Memorial Day Bird Droppings: The hope of compromise burns bright, for now

Hello, friends.

In the parallel universe where everything is exactly the same as this one except that there was neither coronavirus nor other postponements, the Orioles would have played 53 games by now. In this universe, well, you know. It’s Memorial Day and sports have by and large not existed in America for more than two months. No league is certain when and how it will return to action.

As far as MLB is concerned, there is some hope, at least assuming there’s merit to a report from NBC Sports Chicago’s Chuck Garfien, who indicates some willingness from both sides to compromise on previously reported public stances. MLB has been insisting on a 50/50 revenue split, while the players believe they had already settled the matter by negotiating for pro-rated salaries based on the number of games in the 2020 season.

According to Garfien, MLB is willing to bend on the revenue split and the players are potentially willing to accept some of their 2020 pro-rated salaries as deferred money in order to reduce the cost to ownership in this year, where there will probably not be any fans attending games at any point.

Like Aaron Burr in Hamilton, fans are shut out of the room where it happens. If the sides are able to work something out that’s fair for both and we can get baseball starting in July, that would be nice.

In the meantime, there are assorted simulated versions of the Orioles. Maybe you’re even running one yourself. The Baseball Reference Out of the Park Baseball O’s were losers again yesterday, dropping a 5-3 contest to the Blue Jays, to fall to 19-34. In a fashion you’d expect from the real Orioles, their offense stunk against a poor pitcher, in this case Tanner Roark, who ended the game with a 5.68 ERA. Meanwhile, the O’s own starting pitcher was Keyvius Sampson, a scrap heap signing in the sim, who gave up five runs in 2.1 innings. Not great!

There are some bright spots on the team in this sim. Anthony Santander hit two home runs in the game to raise his season total to 12. That trails only Trey Mancini, who is not battling cancer in the sim and has 13 home runs in 33 games and an OPS over 1.000. If he does this in his first 33 games in real life, that will be a big baseball story.

Around the blogO’sphere

In the home stretch toward reviving a season (Steve Melewski)
Steve is starting to feel some of that optimism about there being a 2020 MLB season. I would be glad if he ends up being right.

F. Robinson lifts ‘70 O’s over ‘95 M’s in Dream Bracket 2 (MLB.com)
The folks at MLB are using OOTP to simulate some matchups between great historic teams. The 1983 O’s lost to the 2002 Angels already in the bracket, but the ‘70 O’s made it out of round one by beating the 1995 Mariners in six games. Next up on Tuesday, the 1983 White Sox.

Sunday notes: 37 Orioles fly away (Fangraphs)
David Laurila has some context for the Orioles releasing a bunch of minor league players this week: Namely that a lot of them were probably toast at the end of March if not for coronavirus shutting everything down.

Flores on Martin and the positive influence of Iglesias (School of Roch)
If Jose Iglesias can rub off on Richie Martin, that would be interesting for the medium-term future of the Orioles.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are a number of former Orioles with birthdays today. They are: 2000-02 catcher Fernando Lunar, 2004-07/10 infielder Miguel Tejada, 1997 four-gamer Melvin Rosario, 1976-78 reserve outifelder Andres Mora, and 1967 swingman Bill Dillman. Today is Dillman’s 75th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: author Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803), aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky (1889), novelist W. P. Kinsella (1935), actor Ian McKellen (1939), puppeteer Frank Oz (1944), actress Octavia Spencer (1972), wrestler Roman Reigns (1985), and gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman (1994).

On this day in history...

In 240 BC, the earliest recorded passage in history of Halley’s Comet reached its perihelion. The next return is expected for July 28, 2061.

In 1878, the Gilbert and Sullivan production H.M.S. Pinafore debuted at the Opera Comique in London.

In 1925, educator John T. Scopes was indicted in the state of Tennessee for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech to Congress to announce the goal of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

In 1977, Star Wars was released in theaters.

In 1978, a bomb sent to Northwestern University by the Unabomber detonated, causing several injuries. This was the first Unabomber bombing.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on Memorial Day. I hope you’re able to enjoy the day in a safe way for yourself and others.