Wednesday Bird Droppings: The Orioles can still play some fun baseball

Good morning, Birdland!

Folks, the Orioles are back. Despite trading away half of their bullpen and one of their few viable starting pitchers, the Birds have won consecutive games and are now clearly on their way back into the playoff picture. Whew, that was scary for a little while.

I’m kidding, at least a little bit. Of course, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that these Orioles remain somewhat in contention for the final four weeks of the season. They wouldn’t exactly have to beat out the toughest competition ahead of them in the standings. At the same time, their remaining schedule includes eight games against the Yankees, three against the Braves and five versus the Rays.

It’s still fun to watch Renato Nunez and Anthony Santander hit home runs, though. So, if they could do more of that, that would be cool.

Links & Notes

Ranking the Prospects Traded During the 2020 Deadline - FanGraphs
A total of 32 prospects were traded at or around the deadline this year. This list has the three that the Orioles added in the top half of those dealt. That’s pretty good considering the O’s didn’t even make the highest profile swaps of the season.

Every club’s farm system, ranked - MLB.com
Early draft picks paired with the trading away of several veteran pieces over the last two seasons has catapulted the O’s up to 8th in MLB Pipeline’s ranking of farm systems. Not every outlet likes the organization’s young pieces as much as Pipeline, but we are gonna keep things positive.

O’s promote Herrera, Stewart as trades settle - Orioles.com
ICYMI, the O’s made a couple of roster moves prior to their game on Tuesday. Nothing earth-shattering, but Mason Williams fans may be disappointed to learn that the outfielder has been DFA’d.

There are reasons to not give up on Cole Sulser - Steve Melewski
The Orioles aren’t in a position to get rid of relievers at the moment. But that doesn’t mean Cole Sulser needs to be handed the keys to every close game either.

5 things we learned from the O’s’ moves at the 2020 MLB trade deadline - Baltimore Sun
I am most interested to see who the six players to be named later end up being. Considering the players traded away and the prospects already added it is unlikely to include any top youngsters. But quality organizational depth has value too.

Orioles birthday

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

Jason Hammel turns 38. The right-handed pitcher was a vital piece for the 2012 and 2013 Orioles, compiling a 4.27 ERA over 257.1 innings, and he even started a playoff game for the O’s team that broke a 14-season postseason drought.

It’s the 60th birthday of Rex Hudler. He played in 14 games for the 1986 O’s, but served almost entirely as a defensive replacement and managed just one plate appearance.

Happy 66th birthday to pitcher John Flinn. He tossed 32 innings over 17 games with the Orioles between 1978-79.

Former pitcher Nate Snell is 68. His time with the O’s was brief but impressive. From 1984 to 1986, the righty appeared in 82 games, all out of the bullpen, and accumulated 180.1 innings to go with a 3.14 ERA.

Dave Criscione, an Orioles catcher for seven brief games in 1977, celebrates his 69th birthday.

Finally, it is also the birthday of two late O’s: outfielder Drungo Hazewood (b. 1959, d. 2013), who played in six games for the 1980 Birds, and outfielder Marv Throneberry (b. 1933, d. 1994), who spent parts of two season in Baltimore from 1961-62.

Orioles history

1974 - On Labor Day, the Orioles beat the Red Sox twice with a pair of 1-0 shutouts from Ross Grimsley and Mike Cuellar.