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Good morning, Camden Chatters.
If you were hoping the start of a new calendar year would bring some kind of increased urgency to MLB and the Players Association’s negotiations to end the lockout...well, yesterday’s tweet from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale may puncture your optimism a bit.
The first week of 2022 is resembling the last month of 2021: There are no negotiating sessions currently scheduled between MLB and the players association. They have met twice in the last month since the lockout, but strictly on non-core economic issues.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 3, 2022
Sigh. No one seems to be in a hurry here. We’re just over a month away from when pitchers and catchers are supposed to report to spring training, and less than two months away from the first scheduled exhibition games, but so far there’s been absolutely no publicly reported progress between the two sides. And it’s hard to make any progress if you’re not even planning any discussions in the immediate future.
And so we continue to wait. And to bide our time, we take Orioles-related Sporcle quizzes. Today is one for the true fanatics: how well do you know some of the most obscure players to don the Orioles uniform in recent years? I’ve chosen 10 players from the last decade, each of whom played only a handful of games for the Birds. Let’s see if you can match their first and last names.
Links
Inside the swing change that turned around Orioles prospect Adley Rutschman's impressive 2021
In his first Orioles post on his new blog, Jon Meoli compares Adley Rutschman’s plate approach to that of, oh, only a guy named Juan Soto. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more hyped for Rutschman's arrival in Baltimore.
Debating dates of Orioles debuts in 2022 - School of Roch
As Roch Kubatko points out, the next two seasons could see the MLB debuts of Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez, D.L. Hall, Kyle Stowers, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, and maybe even Colton Cowser. Better times are ahead, folks.
A look at another 2022 rotation candidate: lefty Alexander Wells - Steve Melewski
It's been a while since we’ve seen a bespectacled, soft-tossing, Australian southpaw succeed in the bigs. So hopefully Wells pans out.
Wondering about the Orioles’ 2022 record - BaltimoreBaseball.com
My best guess is that it won’t be very good. #analysis
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Only one Oriole in history was born on this date: right-hander Jay Tibbs from the 1988-90 clubs. Mr. Tibbs turns 60 today.
On this day in 2011, the O’s agreed to terms with free agent closer Kevin Gregg on a two-year, $10 million deal, a move that Camden Chat’s then-head-honcho Stacey was not particularly excited about. Her instincts were correct, as Gregg converted just 22 of 29 save opportunities (76 percent) in the first year of the deal while complaining that upset O’s fans just hadn’t “acquired a taste for (his) pitching.” He was relegated to mop-up duty for the second year of the contract before being released in September.