Saturday Bird Droppings: Things are slow in Birdland

Good morning, Birdland!

The Orioles are at the point in their rebuild where it doesn’t make much sense to invest heavily in veteran players outside of the organization. They still need to develop a core of talented players that are worth building around. That core, hopefully, is currently in the Orioles minor league system.

If any free agent moves are on the horizon, they may not happen until after the the first of the year. MLB’s winter meetings take place during the second week of December. The O’s currently have a full 40-man roster and won’t be favorites to land any big-name free agents. That leaves them looking for bargains to build out their pitching rotation, bullpen and bench. Those sorts of players can likely be had much closer to spring training.

Nevertheless, this may still end up as a monumental offseason in club history. They added a bunch of youngsters to their 40-man roster, and 2021 could go down as the year that many of them make their debut in the big leagues.

Links

When signing international amateurs, your mileage may vary | Steve Melewski
We are still waiting for the Mike Elias-fueled international signing machine to get up to full speed. It’s going to take some time. But eventually many of the youngsters he adds will turn into a valuable major leaguer, hopefully with regularity.

Trying to make sense of the Puig report | School of Roch
This move does not make much sense on paper, or really in any way. That doesn’t mean the Orioles aren’t interested or that they don’t have some creative roster management in the works, but it doesn’t seem likely.

What the Orioles’ recent roster moves tell us about the offseason plan | The Athletic
We always knew this was gonna be a slow off-season for the Orioles. The fact that they already have a full 40-man roster prior to the Rule 5 draft likely confirms just as much. Of course, the non-tender deadline is still yet to happen and they are said to be interested in veteran pitchers. But none of that is especially exciting.

Each team’s most intriguing Rule 5 prospect | MLB.com
Start boning up on some of the youngsters that could be available to the Orioles in just a few weeks.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

Yefry Ramirez turns 27 today. The right-handed pitcher appeared in 21 games for the O’s between 2018 and ‘19. He spent the 2020 season in the Mets organization.

It’s the 70th birthday of former Oriole Jim Fuller. The Maryland-born outfielder played in 73 games with the O’s from 1973 through ‘74.

This day in history

1973 - Orioles 23-year-old outfielder Al Bumbry is named AL Rookie of the Year. He led the league with 11 triples despite playing in just 110 games.

1978 - Free agent pitcher Steve Stone agrees to a contract with the Orioles. He would spent three seasons in Baltimore, including a Cy Young-winning 1980 campaign.

2005 - Former O’s closer B.J. Ryan signs the biggest contract ever given to a reliever, putting pen to paper on a five-year, $47 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

2012 - The Orioles acquire utility player Danny Valencia from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for future considerations.