Thursday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles 2020 tank plan is in full swing

Hello, friends.

There are now 112 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2020. Today marks the first day of the post-Dylan Bundy era of the Orioles. One week from today, the O’s will probably dabble in the Rule 5 draft as the winter meetings come to a close.

If you’re only just digging into the news, make sure to check out my post about Bundy getting traded to the Angels for four minor league pitchers, none of whom are anywhere near an MLB-wide top prospects list or even near the top of an Angels prospect ranking.

It’d be a surprise if there’s two straight days of something happening, but the Bundy trade discussions surely weren’t the only ones Mike Elias has been having, so who knows when something else might happen? Bundy might not be the last familiar face dealt this offseason.

If you’re wondering who is going to replace Bundy in the rotation in the short-term, the answer will probably end up being nobody whose pitching you end up enjoying. We got quite a taste in 2019 of the sorts of pitchers who will get to pitch as long as the Orioles have holes in the rotation and no desire to rush prospects to MLB to fill the gaps. It won’t be Aaron Brooks because he’s headed to Korea to play. It’ll probably be someone a lot like him.

That’s where things are right now. The O’s were not the worst team in MLB in 2019 and one might suspect based on their actions this week that they aim to correct that in 2020.

Turning a way-too-early eye to the 2021 draft, the top name now seems to be Vanderbilt pitcher Kumar Rocker, who threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter against Duke during this year’s college baseball playoffs. We could be in for 162 games of FUBAR for Kumar.

Around the blogO’sphere

Elias on trading Bundy, the return, and what could follow (School of Roch)
“I want to see a playoff team at Camden Yards,” said Mike Elias, “...and there’s only one way to get there given where we’re at.” He may not be wrong, but thinking about the early days of next year’s team is painful.

With or without Villar, Orioles are going to have another tough season in 2020 (Baltimore Baseball)
This has only become more true now that the Orioles have also traded Bundy.

These are 2020’s top 100 MLB draft prospects (MLB.com)
The reality is that draft day may be the most exciting day of next season. The Orioles have three of the first 40 picks in the draft, with selections at 2, 31, and 40, so hopefully they can rack up many well-regarded prospects from this list.

Projecting the top 10 picks in the 2020 draft (MLB.com)
And speaking of that #2 pick, Jim Callis offers a very early mock draft that has the Orioles taking Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson, with Austin Martin already off the board at #1 to the Tigers. I am not excited at the idea of the Orioles picking a first baseman with the #2 pick of the draft.

Three Orioles affiliates praise Congressional task force focused on protecting minor league teams from MLB proposal (Baltimore Sun)
One thing I learned from this article is that the Norfolk Tides, Bowie Baysox, and Frederick Keys are all owned by the same entity.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1998, the Orioles signed Will Clark to a two-year contract. In his two seasons with the O’s, he batted .302/.404/.477 and was worth 3.5 bWAR. When they traded him in the July 2000 fire sale, he netted Jose Leon, who was never any good.

There are a handful of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1995 three-game reliever Gene Harris, 1983-86 sporadic swingman Bill Swaggerty, 1978-85 outfielder Gary Roenicke, and 1961-62 three-game pitcher John Papa. It’s Roenicke’s 65th birthday today, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you as well! Your birthday buddies for today include: Tang dynasty overthrower Zhu When (852), 8th president Martin Van Buren (1782), World War I-era admiral John Jellicoe (1859), Cessna Aircraft founder Clyde Vernon Cessna (1879), animator Walt Disney (1901), musician Little Richard (1932), and comedian Margaret Cho (1968).

On this day in history...

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set foot on the island of Hispaniola, which in the present day is home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

In 1757, during the Seven Years’ War, Frederick the Great led his 2-1 outnumbered Prussians to victory over the Austrians in the Battle of Leuthen.

In 1848, President James K. Polk delivered a message to Congress that confirmed large deposits of gold had been found in California.

In 1933, the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah all ratified the 21st Amendment and it went into effect. This amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, which had paved the way for Prohibition starting in 1919.

In 1952, the Great Smog descended on London. Over the four days it lingered, 4,000 people died because of the smog and another 6,000 are believed to have passed away in the following weeks because of exposure to it.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on December 6 - or at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Thursday.