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Hello, friends, and Happy New Year to you. Here's hoping the Orioles bring us another AL East championship and then some in 2015.
There are now 95 days until Orioles Opening Day. That's a lot of time to get through, for sure, but today is the first day where we are in the same year as Opening Day. We're getting there.
I'm just going to warn you in advance, there's a lot of Colby Rasmus in the news and links today. Like, a whole lot of him. I've spared you his dead-eyed visage in the photograph accompanying this post, but if this groundswell is any indication, you may have to see a whole lot more of him in the near future. On the other hand, there is the rule of baseball rumors: Probably nothing will happen.
With that in mind, your news and links from around Birdland on this New Year's Day... very quiet links.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter will meet with Colby Rasmus in the "next few days" | HardballTalk
Has Buck given free agent pitches before? Or maybe it's not a pitch at all, but rather Buck wants to suss out whether or not he will be a good fit.
The Orioles' interest in Ichiro Suzuki, Colby Rasmus and the one-year platform deal - carrollcountytimes.com
This article is actually by Baltimore Sun beat writer Eduardo Encina. I told you there was going to be a lot of Colby Rasmus.
Oh dad, Colby Rasmus is best choice for Orioles | Comcast SportsNet Baltimore
You have maybe heard a little bit about proto-helicopter parent Mr. Rasmus before, and if not, well, this is a place where you can find out about him. Maybe Buck is going to ask Colby about if his dad will butt out.
Elsewhere around the SB Nation MLB network, we check back in with the ongoing renovation at Wrigley Field...
Wrigley Field Construction Update: December 30 - Bleed Cubbie Blue
I find it pretty cool that this guy can just walk up and get a bunch of pictures. I hope he wears a hard hat.
January 1 hits several former Oriole birthdays, starting all the way back with the 84th birthday of Foster Castleman, who popped into 98 games mostly as a shortstop for the 1958 O's. We also have birthdays for Fernando Tatis and Xavier Avery.
And that's the way it is in Birdland to start out 2015. Have a great Thursday and a great year too.