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Good morning, Birdland!
Has anyone here been listening to the Orioles.com broadcasts of spring training games so far? I caught a few innings on Tuesday and must say it is a welcome addition to the team’s pre-season coverage that had been bare bones up to this point.
If you have not tuned it, you are missing out on Steve Melewski calling play-by-play with an occasional pop in by other Orioles reporters. During the portion I heard, the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli hopped on the mic for an inning and provided some useful insight regarding the atmosphere in O’s camp.
It’s fair to say that Melewski is unlikely to be a long term replacement for Joe Angel on the radio, but he does have radio experience, keeps the audience informed enough, doesn’t trip over his words and leaves some room to breathe on the broadcasts. He’s easy to have on in the background while getting some work done and halfheartedly listening to the action. As a play-by-play guy for spring training games, that is a perfectly fine space to fill.
What would be even cooler is if MLB made live stream video available of every single spring training game. Highlights from these match-ups always seem to show up hours after the final pitch. They are always from the press box angle, and unfit for regular season broadcasts, but baseball addicts don’t care about the quality. We just need a fix! Hook that camera up to a laptop, run some ads in between innings to pay for the intern to monitor it and give us some low-quality baseballing action!
Links
Why Manny Machado Signed With the Padres - Sports Illustrated
The healthy majority of this article is about Machado’s final few days as a free agent. It’s interesting stuff. But the piece that may ruffle the feathers of some Orioles fans is this quote from Manny: “The Dodgers last year, they showed me some love,” he says. “The Orioles drafted me. I did a lot for that community, I did a lot for the state, and they didn’t show me a little bit of love. It is what it is. But going over to L.A., L.A. giving up a lot of prospects for me, that kind of shows you what I meant to them, which is amazing.” I’m sure the takes regarding this in the local media will be measured and well thought out.
Davis on his home run and wrapping up an 11-5 loss - School of Roch
Chris Davis got the spring training monkey off of his back. After starting the month 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, Crush put a ball beyond the outfield wall on Tuesday. Good for him! Even if he has a ridiculous spring, there will still be plenty of questions about his ability to do it during the season, but we will take the positivity when we can.
Carlos Pérez looking to stand out among crowded catcher competition - MASN Sports
Melewski called play-by-play and wrote a blog on Tuesday. What can’t that man do? Here he talks about the Orioles catching situation. It’s anyone’s guess as to what happens behind the plate. If Jesus Sucre ever makes it to Sarasota, he could further complicate matters.
Brandon Hyde open to concept of ‘opener,’ but club has plenty to weigh - Baltimore Sun
Come on, Brandon! Live a little. The 2019 Orioles aren’t going to win a lot, so why not make them a baseball-playing guinea pig of off-beat strategies? Maybe they will be, but just not in terms of starting pitching.
Predicting The Opening Day 25-Man Roster - Birds Watcher
Just about any configuration of players here would seem possible. Only a handful of guys are locks, and even many of them aren’t overly impressive. So it goes for a team coming off of a 47-win season in which they planned to compete.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
Yovani Gallardo, a right-handed pitcher for the 2016 Orioles, turns 33 today. It’s the 53rd birthday of 1998 right-handed reliever Pete Smith. And happy 82nd to Carl Warwick, an outfielder in Baltimore for nine games in 1965.
1935 - Famous Baltimorean Babe Ruth signs a one-year contract with the Boston Braves to be a player, coach and team vice-president in what would prove to be his final major league season. Ruth hit .181/.359/.431 over 28 games before retiring mid-season. The Braves would go on to finish with a 38-115 record.
1988 - The Orioles trade third baseman Ray Knight to the Detroit Tigers for southpaw Mark Thurmond. Those ‘88 Orioles would lose 21 straight games to begin the season. In solidarity, Thurmond lost his first six decisions of the year.