Wednesday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles have arrived in Sarasota

Good morning, Birdland!

Spring training began on Tuesday. Prior to that, Sports Illustrated posted a story called “Blurry Spring Training Photos Mean Baseball Is Finally Back” by Dan Gartland. Truer words were never spoken.

The Orioles and the writers that cover them are not immune to this phenomenon of blurry photos and shaky videos. It’s a glorious low-def moment in an HD society. So, let us now gaze upon some of the finest morsels of sub-par photography that can be found online.

That is the outside of Ed Smith Stadium. It made it through the winter. It’s still there. Praise be to the baseball gods.

Photos of the player’s faces are so last year. Miguel Castro’s back looks good. Are his shorts on backwards, or is the Oriole bird meant to be on his hamstring? These are the hard-hitting questions that go unanswered.

Moving pictures? Sorcery. But this is the stuff we love. Wind whipping past the built-in microphone of an iPhone. Rich Dubroff’s hair flowing in the Floridian sunshine. Beautiful.

Unfortunately, that is all we have so far. More gems are sure to emerge. We have another month and a half before Opening Day. I, for one, welcome this tradition. Please beat reporters, keep them coming, and thank you for what you do!

Links

Baltimore Orioles Change Primary Logo for 2019 - SportsLogos.net
Don’t worry, nothing major is happening here. In short: the cartoon bird that has been featured prominently for several years now was, technically, the team’s secondary logo since 2012. Now, it has been changed to the primary.

Mike Elias: ‘There’s a good chance this is our camp roster’ - Baltimore Sun
Has this off-season been too full of BIG moves and crazy hot stove ACTION for you!? Well, don’t worry, cupcake!! Mike Elias wants to reassure you they are done now. Whew! What a wild off-season! WHAT A TEAM!

Orioles Preview: Baltimore Starting To Rebuild As Spring Training Begins - Forbes
There is no new information here, but it gives you a good overview of what the national media sees with the O’s. As always, it’s bleak in the majors, but positive when looking at the organization as a whole.

Adam Hall One To Watch In 2019 - BirdsWatcher
It’s unclear who will be the Orioles shortstop long term. Richie Martin looks poised to take on the role for now, but there’s a reason that he was left exposed to the Rule 5 draft in the first place. The high minors are barren. Cadyn Greiner struggled in Delmarva for most of 2018. Adam Hall is one of the Orioles more intriguing prospects. He’s still only 19, but his offensive performance at Aberdeen (.293/.368/.374) showed some upside.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

We are celebrating a bunch of short-time Orioles today:

-Cuban outfielder Henry Urrutia turns 32. He played in 34 games with the O’s between the 2013 and 2015 seasons, slashing .272/.287/.337 during that time. He most recently played professionally for Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican Baseball League.

-Logan Ondrusek, a 6-foot-8 right-hander for the Orioles in seven games of the 2016 season, is 34 years old. He just recently signed a minor league deal with the Nationals.

-Former utilityman and current Orioles assistant hitting coach Howie Clark is 45. Clark played in 21 games for the O’s, split between two stints, one in 2002 and another in 2006.

-Reliever Todd Williams is 47. The righty-hander spent four seasons (‘04 - ‘07) in the Orioles ‘pen and compiled a 4.02 ERA, 4.54 FIP and 111 ERA+ across 179 innings in orange and black.

-Finally, it is a posthumous “Happy Birthday” to Jim Brideweser (b. 1927, d. 1989), a middle infielder in the Charm City for 164 games between the 1954 and 1957 seasons.

There have been no history-making moments for the Orioles on this day, according to Baseball Reference, so here’s what else has happened on February 13th in the world of baseball:

1995 - Hideo Nomo signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and goes on to become the NL Rookie of the Year.

1996 - Dennis Eckersley is traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. In exchange, the Oakland Athletics receive Steve Montgomery, a minor league pitcher that would go on to toss just 90.1 innings in the bigs.

2002 - Rickey Henderson, 43, signs a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox. He would hit .223/.369/.352 over 72 games that season.

2008 - Roger Clemens spends five hours testifying in front of the United States House oversight committee, answering questions about the use of HGH by professional baseball players.

2012 - Yoenis Cespedes earns a record $36 million contract from the A’s, the most ever given to a player defecting from Cuba.