Wednesday Bird Droppings: CBA discussions continue

Good morning, Birdland!

There remains no deal on the CBA. In fact, it’s unclear if the owners and players are even significantly closer than they were prior to this week. But they have been talking and plan to do so for the remainder of the week.

The big news from Tuesday’s talks were that the players made some edits to their offer in the owners’ favor:

The change to minimum salaries would see the lowest paid players get a $30k raise each year from $775k in 2022 to $895k in 2026. Of course, the owners didn’t care for this, and they are once again asking for a third-party mediator. For now, the players are not interested in such a set-up.

Movement has been slow this week, but that seems to make sense. This is a big deal and neither side is going to cave on things right away. It’s frustrating that it has taken until this week to get to the point where serious discussions are being made. But at least it’s here, and it’s encouraging to see the players remain steadfast, make good faith concessions while doing what’s in the best interest of their members.

Links

Meet Chandler Couch, the Orioles’ scouting coordinator carving out a crucial role for herself in their draft prep | Jon Meoli
This is a neat story on a position within the Orioles organization that I certainly never really thought about but undoubtedly has an impact on the product we eventually see on the field.

Power surge not enough to mask Bannon’s Triple-A struggles | The Baltimore Sun
Since Rylan Bannon is already on the 40-man roster, he has to factor into the big league infielder picture to some degree. But he may be at the very bottom of the pecking order following a season in which he posted an 81 wRC+ in Norfolk. There were injuries and a massive power surge thrown in there, but he will need a major turnaround in 2022.

Non-drafted JD Mundy swung a potent bat in 2021 season | Steve Melewski
The mini five-round draft in 2020 may also produce a higher than average number of undrafted prospects that end up playing a big league role. First baseman J.D. Mundy could be one of those guys. He looked plenty comfortable at both Delmarva and Aberdeen in 2021, posting a .926 OPS over 72 total games.

The little we’ve learned in recent days | School of Roch
A nice little wrap up of the small bits of news we have to work with. Let’s hope we have a new CBA to discuss sometime this week.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Bobby Bonilla turns 59 today. The 16-year MLB vet had a two-season stint in Baltimore from 1995 through 1996, posting a 121 OPS+ in the process.
• John Shelby is 64. From 1981 through 1987, Shelby was an outfielder with the O’s. He returned to the team as first base coach from 2008 through 2010.

This weekend in O’s history

2016 - Rumors circulate that the Orioles are close to a three-year, $35 million contract with free agent outfielder Dexter Fowler. That turns out to be incorrect.