Thursday Bird Droppings: Waiting to see if a plan for 2020 MLB can come together

Hello, friends.

In the parallel universe where everything is the same as this one except there was no coronavirus and no games postponed, the Orioles would have played 43 games by now. Today have been an off day regardless.

The question of when there will be MLB action in 2020 - or even if - remains an unresolved one. Things are a little closer in the sense that MLB has gotten the owners to approve a plan that it likes, but there’s the matter of the players also having to approve of the plan. Is it safe for them and their families? Is it fair for them? Is it right for society if significant numbers of tests are being used regularly on the athletes and staff?

Former Oriole Adam Jones doesn’t have a direct voice on issues facing MLB players since he’d signed a contract with a Japanese team before all of the COVID-19 stuff came along, so he is free to comment on the matter with a bit of distance and no personal stake:

The league and the players did meet this week, though it’s not yet clear from reports how much tension there might be between the two sides or what issues might need to be solved. It seems to me that the MLB plan is a bad deal for the players and, although I’d be happy to see baseball again, I hope they don’t feel pressured to take a bad deal just because.

In the meantime, there are the various imaginary versions of the Orioles. The Baseball Reference simulation on Out of the Park Baseball saw the O’s drop a 9-5 contest to the virtual Indians yesterday. Richard Bleier and Tanner Scott combined to give up four ninth inning runs, with Scott failing to retire a batter while walking three dudes. This team is now 16-27, which is only the third-worst record in the league. The Rangers and Padres are both worse.

Camden Chat’s OOTP simulation will be updating a bit later on today. We’re getting close to real time. Stay tuned - it’s time to get serious on figuring out how to replace some of the struggling players on the roster, and maybe even convince ourselves that Mike Elias would be ready to call up a prospect who’s lighting Norfolk on fire.

Around the blogO’sphere

Still wondering whether there’s going to be baseball (School of Roch)
We’ve reached the “beat writer laments that kids didn’t get to have Weather Day at Camden Yards” part of the COVID-19 delay.

Two months into the delay, still hoping for baseball (Baltimore Baseball)
Rich Dubroff talks through some of the stuff he’d hoped to have gotten to do by now this season.

Self scouting report: Orioles’ Adam Hall (Orioles.com)
Seeing how Hall would do at Frederick this year was one of the prospect stories I was looking forward to the most. Hopefully he does well wherever and whenever he next plays.

Orioles mock draft roundup: Here’s who might be available at #2 (Baltimore Sun)
I’ve seen two different mock drafts this week that think the O’s will be picking Vanderbilt’s Austin Martin. That is an outcome that would please me on draft night.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1967, the Orioles were the secondary character in someone else’s historical moment when Mickey Mantle homered off of Stu Miller, becoming the sixth player to join the 500 home run club.

There are a pair of former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 1976-86 pitcher Dennis Martinez, and 1954-55 reserve catcher Les Moss. Martinez turns 66 today. Moss passed away in 2012 at age 87.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Lucasfilm founder George Lucas (1944), Talking Heads co-counder David Byrne (1952), sportscaster Suzy Kolber (1964), actress Cate Blanchett (1969), and baseball Hall of Famer Roy Halladay (1977).

On this day in history...

In 1607, colonists settled at Jamestown, today in the state of Virginia. This was the first permanent English settlement in North America.

In 1610, France’s Henry IV, was assassinated after eleven previous failed assassination attempts. His son became Louis XIII. Exactly 33 years later, Louis XIII died, making Louis XIV king at the age of four.

In 1800, the Sixth Congress of the United States went into recess, allowing the government to begin the process of its permanent move from Philadelphia to Washington, DC.

In 1925, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway was first published.

In 1955, the Soviet Union led eight Communist bloc countries in signing the Warsaw Pact, the Cold War foe of the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization which had been organized in 1949.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 14. Have a safe Thursday.