Thursday Bird Droppings: Early dreams for next year’s Orioles rotation

Hello, friends.

There are now 147 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game, which is Opening Day 2021 on April 1. We are about three months and a week away from when pitchers and catchers are set to report to Sarasota.

The next little baseball offseason milestone comes tomorrow, when the free agency period opens in earnest. Today is still within a five day window where teams are only allowed to negotiate with their own free agents and not ones from other teams. I feel like the O’s probably haven’t been lighting up the phone lines to talk to Wade LeBlanc or Bryan Holaday.

This isn’t going to be something that impacts the Orioles much, or at least it would be a big surprise if it did. With belts being tightened everywhere in the game, and with the O’s only coming off of a 25-35 record, it’s hard to imagine them laying out any significant cash for any player.

It’s not like they’re just one or two players away from setting the American League on fire. I’d like to see the O’s take a shot at an international import, Korean infielder Ha-seong Kim, who is going to be posted this offseason. I doubt this will happen, because Kim is expected to get a decently-sized contract. I think the Orioles are in a position to take a chance, and if things work out then he can be on the next good O’s team. I just won’t be getting my hopes up.

Around the blogO’sphere

Taking the Orioles rotation for another spin (School of Roch)
Mike Elias said late last week that he would be looking to add starting pitching over the offseason. Roch predicts it’ll be similar to Tommy Milone or Kohl Stewart type deals from this year.

Elias believes there are fewer holes to fill for Orioles (Baltimore Baseball)
Rich Dubroff notes that coming into this offseason, Mike Elias “sounds more optimistic.” Let’s hope that bears out in next year’s performance.

Elias ‘hopeful’ Orioles will be able to keep, add to baseball operations staff amid pandemic (Baltimore Sun)
One of the things Elias is hopeful about is that the Orioles will be able to keep the front office staffed even with the pandemic financial impact.

Bowie pitching coach Ramsey on Hall, Rodriguez, and more (Steve Melewski)
In the absence of any real baseball news, I’m happy to settle for reading good stuff about Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1958, Lee McPhail became the general manager of the Orioles. He served as the GM through the end of the 1965 season.

In 1976, Jim Palmer won the third Cy Young award of his career. Palmer posted a 2.51 ERA over 315 innings, including 23 complete games and six shutouts, beating out second place finisher Mark Fidrych of Detroit.

In 1997, Davey Johnson won the Manager of the Year award, and also resigned as manager of the Orioles.

There are a couple of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2019 pitcher Josh Lucas, and 2004-06 catcher Javy Lopez.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: five-time presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs (1855), Western star Roy Rogers (1911), actor Vivien Leigh (1913), musician Ike Turner (1931), basketballer Bill Walton (1952), and Jonas Brother Kevin Jonas (1987).

On this day in history...

In 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested for attempting to blow up the opening ceremony of Parliament. He was caught with 36 barrels of gunpowder, hence the Gunpowder Plot.

In 1757, during the Seven Years War, Frederick the Great of Prussia led his army to victory over a French and Austrian force in the Battle of Rossbach. The battle took only 90 minutes.

In 1872, Susan B. Anthony voted, for which she was fined $100.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on November 5. Have a safe Thursday.