Saturday’s Bird Droppings: Where there is nothing to talk about

Good morning, Birdland!

It may not feel like it, but the offseason is coming down the home stretch. Many of the major winter events have passed. Pitchers and catchers will report to Sarasota in about six weeks. There is not a whole lot of time for the Orioles to make any seismic moves.

But you already know that. You know that the O’s were gonna have a quiet off-season. It’s all about the long term. Build for the future. Blah blah blah!

We are a blog. We need content. The Orioles are doing nothing to give us that content. Are we supposed to examine how every single free agent would fit on the roster? Should we concoct unlikely trade scenarios? Maybe we could rank the food options at Camden Yards. It’s getting desperate on the interwebs, fellow Camden Chatters.

Please, Mike Elias, I beg of you, on behalf of all baseball bloggers, do something. Anything. Signing a shortstop to a minor league deal would be fun. Try that! Or, ohh, see if a veteran pitcher wants a shot at making a big league rotation. The Orioles have a few open spots. Hmm, you could even steal all of the sports headlines for a day and cut Chris Davis! That would be a crazy! But I know that isn’t really your style. Most of us would settle for a simply trade of minor leaguers.

I personally wrote a piece a few weeks ago about Chance Sisco bouncing back in 2020 for crying out loud. That is where we are at! It’s dark times, folks. Anything is better than me tying myself in knots to do something similar for the entire roster.

Links

Your All-Time Orioles team: The position players - Baltimore Baseball
The current iteration of the Orioles is not giving any of us much to write about. So, why not take a walk down memory lane and put together an all-time roster for the franchise? You have to admit, it’s pretty fun to talk about the good old days.

From this offseason to the next, important Orioles dates to know in 2020 - Baltimore Sun
Some of us are planners. This article is for you planners. Make down every important date on your calendars. Like I said, there isn’t much else to write about at the moment.

Orioles still have four unsigned arbitration-eligible players - School of Roch
The Orioles don’t often go to arbitration, but when they do they usually win. As Roch notes in this blog post, the club is 11-2 in arbitration with Peter Angelos at the helm (they were beaten by Ben McDonald in 1995 and by Brad Brach in 2017).

O’s No. 12 prospect Stowers talks first pro year - Orioles.com
This article has a timestamp of January 3, but all of the quotes are from last month’s winter meetings. Did I mention there is nothing to talk about?

Orioles birthdays and history

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

The only former Oriole celebrating a birthday is pitcher Jay Tibbs. The 58-year-old spent two seasons in Birdland, 1988 and ‘89. During that time he had a 4.92 ERA over 263.1 innings.

1886 - Controversy brews as the St. Louis Browns trade the rights to infielder Sam Barkley to the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, ignoring that Barkley had already signed a contract with the Baltimore Orioles.

1901 - The American League’s Baltimore Orioles become incorporated with John McGraw as manager and part owner.

2011 - The O’s sign relief pitcher Kevin Gregg to a two-year deal.