Monday Bird Droppings: Waiting on more pitching

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters!

I’ll be honest, when this offseason started I thought I’d have more to say each week in Bird Droppings. The Orioles generally have slow winters, but now with the excitement that the team is close to climbing out of the pit of irrelevance, a slow winter is especially painful.

Another big name came off the board over the weekend when Kodai Senga signed a five-year, $75 million contract with the Mets. Honestly, who haven’t the Mets signed this year? I am generally a person who kind of passively roots for the Mets when the situation calls for it. But they are now just irritating. Do you agree? I’m not one of these people who is going to complain about another team spending gobs of money. But still, enough. We get it, Mets.

The list of desirable free agents is dwindling, but there is a star still out there in Carlos Rodón. The word on the street is that Rodón is looking for a seven-year contract, and after this crazy offseason, it wouldn’t surprise me if he got it.

The Orioles were always a long shot to sign Rodón but now it seems almost impossible. But starting pitching continues to be on their to-do list and the pitchers still available outside of Rodón are far from inspiring. Noah Syndergaard? Nathan Eovaldi? Do any of those guys strike your fancy? No, me neither. I have a gut feeling they’ll end up with Syndergaard though.

Link

Matt Blood on Coby Mayo: "He's ahead of schedule" - MASN Sports
Coby Mayo turned 21 years old over the weekend. That's really young to have just finished a season in Double-A.

Looking at scout's winter work, a note on the bullpen, pitching market and more - MASN Sports
Steve Melewski continues his off-season look at what scouts do in the winter. He spoke to director of draft operations Brad Ciolek.

Wild Kyles: Who will be the Best Kyle on the 2023 Baltimore Orioles? - Birds Watcher
I sure hope it's Kyle Bradish.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have just one Orioles birthday buddy and I regret to inform you that it’s kind of a dud as far as buddies go. Today is the 43rd birthday of former Oriole Garrett Atkins. Atkins was signed ahead of the 2010 season to play first base but lasted just 44 games before the team released him. Many people thought Atkins would be bad but few thought he’d be as bad as he was. He was just 30 in 2010 but did not appear in the majors again.

On this day in 1993, the Orioles signed Rafael Palmeiro to a five-year, $30 million contract. It was a very good contract for the Orioles as Palmeiro hit .292/.371/.545 with 182 home runs. It definitely would have been better if this were the only contract Palmeiro ever signed with the Orioles.

In 1997, the Orioles for some reason signed Joe Carter to a one-year contract.

In 2007, Miguel Tejada was traded to the Astros for Luke Scott, Dennis Sarfate, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, and Michael Costanzo.