Monday Bird Droppings: It’s Rookie of the Year day

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters. I hope you had a nice fall weekend. If you were relying on the Ravens for a little Sunday happiness, my condolences.

The offseason continues its slow march toward action, but if all goes well tonight will be a big night for the Orioles. Tonight MLB will announce the Rookies of the Year and Gunnar Henderson should win the award for the American League.

Henderson’s offensive and defensive prowess made him not only one of the best rookies in baseball but one of the best players overall. Baseball-Reference.com ranks him as the third-best player in the American League and seventh-best overall with a WAR of 6.2. FanGraphs wasn’t quite as high on him overall but it still ranks him as head and shoulders above his fellow AL RoY finalists, Triston Casas and Tanner Bibee.

Casas had a very good season for the Red Sox offensively, but he plays a non-premium defensive position and can’t hold a candle to Henderson’s defense. Bibee made 25 starts for the Guardians with a 2.98 ERA and is absolutely a player I wouldn’t mind seeing on my favorite team. But Bibee’s ERA isn’t matched by his peripherals and there is no question that Gunnar was more valuable this past year.

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who, given the option of which player to have on their team going forward, wouldn’t choose Gunnar Henderson over the other two.

If Henderson does win tonight (as he should), he’ll be the first Orioles player to win one of the major awards since 1991 when Cal Ripken was MVP. And he’ll be the first Orioles Rookie of the Year since Gregg Olson in 1989.

Links

Gunnar Henderson, Brandon Hyde's case for 2023 BBWAA Awards - MLB.com
And if you don't want to listen to me about Gunnar Henderson, here is Jake Rill's argument for both Henderson as RoY and Brandon Hyde as Manager of the Year.

Put me in coach: Blood gets promotion from Orioles | mtairynews.com
Matt Blood has been promoted to be the vice president of player development and domestic scouting. And, turns out, he's also from Mount Airy. Who knew?

Revisiting notes on Kjerstad, Westburg, Ortiz and McKenna - MASN Sports
Roch Kubatko rounded up some stats about a few of this year's players along with some historical context.

Baltimore Orioles Reportedly Could Trade for Tampa Bay Rays Ace Tyler Glasnow - Sports Illustrated Baltimore Orioles News, Analysis and More
Clipped this for the LOLs

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have quite a few Orioles birthday buddies, including current major leaguer Wade Miley. Miley, who turns 37 years old today, made 11 starts for the Orioles in 2016 and 32 starts in 2017. They were the worst two seasons of his career, which is annoying.

Also celebrating his 37th birthday today is Josh Bell, who was traded to the Orioles from the Dodgers for pitcher George Sherrill in 2009. Bell appeared in 79 games with the Orioles between 2010-11.

Pat Hentgen, best known as a Toronto Blue Jay, turns 55 today. Hentgen spent three seasons with the Orioles, 2001-03. But the first two seasons were a wash as he appeared in just 13 games due to injury. In 2003, he made 22 starts with a 4.09 ERA.

Larry Harlow turns 72 years old today. Harlow was an outfielder who played for the Orioles from 1975-79.