Christmas Eve Bird Droppings

Hello, friends.

There are now 99 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game, which is Opening Day 2021. That is one day remaining for every bottle of beer on the wall, at least until you take one down and pass it around. This is behavior that I would particularly not recommend in the middle of a pandemic.

Not much has happened with the Orioles or any other team in the offseason market so far, something that I would not expect to change any time between now and the end of 2020. That being said, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for something to happen with the O’s in the next week. In the week between Christmas and New Year’s last year, the Orioles did make a signing: Kohl Stewart, who as things played out did not have any role in the 2020 season.

Even if no one had ever heard of COVID, Stewart wasn’t ever very likely to be much of an impactful signing, but I would have probably rather seen him have a chance in the rotation than Wade LeBlanc. Maybe there’s some other former high draft pick out there who Mike Elias could bring in over the next week to see if that player can show something of the potential that the prospect writing world once thought he had but has never quite shown in MLB.

It’ll probably be a quiet week or so, though. Hopefully it can be a quiet week for you as well, with some relaxation that this strange and harrowing year has not afforded many opportunities for us to get, even with people stuck where they live a lot more.

Around the blogO’sphere

This, that, and the other (School of Roch)
Roch spent some of his close-to-Christmas blogging time on the topic of whether the recent minor league signing of former first round pick Nick Ciuffo means the Orioles are done exploring catching depth.

Things to know about new Orioles pitcher Tyler Wells (Orioles.com)
You might have already seen this one yesterday. Brand new news is understandably in short supply heading into this holiday.

2021 ZiPS projections: Baltimore Orioles (Fangraphs)
It’s always interesting. if kind of depressing, to see just how much the assorted projection models expect the next season’s Orioles to stink. I’d be happy to see Trey Mancini have a 120 OPS+ over more than 500 plate appearances, though.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are two former Orioles with Christmas Eve birthdays. They are: 2017-20 reliever Miguel Castro, and 2010 starter Kevin Millwood.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: author Mary Higgins Clark (1927), NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci (1940), Motorhead musician Lemmy (1945), singer-songwriter Ricky Martin (1971), and TV personality Ryan Seacrest (1974).

On this day in history...

In 1814, the United States and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Ghent, which brought an end to the War of 1812.

In 1943, General and future president Dwight D. Eisenhower was named the Supreme Allied Commander for the coming invasion of Normandy.

In 1968, Apollo 8 arrived at the moon and entered lunar orbit. Its astronauts are the first men to achieve this milestone. The craft orbited the moon ten times before returning to Earth.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on Christmas Eve. Have a safe holiday.