Thursday Bird Droppings: Another day without baseball

Hello, friends.

There are now 157 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2016.

It seems the offseason is going to get here sooner than we'd like. The World Series is on a path that it's hard to enjoy as an Orioles fan, what with the Royals winning the first two games. Maybe fortunes will reverse for the Mets as the action, and rules, shift back to a National League ballpark. On the other hand the Mets have now lost games started by Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom so where's the firewall there?

If the series just ends up turning into a sweep, then we'll start getting answers to questions about qualifying offers that much sooner. All of that is tied to five days after the World Series ends. So I guess that's something? I don't know. I am not all that excited for the offseason to begin because I have a sense of dread about what the Orioles are going to do, or not do. But then, I guess there's nothing different about that compared to how I am in the regular season.

Around the blogO'sphere

Orioles notes and observations (World Series rosters, Adam Jones, Adam Kolarek) - Baltimore Sun
There is only one former Oriole on the World Series rosters this year, and that is last year's short-timer, Kelly Johnson. Also, Adam Jones won a community service award of some kind. Good for him.

School of Roch: Notes on Chris Davis and David Lough (and Oliver Drake)
The note on Chris Davis is that he was selected to the Sporting News American League All-Star Team for 2015, as voted on by baseball executives. The note on David Lough is that he qualifies as a Super Two player, meaning he'll be eligible for arbitration next year.

Steve Melewski: Will the power return for J.J. Hardy?
Since a person can reasonably surmise that J.J. Hardy's power departed as a result of the torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder, which he will not be attempting to fix with surgery, I think we can in turn surmise that the answer is, "No."

Baltimore Orioles' Oliver Drake overcomes obstacles to earn top reliever MiLBY | MiLB.com News
The staff at MiLB.com have proclaimed that Oliver Drake was the best reliever in the minors this past season. I guess that's something the Orioles can hang their hats on? I don't know. If he doesn't have a future role in their big league bullpen it's probably not worth all that much.

Birthdays and anniversaries

On this day in 2013, the Gold Glove winners were announced. The Orioles had three winners that year. How many do you think that they will end up with this year? It could conceivably be zero. Adam Jones will probably not repeat. J.J. Hardy probably missed too much time from injuries. Matt Wieters was both injured and not particularly good, and Manny Machado committed a bunch of errors and was also eclipsed at the plate by probable AL MVP Josh Donaldson.

Not that one's stats at the plate should figure in to Gold Glove voting, but as we know with Derek Jeter's inexplicable victories, it's not always so compartmentalized.

Several former Orioles have a birthday today, including Dana Eveland, Karim Garcia (short stints in 2000 and 2004), Frank Baker (1973-74), and Pete Richert (1968-71).

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former O's, you also share this day with ... well, the birthdays aren't much more interesting than the O's birthdays were, to be honest. But you've got painter Bob Ross (1942), Fleetwood Mac co-founder and guitarist Peter Green (1946), actor Richard Dreyfuss (1947), actress Winona Ryder (1971), and footballer Andy Dalton (1987).

On this day in history...

Today is apparently the day in history for executions.

In 312, Constantine the Great returned to Rome after winning the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. The previous emperor Maxentius, who was defeated in that battle the day before and drowned in the river, had his corpse fished from the river and beheaded.

In 1268, Conrad, King of Jerusalem, was executed by King Charles I of Sicily, after having tried to usurp said throne.

In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded as a result of allegations that he was conspiring against King James I of England.

In 1901, Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley, was put to death by the electric chair.

And unrelated to executions, in 1929, this was Black Tuesday, which you may recall from your grade school days was the stock market crash that kicked off the Great Depression.

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And that's the way it is in Birdland on October 29 - or at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Thursday.