Saturday’s Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles can sign Victor Victor Mesa

Morning, Birdland!

Only a few weeks remain in the Orioles nightmare 2018 season. We are all numb to the losses at this point, but if you are looking for some morbid reading Paul did recap their 8-6 defeat to the White Sox on Friday night.

On a more interesting note, the Mesa brothers are free agents! The link to all of the details is down below, but here are the basics: Victor Victor and Victor Jr. are now eligible to sign with an MLB organization at any time. However, they are going to host a showcase for all 30 clubs first. Currently, the O’s have, by far, the most international signing money ($6.5 million), but other teams can add to their kitties via trades. The most likely threat to the Birds are the Miami Marlins, who currently have $4.3 million and play in a city with a rich Cuban culture.

Signing players like the Mesa brothers is something the team should have been doing a long, long time ago. If they miss out on both of them, it will be a major disappointment and, quite frankly, a failure. The O’s acquired all of that international money in July with a fairly obvious goal of going hard after the Mesas. Nearly all of the other top international free agents had been signed or verbally agreed to a deal by that point. The Mesas were the clear targets.

If they can land one or both of the brothers, it makes the July barrage of trades look more impressive. Victor Victor is thought of as a back-end top 100 prospect type that might slot between Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays in the O’s organizational talent depth chart. Victor Jr. is a teenager with more raw skills, but is thought to have some good upside. Any team would love to add two players like that to the farm.

Be very concerned if the O’s start trading away massive amounts international bonus money. That likely means they have gotten the idea that the Mesas aren’t interested. As mentioned before, there aren’t a ton of other options out there that the O’s can use all of that money on signing. Should the chance to sign the Mesas dry up, the best the team may be able to hope for is nabbing a few intriguing minor leaguers from other clubs looking to add to their pool in pursuit of the brothers.

Links

Mesa Brothers Declared Free Agents By MLB - MLB Trade Rumors
It is go time, people!

Jones’ Potential Departure is the Greatest Loss Since Cal Ripken Jr. - Camden Depot
Losing the current version of Adam Jones may not mean a lot on the field for the Orioles. They are a bad team and Jones is a player that, while still useful, has already had his best years. But it will mean a lot for the both the casual and die-hard fans that had grown accustomed to seeing number 10 patrolling the outfield each time they stopped by Camden Yards during past summers.

Orioles Announce 2018 Award Winners For Player Development, Scouting - Press Box
Cedric Mullins was named their minor league player of the year, lefties Keegan Akin and Zac Lowther split the minor league pitcher of the year award and Zach Jarrett was given the minor league community service award. Well done, guys!

How Dylan Bundy’s world exploded, and how he pushed through - The Athletic
Dan Connolly posted this story a few days ago, but it’s lengthy feature that is well worth your time this weekend.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is it your birthday? Happy Birthday!

Dave Pagan celebrates a very nice 69th birthday today. The right-hander appeared in 20 games for the 1976 Orioles, tossing a 5.98 ERA and 55 ERA+ over 46.2 innings of work that year. John Pacella is 62 years old. He spent six games with the 1984 Birds, allowing 11 earned runs in 14.2 innings across six outings.

1977 - Earl Weaver pulls the Orioles off the field in the fifth inning of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays because of what he views as a hazardous tarp on the bullpen mound. The Orioles are forced to forfeit the game. They were trailing 4-0 at the time of the forfeiture.

1979 - The Red Sox beat the Orioles 10-2 as Boston first baseman Bob Watson becomes the first player to hit for the cycle in both the NL and AL.

1990 - Billy and Cal Ripken both homer in the fifth inning of an O’s 4-3 loss to the Jays. The pair will homer in the same inning of an MLB game one other time, in 1996.

1996 - The O’s go deep five times (two from Cal, one each from Brady Anderson, Mark Parent and Bobby Bonilla) in a 16-6 drubbing of the Detroit Tigers, passing the 1961 New York Yankees for home runs hit by a team in a single season (240). Baltimore ended the year with 257 bombs and have since been passed by the ‘97 Mariners (264) and ‘05 Rangers (260).

1997 - Outfielder Eric Davis returns to the Baltimore lineup for the first time since having a cancerous growth removed from his colon two months prior. He goes hitless, but the O’s top the Cleveland Indians 6-5.