Hello, friends.
There are now 81 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. There has never been an Oriole wearing the number 81, so this number doesn't have a whole lot of meaning. But it's one day closer to the start of baseball, and that's not nothing.
If you're reading this article, I'm guessing that means you didn't win the Powerball jackpot last night. My condolences. Hopefully you did better than my matching of a whopping zero numbers. Well, if everybody was a winner, it wouldn't be a money-making enterprise for anybody. The house always wins. Believe that.
I'll tell you who doesn't always win, and that's the Orioles. What are they doing or not doing? Spring training is now just a bit more than a month away! Something must happen before long, surely. So far, though, nothing. No one will be shedding any tears for poor bloggers who have nothing to write about. Let's run through what we've got going on.
Around the blogO'sphere
School of Roch: Wrapping up the last day of Orioles minicamp
Dylan Bundy still isn't even throwing 100% or off a full mound, which sounds like more of a problem to me than anyone here is acting like. Hunter Harvey threw a normal bullpen session, so hopefully that's good news.
Steve Melewski: A look at O's draft picks, Colorado outfielders and more
Melewski also weighs in on Wei-Yin Chen's new contract, about which he says, among other things, "No one can say his main goal was to play for a winner." No one can say how Chen will live with such withering judgment of him.
Henry Urrutia working at Orioles complex, freshly motivated by return to Cuba - Baltimore Sun
Urrutia wasn't requested for the minicamp, but he showed up anyway. As Buck Showalter would surely say, you know he's got the want-to.
Orioles lefty Chris Lee a prospect on the rise - Baltimore Sun
Look, I like Chris Lee, and I enjoyed seeing his solid ERA as last season progressed, especially since the Orioles only acquired him for two international bonus slots they weren't going to use anyway. But let's not get carried away here.
Rockies trade rumors: What could the Orioles send in return for a Colorado outfielder? - Purple Row
Our friends over at the Rockies blog openly ogle the top Orioles prospects. I don't think a trade is very likely, all things considered.
Birthdays and anniversaries
On this day in 1963, the Orioles and the White Sox completed a trade that sent future Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio to Baltimore and future Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm to Chicago, among others.
On this day in 2004, the O's signed Rafael Palmeiro for the second time. It didn't work out as well that time.
And in 2014, the O's signed Delmon Young. Nearly ten months later, he delivered a magical double.
Of all the players to ever play for the Orioles, only two have birthdays today: Danny Boone, who appeared in all of four games for the 1990 O's, and Wayne Gross, who was here in 1984-85.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, you share this birthday with Roman general Mark Antony (83 BC), author John Dos Passos (1896 AD), journalist Andy Rooney (1919), Carl Weathers, the Predator actor who hasn't been elected governor anywhere (1948), wrestler "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (1954), Nirvana/Foo Fighters dude Dave Grohl (1969), and The Flash actor and Norfolk Tides fan Grant Gustin (1990).
On this day in history...
In 1784, the United States Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the Revolutionary War.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first American president to travel by airplane when he flew from Miami to Morocco for the Casablanca Conference, where he met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
In 1967, the "Human Be-In" - which Wikipedia assures me was an important part of the counterculture movement - took place in San Francisco. Look, it was a slow day in history.
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And that's the way it is in Birdland on January 14 - at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Thursday.