Saturday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles really like their guys, so we might as well too

Hello, friends.

There are now 72 days until Orioles Opening Day. That number is larger than the number of wins the Red Sox recorded last season, and also larger than the number of games the Orioles lost. It was a very good year.

As you've probably noticed, there's still nothing happening, not even on the Dan Duquette front. I even ran a couple of errands yesterday and had a long dinner, both things that usually trigger something happening in Birdland, but no. Not even those could spark some action. Whatever is going to happen will happen, but nobody knows quite when.

Some links from around Birdland to get your weekend going...

Oops: About those Orioles ... - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN
The wise guys at ESPN did some "worst offseason" list and left off the Orioles, so then they had to write a separate article about why they shouldn't have left off the Orioles. Turns out that doing nothing isn't a popular strategy with the media.

Are The Orioles Putting Too Much Faith In Their Own Players? (Press Box)
Friend of Camden Chat Paul Folkemer wonders if the O's like their guys a bit too much. They probably do, but it's easy to believe in the whole "Manny Machado and Matt Wieters will be back!" narrative that it seems the team also believes.

Baltimore Orioles season-ticket information to be sent in early February; rise in prices is possible - Baltimore Sun
For unknown reasons, the team is behind schedule compared to last year on season ticket invoices, which won't be going out until February 2. That also means single-game tickets won't be sold at Fanfest, contrary to a recent custom.

Orioles acquire left-hander Daniel Rodriguez (MASN)
Perhaps just to quiet those critics who say he's not doing anything, Dan Duquette made a little minor league trade on Friday night. Maybe he thinks that if he throws a D-Rod into the system, people will forget he traded E-Rod.

Here's one from elsewhere on the SB Nation MLB network:

Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub, Dies At 83 - Bleed Cubbie Blue
Mr. Cub has passed away and our counterparts over on the Cubs blog react to the news.

One lone former Oriole has a birthday today: Tim Stoddard, who pitched out of the bullpen from 1978-83, turns 62 years old today. He was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the 1979 World Series, because the Orioles scored six runs in the eighth after he came into the game in the seventh.

It's also the birthday of Rob Dibble, who got fired from MASN because of Stacey. He probably didn't really get fired because of Stacey, but we like to claim the credit for that one anyway.

If you weren't here in yesterday's thread, here's who you missed:

And that's the way it is in Birdland on January 24 - at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Saturday.