Monday Bird Droppings: Orioles lose a lot and trade a few over the weekend

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a nice weekend and are feeling rested and ready to go for the week.

The Orioles had a tough weekend in Buffalo, where they lost three games to the Blue Jays in which closer Cole Sulser blew two saves. I’ve reached the part of the 2020 baseball season where the losses don’t hurt, but it’s still curious as to why Cole Sulser as the closer is still a thing. If you missed yesterday’s walk-off loss, you can read Harrison Jozwiak’s game recap for the grisly details. The fourth and final game of the series will be played today at 2 p.m. with Keegan Akin as the starting pitcher!

The best part of yesterday’s game was that rookie Ryan Mountcastle hit his first two home runs of his career! The first homer gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead and the second was a two-run shot that gave them a 4-3 lead. He also added a single for good measure.

You can watch his second dinger here.

Almost as exciting as Mountcastle’s two home runs are the two trades the Mike Elias swung yesterday. First he sent Tommy Milone to the Braves for two Players To Be Named Later. It’s unlikely that either player will be a show stopper, but considering Milone started the season on a minor league contract, it’s hard to imagine a disappointing return. You can get more details on this trade in Mark Brown’s article yesterday.

Milone arrived in Philadelphia yesterday in time to be named the Braves’ starting pitcher for the Sunday night game. That game was started by former Orioles on both sides and neither did well. Milone gave up seven runs in 2.1 innings for his new team, while Jake Arrieta also gave up seven runs but lasted only 1.1 innings. That’s what happens when you allow former Orioles onto your team.

The other trade that Mike Elias made yesterday was to send relief pitcher Mychal Givens to the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies sent back three players in return, two of which who were actually named! You can read all about the trade in Paul Folkemer’s article and more about the two named prospects, Tyler Nevin and Terrin Varva, below.

The trade deadline is today at 4 p.m. ET. Do you have any predictions on who else might be traded away?

Links

‘Load-and-go’ approach behind improvement of Orioles relievers Tanner Scott, Miguel Castro - Baltimore Sun
A little behind-the-scenes look at how Tanner Scott and Miguel Castro made changes to improve in 2020.

Elias on trades, departed players and status of rebuild - School of Roch
Mike Elias on the departing Orioles and the named trade returns, Tyler Nevin and Terrin Vavra.

Colorado Rockies prospects: No. 10, Tyler Nevin - Purple Row
In February, our sister SBN blog named Tyler Nevin the #10 prospect in the Rockies system. Get the details and a scouting report here.

Colorado Rockies prospects: No. 7, Terrin Vavra - Purple Row
And they named the other trade acquisition the 7th best prospect. Read up!

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have quite a few Orioles birthday buddies, but only one that you really are about, though (probably). And that one is the best baseball player to ever wear an Orioles uniform, Mr. Frank Robinson. Born in 1935, he spent 1966-71 with the Orioles and had a hitting line of .300/.401/.543, which was good for a cool OPS+ of 169.

Robinson made an immediate impression in Baltimore when he won the 1966 A.L. MVP, captured the triple crown, and led the Orioles to their first world championship. He was also the first Black manager in MLB history, when he was hired to lead the Indians to be a player-manager in 1975.

There is so much more to know about him! For your Camden Chat homework, I am assigning you to read his bio on the SABR Bio Project and Joe Posnanski’s article on him in his top 100 MLB player countdown, where he ranked Robinson #20. You can learn new things about him, or if you already know it all you can just re-live the memories.

Frank Robinson passed away in February 2019 at the age of 83.