 2012 season.

There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1977-80 outfielder Pat Kelly, and Herc’s favorite old Oriole, catcher Gus Triandos.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your birthday buddies for today include: novelist Emily Brontë (1815), Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford (1863), general, Medal of Honor winner, and anti-war writer Smedley Butler (1881), Hall of Fame baseball manager Casey Stengel (1890), actor/governator Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947), singer-songwriter Kate Bush (1958), TV chef Alton Brown (1962), and actress Hilary Swank (1974).

On this day in history...

In 1419, seven members of the Prague city council were thrown out of a window to their deaths. This was the first, and less famous, Defenestration of Prague.

In 1729, the city of Baltimore was founded in the then-colony of Maryland.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Act of 1965 into law. This created both Medicare and Medicaid.

In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin landed on the moon along with the first lunar rover.

In 1975, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from a parking lot in a suburb of Detroit at about 2:30pm. He was never seen again.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 30 - or at least, unless the Orioles pull off a trade on the off day, which is in the realm of possibility. Have a safe Monday.