Thursday Bird Droppings: The Orioles scrounged up relief depth in a minor signing

Hello, friends.

There are now 161 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2024. Not very many of those days between now and then will have MLB games that count for something. If there’s any enjoyment you can get out of this postseason, do it while you can.

Two games are on the schedule for today, with the Diamondbacks-Phillies up first at about 5 o’clock on TBS. Arizona faces a 2-0 deficit in the series. Astros-Rangers gets the 8 o’clock prime time slot on FS1. Houston injected some life into what was shaping up to potentially be a relatively unexciting double sweep LCS round with a victory on the road over Texas last night. Max Scherzer gave up five runs in four innings in his Rangers return and the team’s robust postseason offense made it interesting late in the game but ultimately could not overcome that.

Even in the midst of the postseason with there being little occasion for MLB roster movement, the Orioles snuck in a little something yesterday. The team signed a two-year minor league contract for pitcher Nate Webb, a 26-year-old recently with the Royals who had to get Tommy John surgery at the end of spring training this year. Webb will be invited to spring training, according to the report by FanSided’s Robert Murray.

The Orioles are going to need to audition guys for relief depth over the course of next season and here’s one who will get a shot, once he’s healthy enough to be pitching. Webb battled severe command problems in 2022, severe like he walked 27 guys in 33.1 innings. That’s been a roughly every other year problem for him since he entered pro ball with the Royals in 2016. Some guys like this have been improved by the Orioles. Others have not.

Other news from yesterday that may have been more likely to get on your radar is that the top three finishers for Gold Glove awards were announced. The Orioles have three players who could end up winning: Adley Rutschman at catcher, Ryan Mountcastle at first base, and Austin Hays in left field. Maybe one of them will win. The winner will be announced on November 5. Whether the Orioles have any Gold Glove winners, they figure to get some other awards hardware in November with Rookie of the Year and probably Manager of the Year.

Around the blogO’sphere

Kevin Brown discusses his viral Blink-182 impression, and hearing the band’s take on it (The Baltimore Banner)
One of the more delightful random broadcast moments of the season was Brown trying to cue Ben McDonald to recognize Blink-182. An interview yesterday revealed that the Blink band members were made aware of it, and more delightfulness ensued.

After consistent production, is Santander an easy arbitration decision for O’s? (Steve Melewski)
This should not be a question. The answer is an easy yes.

Orioles expect Means to be back in rotation in ‘24 (Baltimore Baseball)
On the one hand, duh. On the other hand, it is never too early to start spending too much time wondering who’s going to be in the Orioles rotation next year.

The survivors: Orioles veterans reflect on journey from rebuild to playoffs (Press Box Online)
This story that’s in the recent print issue of Press Box is a nice roundup of some players who made it through the rebuild and what that meant to them. I hope that many or all of them get a second taste of the playoffs with the Orioles too.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There’s never been an Orioles postseason game played on this day because in the old days when they were regularly good, the World Series would already be over by now, and in the new days when there’s wild cards and division series to push the postseason deeper into October, the O’s still haven’t made it to this day.

One current Oriole has a birthday today. Happy 29th to Anthony Santander, now in second place on the career Eutaw Street home runs list.

Former Orioles also born today: 2022 pitcher Jordan Lyles, 2004 Rule 5 pick José Bautista (yes, that one), 1988 pitcher Oswaldo Peraza, and 1966-67 catcher Vic Roznovsky. Roznovsky passed away last year at age 83.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Baseball Hall of Famer Mordecai Brown, no known relation (1876), author John le Carré (1931), actor John Lithgow (1945), and actress Gillian Jacobs (1982).

On this day in history...

In 1469, the Queen of Castille, Isabella, and the King of Aragon, Ferdinand II, married one another. This united their lands dynastically and led to the formation of the unified country of Spain.

In 1781, the British defenders of Yorktown surrendered after about a three-week siege, effectively ending resistance to American independence.

In 1812, Napoleon’s army began its retreat from Moscow.

In 1950, during the Korean War, United Nations forces captured the northern capital, Pyongyang, after a five-day battle. Within a day, Chinese Army units started crossing into North Korea to join the war on that side of the conflict.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 19. Have a safe Thursday.