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Good morning, Camden Chatters.
Major League Baseball finished announcing its major 2020 awards last night by unveiling the AL and NL Most Valuable Players, with the White Sox’ Jose Abreu and the Braves’ Freddie Freeman taking home the hardware.
No Orioles player received so much as a down-ballot vote. Try to contain your shock. It’s the third straight season in which the Birds were completely shut out from the MVP voting. The last Oriole to receive any votes was Jonathan Schoop, who finished 12th in 2017.
The O’s are carrying a nearly three-decade MVP drought since Cal Ripken Jr. won the award in 1991; the best showing by any Oriole since then is Chris Davis, who finished a distant third to Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout in 2013.
Based on their current major league roster, it seems exceptionally unlikely the Orioles will have an MVP winner in the immediate future, either, unless you think someone like Anthony Santander or Ryan Mountcastle has that kind of breakout in store. But as the Birds’ farm system gradually improves, maybe there’s a prospect out there who could emerge as an MVP-worthy talent in a few years, with former No. 1 overall pick Adley Rutschman being the best candidate.
What do you think, Camden Chatters? Could Rutschman someday be the next Oriole to win MVP? Is there any current O’s player or prospect aside from him who has a chance? Or is the next O’s MVP — assuming there is a next one — somebody who’s not yet in the organization?
Links
Major questions surround the minor league season - School of Roch
With COVID cases getting worse than ever, we still don’t know if there will be a minor league season next year. Man, it would suck to be a rebuilding team right about now! ...Wait...crap.
More on the benefits of the alternate camp - Steve Melewski
If there’s no minor league season next year, hopefully teams will at least be able to put together alternate camps like they did in 2020. It sounds like the Orioles had theirs running like a well-oiled machine.
Early 2021 MLB power rankings – The Athletic
It feels ridiculously early for 2021 power rankings, considering that literally no team has done anything since the 2020 season ended two weeks ago, but here we are. Spoiler alert: the Orioles are...not ranked highly.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You share your day with 2016-17 lefty Wade Miley (34), 2010-11 third baseman Josh Bell (34), 2001-03 righty and former Cy Young winner Pat Hentgen (52), and 1970s outfielder Larry Harlow (69).
On this day five years ago, Matt Wieters surprisingly accepted the Orioles’ qualifying offer, something no free agent had done before that year in the four-year history of QOs. The O’s had extended the offer so they could get draft pick compensation if Wieters signed with another team, but by accepting it, Wieters opted to forego free agency for a season and return to the Birds for a fixed $15.8 million salary. Wieters, in what would be his eighth and final season with the club, made the All-Star team in 2016 and helped the Orioles advance to the postseason before leaving for the Nationals the following winter.