Thursday Bird Droppings: An Orioles off day to think some more about Grayson Rodriguez

Hello, friends.

Here we are at the day after Graysonmas. I think on my calendar it says that in the UK they call this Boxing Day. The Orioles, as you probably know, were not victorious in Rodriguez’s debut yesterday, falling 5-2 to the Rangers. Check out my recap of the game for more of the details. The O’s come home after their season-opening road trip with a 3-3 record, which currently leaves them three games back of the undefeated Rays in the division. There are 156 games left to play and at their current pace they’ll finish 81-81.

Now the next question is: What’s next? In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday afternoon’s game, manager Brandon Hyde didn’t commit to whether or not Rodriguez would be getting another start. If he would be going on regular rest, that would put him in line to start again on Monday, but with four other starters to go before him, that leaves the spot coming up on Tuesday instead, and again two Sundays from now.

Both of these are before Kyle Bradish’s minimum 15 days on the injured list are up. It is hard to imagine why Rodriguez wouldn’t get both of those starts. He acquitted himself well enough in his debut, with two runs allowed over five innings, to have certainly earned more chances. I don’t think it necessarily means anything that Hyde isn’t committing to it yet. He didn’t commit to a Wednesday starter after Tuesday’s game and that still ended up being Rodriguez, just as has been reported.

The Orioles can worry about who gets squeezed out when Bradish gets back at the point that he gets back. Since the x-rays were negative, that doesn’t point to an extended absence, but it’s all up to when his foot is well enough to pitch a full game again. They can test him out with a rehab start or two. Someone else might have gotten their own minor injury by then. Or not, and then it’ll be uncomfortable about who to squeeze out between Tyler Wells, Dean Kremer, and Rodriguez - or even with Bradish being Wally Pipped in a way.

How do you think the Orioles rotation will shake out in three weeks time? If no one notably fails his way out of the picture, who do you want to see get bumped from making starts? We’ve got an Orioles off day to think about it today, since the home opener was postponed from today until tomorrow due to anticipated storms in the Baltimore area. It’s not fun to have a home opener have to stop and start multiple times and pitchers get wiped out for no good reason.

Around the blogO’sphere

Grayson Rodriguez’s call-up left his family and friends shouting with joy as he made his Orioles debut (The Baltimore Banner)
This is pretty much the story everyone wants to get from every prospect debut. How many family and friends made it? How emotional were they? Good job, Andy Kostka.

Emotions run high after Grayson Rodriguez’s debut (Orioles.com)
Also good job to Jake Rill.

Adam Frazier looks back fondly on Pittsburgh (but not the losing) (FanGraphs)
A current Oriole appeared on the FanGraphs front page this week, although it was more about one of his former teams than anything.

2023 Orioles draft picks and total pool money (MLB.com)
The league recently released the official information about this year’s draft order, counting all compensation picks and penalties and other stuff. The Orioles have a total pool of about $10.5 million, which is 14th-most of MLB teams. Big difference from last year. The Orioles do not pick until 17th since they didn’t suck last year. They get extra picks at #63 (competitive balance round B) and #100 (compensation for not signing last year’s third rounder).

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1992, Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened for its first game. The Orioles were 2-0 winners over the Cleveland then-Indians, with starting pitcher Rick Sutcliffe going the distance for a five-hit shutout.

There is one lone former Oriole who was born on this day. That’s 1997-98 outfielder Danny Clyburn, who appeared in 13 games for the team across those two seasons. Clyburn passed away in 2012 at the age of only 37.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: historian and philosopher James Mill (1773), baseball Hall of Famers Joe Williams (1886), Mickey Cochrane (1903), and Ernie Lombardi (1908), musician Merle Haggard (1937), actor Billy Dee Williams (1937), Baltimore-born filmmaker Barry Levinson (1942), baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven (1951), actor Paul Rudd (1969), and actress Candace Cameron Bure (1976).

On this day in history...

In 46 BC, Julius Caesar defeated a couple of his rivals in the Battle of Thapsus in modern-day Tunisia. The battle is noteworthy to history for being the last large-scale western battle that featured the use of war elephants, with the losing rebels having several dozen elephants in their army.

In 1808 AD, the American Fur Company was incorporated by John Jacob Astor. The company’s fortunes led to Astor becoming the first known millionaire in America.

In 1896, the first of the modern Olympics began in Athens, Greece.

In 1973, the designated hitter entered use in the American League.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on April 6. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!