Tuesday Bird Droppings: Where the clock keeps ticking

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

You probably don’t need me to tell you that there’s been absolutely no movement toward an end to the MLB lockout. It’s not clear when the owners and players will even meet again for negotiations on core economics. But it’s safe to say that pitchers and catchers won’t be reporting to spring training next week as they were originally scheduled to do.

If lockout fatigue hasn’t already settled in for you, you could check out former Oriole and MLBPA executive board member Andrew Miller’s interview with ESPN about the current state of the negotiations. There’s also the mild news that U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh has offered his services to help the two sides end the lockout, though there’s no indication that it’ll amount to much. And so it goes.

Let’s move on to today’s Camden Chat Sporcle quiz. It’s a multiple-choice, general-knowledge Orioles quiz, but with a twist: for each question, can you choose the one answer that doesn’t belong with the others?

Links

MLB 2022 farm system rankings: Keith Law grades all 30 teams on prospects, with the Dodgers at No. 1 – The Athletic
Keith Law ranked the Orioles’ system 10th best, dinging them for not having any close-to-ready international prospects yet, which is a fair criticism. Or maybe he just hates your favorite team.

Borgschulte on working with Hyde, building player trust and more - Steve Melewski

Meet Branden Becker, the Orioles’ minor league hitting coach seeking to give their prospects instruction that wasn't available to him - Maximizing Playoff Odds
It’s interviewing-the-hitting-coaches season, so you know the lockout’s been going on for a while. Steve Melewski talks to Orioles co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte while Jon Meoli’s got Double-A Bowie’s Branden Becker.

Oriole prospects could be hurt by a delayed spring training - BaltimoreBaseball.com
One of the many bummers about the lockout is that any Orioles prospects currently on the 40-man roster — most notably, #3 prospect D.L. Hall — won’t be able to participate in spring training until it’s resolved. A canceled minor league season two years ago, and now this. Poor guys.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have one living Orioles birthday buddy: Camden Chat favorite Felix Pie turns 37 today. Pie hasn’t played in MLB since 2013, but he’s still going strong in pro baseball, having spent the 2021 season with Piratas de Campeche of the Mexican League, where he posted an .832 OPS in 46 games. Other Orioles born on Feb. 8 were the late Hoot Evers (b. 1921, d. 1991) and Bob Oliver (b. 1943, d. 2020).

On this date 14 years ago, the Orioles made a franchise-altering trade, sending Erik Bedard to the Mariners for a five-player package headlined by Adam Jones and Chris Tillman. Jones and Tillman played pivotal roles in helping revive the moribund Orioles from 2012-16 — with the former becoming the 11th best Oriole of all time — while Bedard was an oft-injured flop for Seattle. Nice work by Andy MacPhail on that deal.