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Good morning, Birdland!
There have been a lot of changes in the Orioles organization over the last year. Mike Elias has been brought on as the general manager. There is a whole new coaching staff as well as a revamped player development approach and a ton of new talent. It’s refreshing!
Apparently, the upgrades don’t stop at the baseball field. MASN’s Roch Kubatko is reporting that the O’s could be switching things up regarding their annual FanFest celebration and may even skip it entirely this year.
Typically, FanFest is held in either December or January at the Baltimore Convention Center. It offers fans the chance to meet and speak with players, get autographs, interact with fellow fans and just be engulfed in Orioles goodness.
Kubatko says that this could be the result of changes on the business side of the Orioles. It seems unclear if the team will replace FanFest with another big event, or if they will instead host several different events that gives fans a chance to meet the players.
I have actually never been to a FanFest, so I don’t have much of a reaction to this news. But I know there are some fans who really look forward to it every offseason. Hopefully whatever changes are made are actual upgrades. We have to wait a while to find out.
Links
Orioles’ DJ Stewart Undergoes Ankle Surgery - MLB Trade Rumors
Poor DJ Stewart, the guy cannot catch a break. Now it sounds like he is going to miss most of Spring Training and possibly Opening Day. That could mean he is ticketed for even more time down in Triple-A Norfolk. At this point, he is unlikely to live up to his first-round draft status, but it would be nice to see him healthy for a few months in a row.
Job Openings – Baltimore Orioles Baseball Operations
Once again, the Orioles are searching for new people to add to the organization. The available positions are of a wide variety, so maybe you could be the person to don the orange and black in 2020?
MLB Proposal Would Eliminate 42 Minor League Teams - Baseball America
It sounds like this is a business decision that MLB has wanted to make for a while. In short, the MLB clubs don’t like negotiating with minor league teams every two years, too many of the stadiums are subpar and many of the MiLB teams are too far from their parent clubs.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
Former Rule 5 pick and current Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander turns 25 today.
Another Rule 5 pick, who ended up with a pretty nice career, also celebrates a birthday today. Jose Bautista is 39. He played 16 games for the 2004 O’s.
Oswaldo Peraza, a pitcher for the 1988 Orioles, is 57. And catcher Vic Roznovsky, who played for the Birds in 1966 and ‘67, celebrates his 81st birthday.
According to Baseball Reference, no other notable events in Orioles history have taken place on October 19...yet!