Thursday Bird Droppings: Where it’s the anniversary of a bad trade

Hello, friends.

There are now 77 days remaining until the next Orioles game. We now know that the O’s Opening Day game will be nationally televised, as the people at ESPN deemed the likely pasting the O’s will receive at the hands of the Yankees to be TV-worthy. How lucky for us.

Today also marks the 28th anniversary of the trade that sent Steve Finley, Pete Harnisch, and Curt Schilling to the Astros for Glenn Davis. That one did not work out like the O’s might have hoped. There’s nothing particularly interesting about a 28th anniversary, but let’s be honest, there’s nothing else going on.

Soon, it could turn out that the O’s dealt a future Hall of Famer in that swap. According to the diligent folks at the Hall of Fame Ballot Tracker, Schilling has received votes on 73.5% of the ballots revealed up to this point.

That’s below the 75% threshold, and voters who reveal their ballots later or don’t reveal them at all have been less supportive of Schilling’s candidacy in the past. This was especially true last year in the aftermath of Schilling using his social media presence to share a photo that advocated for the lynching of journalists.

Many have been willing to overlook his post-career choices and evaluate just his career. Schilling’s career is basically what older writers thought Jack Morris’s career was. Whether it was ketchup on that sock or whether it was really blood, that was the stuff of baseball legend.

On the subject of Hall of Fame voting, the greatest Orioles pitcher of my lifetime, Mike Mussina, has been named on 82.5% of ballots. That includes a net gain of 16 votes from voters who did not name him last year. Mussina suffers from the same phenomenon where the late/private voters are less supportive of his candidacy. Whether their reasoning is bad or lazy, that’s just how it’s been. He may squeak in there, or it may take until next year.

Results will be announced on January 22.

Around the blogO’sphere

Constructing Orioles roster a gradual process (School of Roch)
There’s not a ton of effort that seems to be going into improving the O’s roster by adding from outside the organization. That’s one reason why the O’s had an over/under of just 59 wins.

Cadyn Grenier hopes his second pro year is better than the first (Baltimore Baseball)
If Dan Duquette’s last draft class could turn out well for the O’s, maybe we could look at his legacy in a bit more of a positive light.

Anthony Santander is finishing strong this winter. Can he factor into the Orioles’ 2019 plans? (Baltimore Sun)
Speaking of Duquette, I just don’t imagine Mike Elias is going to feel the need to spend so much time with some of the recent Rule 5 obsessions.

A look at a few possible back-end rotation additions (Steve Melewski)
Is it worth grabbing some veteran starter who can be either traded or DFA’d in July? Probably.

Birthdays and anniversaries

In 2012, the Orioles signed Wei-Yin Chen to a four-year contract. That one worked out a little better.

A pair of former Orioles have birthdays today. They are: 2016 one-gamer Ariel Miranda, and 2001-05 reliever Rick Bauer.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: historian Stephen E. Ambrose (1936), baseball Hall of Famer Willie McCovey (1938), musician Rod Stewart (1945), boxer George Foreman (1949), musician Pat Benatar (1953), Maryland’s junior US Senator Chris Van Hollen (1959), and actress Sarah Shahi (1980).

On this day in history...

In 49 BC, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, a river that may or may not have been the same as the Rubicon in today’s northeastern Italy. In any case, this marked the beginning of civil war for Rome, and the phrase “crossing the Rubicon” remains as a metaphor to this day.

In 1776 AD, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense that you probably heard about in history class, supporting independence for the colonies from Great Britain. The pamphlet may still be the all-time best selling title in America.

In 1917, the Silent Sentinels, a protest group seeking universal suffrage for women, took up residence outside the White House. The group continued the protest six days a week until June 1919, when the House and Senate passed the 19th Amendment.

In 1920, the Treaty of Versailles officially took effect, marking an end to the conflict we now know as World War I.

In 1984, America and Vatican City resumed normal diplomatic relations. An 1867 act of Congress had banned any public funding for use on a diplomatic envoy to the Holy See.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 10 - or at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Thursday.