Hello, friends.
There are now 74 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. There has never been an Oriole to wear the number 74, and I can't think of any particular significance to the number, unless you find something particularly auspicious about the win total of the 2000 and 2005 editions of the Orioles. No, I didn't think so.
Another O's free agent target is off the board - at least, if you ever believed they were serious in their pursuit of lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo, who signed with the Mets for two years and $12 million. I never understood this rumor, which is why I never wrote about it on Camden Chat. Like Brian Matusz or not, and I think my feelings about his performance are well documented, he is here already and he won't cost $6 million this year.
With each passing day, it looks more like the Orioles right now are going to be the Orioles this year. Let's hope that works out for the best for everyone involved.
Around the blogO'sphere
Orioles observations on Chris Davis' deal, Tigers' pursuit of him, Wei-Yin Chen's new home - Baltimore Sun
Eduardo Encina rounds up an almost not-Oriole, a never near-Oriole, and a recent ex-Oriole, and how and why each of these things came to be.
With Chris Davis Saga Resolved, Orioles Can Focus On Improving Pitching (Press Box)
This is a nice dream, but you have to wonder if there's even any way for them to meaningfully improve the rotation given what's out there. I say go for Doug Fister for a year and if that doesn't work out, say screw it and roll the dice.
Remaining free agents who could fit with Orioles - Baltimore Sun
This is a slide show, and most of the names on it are bad names to have connected with the Orioles in the year 2016.
MLB free agents 2016: Orioles, Astros reportedly interested in Yovani Gallardo | MLB | Sporting News
The Yovani Gallardo rumor made the rounds again yesterday, although as far as I could tell, the Orioles name coming up was not any kind of new information, but rather just restating their earlier interest.
School of Roch: Leftovers for breakfast
I've probably mentioned this before, but I really admire MASN's complete no-effs-given approach to any kind of search engine optimization effort. They don't care about headlines. They don't care about URLs. They don't care about eye-catching tweets. It must be liberating. Also, MASN, you can hire me to do a better job about all of this stuff. My rates are reasonable.
Steve Melewski: A look at some players who did well in winter ball, plus other notes
See above. Since they won't tell you anything about what's in this post, I'll let you know that you can find out how Joey Rickard did in winter ball and whether there was discussion about moving either Christian Walker or Trey Mancini into the outfield (there hasn't).
The Royals Haven’t Been the Projections’ Biggest Miss | FanGraphs Baseball
I know, I know, I said the p-word. But it's Jeff Sullivan, so give it a shot. This article isn't specifically about the Orioles, but you can see where they stand (in totally defying all projections) on the accompanying chart.
Birthdays and anniversaries
Of all of the players to ever suit up for the Orioles, only three have a birthday today. They are Keith Shepherd (13 games in 1996), Sam Mele (72 games for the 1954 O's) and the late Johnny Oates, whom you may remember better as the manager of the 1991-94 O's squads. Mele is still alive - he turns 94 today.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: King Charles V of France (1338), who recaptured English holdings in France until his idiot son screwed it up; traitor general Stonewall Jackson (1824), actor Benny Hill (1924), whom you know for having this musical theme on his show; golfer Jack Nicklaus (1940), Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (1953), A League of Their Own's Geena Davis (1956), and video game composer Yasunori Mitsuda (1972).
Mitsuda is the composer of Chrono Trigger, my favorite game of all time.
On this day in history...
In 1793, Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine after having been found guilty of treason.
In 1908, the Sullivan Ordinance passed in New York City, which was intended to make it illegal for women to smoke in public. The mayor at the time vetoed the ordinance.
In 1968, in the Vietnam War, the Battle of Khe Sanh began. By the time the battle concluded in July, about 1,500 Americans had been killed, and the American forces had abandoned the base over which the battle was fought.
In 1976, the first commercial Concorde flights got underway - routes went from Paris to Rio de Janeiro and from London to Bahrain.
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And that's the way it is in Birdland on January 21 - at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Thursday, and watch out for all of that snow. It's coming.