Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where the Trey Mancini situation has us worried

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

Yesterday brought the first and only off day of the Orioles’ jam-packed exhibition slate. Today, they’ll return to the field and host an evening contest against the Braves in Sarasota, beginning a stretch of 17 games in 15 consecutive days. Their next off day won’t be until Opening Day Eve.

Right now, though, everything on the field is taking a back seat to the ongoing black cloud that is Trey Mancini’s health status. It’s been three days since news broke at camp that Mancini would be leaving the team to undergo a non-baseball medical procedure, which, accompanied by the vague but somewhat foreboding quotes from his manager and teammates, have led to speculation that something could be very wrong with his health.

Mancini tweeted on Sunday that he’ll “keep everyone updated over the next few days” once there was “more clarity.” No such clarity came yesterday, so until we know more, we can only wait and wonder...and worry.

Whatever’s going on, good luck and be well, Trey. Baseball doesn’t really matter right now.

Links

Orioles’ opening day roster remains unsettled as they reach an off-day - School of Roch
As unimportant as it seems compared to the Mancini situation, the Orioles still have business to attend to on the field, and right now they still have a lot of roster spots up for grabs with few clear frontrunners.

The Baseball 100: No. 20, Frank Robinson – The Athletic
Joe Posnanski’s delightful top 100 players countdown reaches Frank Robinson, appropriately enough at No. 20. He joins fellow Orioles Legends Cal Ripken (No. 44) and Brooks Robinson (No. 73) on Posnanski’s list, while it appears Jim Palmer and Eddie Murray will miss the cut.

Melanie Newman moves up from Salem to the Orioles, reaching the 'pinnacle' | Local Pro Sports | roanoke.com
New O’s broadcaster Melanie Newman has worked as a broadcaster for, among other things, college football, swimming, cornhole, and axe throwing. Is there any sport (or quasi-sport) she can’t announce?

Orioles prospect report from Spring Training - MLB.com
In Jim Callis’ roundup of O’s prospects, he states that Adley Rutschman has “Mark Teixeira upside” at the plate. Ugh. I understand Teixeira was a very good hitter, but someone should inform Callis that that player’s name is not to be uttered in front of Orioles fans.

Wade LeBlanc has made solid case for rotation spot - Steve Melewski
It looks like LeBlanc is on track to make the O’s roster, but how many times am I going to accidentally call him “Matt” this year?

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your two O’s birthday buddies are former closer Mike Timlin (54), who had a productive 18-year MLB career but a forgettable season and a half in Baltimore, and 2007 outfielder Tike Redman (43).

On this day in 1966, the O’s traded a 22-year-old outfielder named Lou Piniella to Cleveland after he’d had only one plate appearance with the Birds. His career was slow to get going, but three years later Piniella was named AL Rookie of the Year for Kansas City and went on to play for 18 years in the majors, followed by a prolific managerial career.