Thursday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are the same as they were yesterday

Hello, friends.

What turned out to be a busy last day before baseball’s trade deadline did not have a whole lot to do with the Orioles at all. Although the 4pm deadline came and went without very many big moves, a lot of deals that snuck in under the wire were announced in the minutes after the deadline passed, including the Astros big acquisition of Zack Greinke. What a day that must have been for them.

The Orioles did not trade Jonathan Villar. They did not trade Mychal Givens, Trey Mancini, Dylan Bundy, or anyone else off of the MLB roster. The only move that they made on Wednesday is that they traded Dan Straily, who had been pitching for Norfolk, over to the Phillies in exchange for cash. Straily was very bad in the Orioles rotation but rebounded in six starts for the Tides, with a 2.38 ERA, 38 strikeouts, and just 8 walks in 34 innings.

It is a bit of a disappointment to me that the O’s didn’t deal anybody, because I was looking forward to seeing how Mike Elias might approach acquiring prospects across multiple trades, the way that Dan Duquette did last year. I hoped for there to be new players in the system who could be a part of the next good Orioles team, which it does not seem likely any of those players above will be.

Elias won’t be trading anyone just to say he traded people, especially when those players have team control remaining beyond this year. Teams can meet his price, and if they don’t, he’ll keep his guys. In that sense it’s not disappointing at all, because one problem the Orioles had under Duquette was not really valuing their existing talent or properly grasping what other teams players were capable of.

The end result is not much happened. That’s encouraging even if it’s boring in the immediate aftermath. The Orioles, as the keen eyes of Cespedes Family BBQ noted, were one of a small number of teams to do nothing in the final days before the deadline. Maybe they’ll be busy with trading in the winter, or next July, as the players they did not deal here go on to (hopefully) show better performance, and are closer to becoming free agents.

While the Orioles stayed the same, their competition for the #1 pick, the Tigers, got worse. Detroit traded Shane Green, their closer who has saved 22 of Detroit’s 31 wins, to the Braves. They also traded right fielder Nicholas Castellanos, also known as “the only Tiger with an OPS+ above 100,” to the Cubs. The Tigers are 2.5 games below the O’s. It’s going to be tough to be worse than them from here on out.

There have been 194 days since Mike Mussina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Orioles have not yet announced any plans to retire his jersey number or erect his statue at Camden Yards.

Around the blogO’sphere

The night that destroyed the 2007 Baltimore Orioles forever (SB Nation)
I never knew I needed a comic book of the 30-3 game in my life until right now.

Chris Davis says this year’s Orioles are more fun to play for (Baltimore Baseball)
The headline opens itself up for obvious ridicule, but also, from watching this team compared to last year, Davis seems like he’s absolutely right.

After quiet deadline, it’s time for Orioles to consider keeping Trey Mancini long-term (Baltimore Sun)
The Orioles already control Mancini’s rights through the 2022 season, if they choose to. He is already 27. That is as long-term as that should get. I’ll be glad for as long as he’s an Oriole.

Anthony Santander is emerging as a future nugget for the Orioles (Steve Melewski)
In a spring training game this year, former Oriole and current occasional MASN/radio broadcaster Brian Roberts predicted big things from Santander in 2019. So far, he’s absolutely right.

Orioles claim Jose Rondon off waivers (School of Roch)
This one was from Tuesday. There were people who wondered if it was the precursor to Villar being traded. Turns out, it wasn’t. Rondon is expected to join the team today. They cleared room on the roster by optioning Chandler Shepherd after Wednesday’s game; he did not pitch before being sent back down to the minors.

Orioles birthdays and anniversaries

Today in 1994, Cal Ripken Jr. appeared in his 2,000th consecutive game. The Orioles beat the Twins, 1-0, as just-called-up Arthur Rhodes pitched a seven-hit shutout. Within two weeks, the players went on strike and the rest of the season was eventually canceled.

In 2000, Mussina pitched the third one-hitter of his career, carrying a no-hitter to two outs in the seventh inning before allowing his lone hit in a 10-0 shutout of the Twins. Mussina struck out 15 batters in the game.

In 2005, Rafael Palmeiro was suspended after testing positive for stanozolol. The Hall of Fame voters still hold it against him.

There are several former Orioles with birthdays today, headlined by the greatest Oriole of the 21st century, Adam Jones, who turns 33. Also born today: 2002-03 pitcher Travis Driskill, 1975-77 1B/OF Tony Muser, and the late George Bamberger, who pitched in three games for the 1959 Orioles. Bamberger was later the O’s pitching coach for most of the 1970s, including for the 1970 World Series champions, and the four 20-game winner rotation in 1971.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Roman emperor Claudius (10 BC), Star-Spangled Banner writer Francis Scott Key (1779 AD), novelist Herman Melville (1819), designer Yves Saint Laurent (1936), rapper Chuck D (1960), rapper Coolio (1963), and actor Jason Momoa (1980).

On this day in history...

In 1714, the elector George of Hanover became King George I of Great Britain. The next three kings through 1830 were also named George. Appropriately, the period is known as the Georgian era.

In 1798, the French and British navies began the Battle of the Nile, which two days later became one of the signature victories of Admiral Horatio Nelson’s career.

In 1914, the German Empire declared war on the Russian Empire, a significant escalation towards the conflict we now know as World War I.

In 1965, Frank Herbert’s Dune was first published. Since 2003, it has been recognized as the best-selling science-fiction novel ever written. A new film adaptation is set for a November, 2020 release.

In 1981, the channel MTV began broadcasting, famously choosing The Buggles’s “Video Killed The Radio Star” as its first ever music video to air.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on August 1 - or at least, until the Orioles play the Blue Jays later tonight. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!