Sunday Bird Droppings: The Orioles don’t have many sure first base choices

Hello, friends.

There are now two months and 22 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. The home opener is just shy of three months away. The start of spring training is more like a month and a week away. That’s not so far at all.

Completely unrelated to the Orioles, can you believe the Carlos Correa thing hasn’t been figured out yet? What the heck could possibly be in that guy’s medical information that the Giants got spooked and the Mets are still haggling over details? I really thought they’d figure something out by now. What a weird situation. I’ve got to say that I’m glad to read about other teams having their physical be talked about instead of the Orioles. See, it’s not only us any more.

Maybe our turn will come some day to see if we’re going to have to hold our breath to see if one of these mega-deals will go official - and actually turn out well. There are more than a few Orioles fans who’d like to see one of these giant contract extensions handed out to either Adley Rutschman or Gunnar Henderson right now.

It would be nice if the O’s could join the trend of locking down their young stars. I don’t even know how much Mike Elias and company are thinking about that or trying to make it happen. Those deals would be the kind of thing where it will probably just be suddenly announced one day without much indication that anything was coming. That’s how the Elias front office has operated since they took over and it seems like that will continue.

One of these days perhaps we’ll all wake up and they’ll surprise us with a trade or a contract extension for somebody. I won’t be holding my breath that today is that day.To

Around the blogO’sphere

The Orioles have followed a careful plan, but history shows they’ll need to start taking risks (The Baltimore Banner)
This really sums up my disappointment with the offseason so far. It felt like now was the time to take a chance, and they haven’t done that.

2023 ZiPS projections: Baltimore Orioles (FanGraphs)
These have been talked about before on Camden Chat and will be talked about again. I predict that I will not be excited about the 2023 Orioles if Kyle Gibson exceeds Grayson Rodriguez in WAR.

Who is most impacted by recent Orioles acquisitions? (School of Roch)
It’s the “There’s nothing better to do than talk about Lewin Díaz and Ryan O’Hearn” portion of the offseason, which is not exactly a very exciting portion.

How Orioles could split time at first base (Orioles.com)
Beat writer Jake Rill sees Díaz, Franchy Cordero, and catchers Adley Rutschman and James McCann as possibles to take some time at first base.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2018 infielder Breyvic Valera, 1993 first baseman Paul Carey, 1991 four-gamer Shane Turner, 1958-60 outfielder Willie Tasby, and 1957-58/60-61 outfielder Jim Busby. Today is Tasby’s 90th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: novelist Wilkie Collins (1824), musician Elvis Presley (1935), musician David Bowie (1947), and baseball Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter (1953).

On this day in history...

In 1790, President George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in American history. At that time, it took place in New York City.

In 1815, the American army led by future president Andrew Jackson repelled a British attack in the Battle of New Orleans. This battle took place after the peace treaty ending the War of 1812 had been signed in Ghent, but word had not reached North America of the treaty yet.

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson delivered his “Fourteen Points” for peace following World War I.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 8. Have a safe Sunday.