Weekend Bird Droppings: MLB announces spring training delay

Good morning, Birdland!

The inevitable became official on Friday when MLB announced that spring training games would be delayed until at least March 5. This came the day after MLB and the MLBPA met for 15 minutes with little traction on a new CBA.

Pressure to reach a deal is mounting if a full 162-game season is going to be played in 2022. Also on the line is an expanded playoff field, something that owners desperately want and something that players are open to but only if other requests are met.

The upcoming week looks to be a significant benchmark for negotiations. Both sides are planning to meet every single day, starting Monday, to attempt to reach a deal. This would represent a significant increase in communication frequency. That seems like good news?

MLB has also said that they want a deal in place by the start of March in order to keep Opening Day as March 31. That feels like posturing to me, and something that could easily be finessed if needed.

Of course, the lockout could also be lifted at any moment by owners so that things could proceed as normal and a new CBA could be agreed to later on. But let’s not kid ourselves.

Links

Elias waiting for new CBA before detailing roster plans | School of Roch
As far as major league roster construction is concerned, I’m not sure how much the Orioles have been impacted by the lockout. They signed Rougned Odor, and they have an agreement in place with Jordan Lyles. For this team, those are significant enough additions. Of course bigger moves (paging Carlos Correa) would be more exciting, but are those really on the horizon?

Orioles CEO John Angelos ‘hoping for the best’ as MLB lockout threatens regular season | The Baltimore Sun
I understand that John Angelos is only one of 30 team control persons, and he is not on the labor committee directly involved in negotiations, but the vote to lock out the players was unanimous. So him saying that he is “hoping” rings quite hollow. You have a role here, dude. You do not have to simply hope.

The birthday boy could still take his offense to a higher gear | Steve Melewski
Ryan Mountcastle has been a favorite of mine ever since I saw him play in Aberdeen nearly seven years ago. He looked like a big leaguer then even though he was only a teenager. His performance in 2021 was a regression from his 2020 cameo, but not disastrously so, and the fact that he rebounded from a brutal April was encouraging.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Julio Borbon turns 35 this weekend. The speedy outfielder wrapped up his big league career with six games in Baltimore during the 2016 season.
• The late Jim Wilson (d. 1986) was born on this day in 1922. The righty spent two seasons with the Orioles in 1955 and ‘56, appearing in 41 total games.

This weekend in O’s history

2016 - The Orioles agree to a three-year, $35 million contract with pitcher Yovani Gallardo, but the ensuing physical uncovers an issue that voids the deal. The two sides restructure the deal to two years and $22 million.