Sunday Bird Droppings: The qualifying offer deadline fast approaches

Hello, friends.

There are now 148 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2017. That is so many days that I don't even want to think about it, so let's not.

Right now we are in the limbo period where free agency has technically begun, only it hasn't, really, because this is actually the period where teams can exclusively negotiate with their own departing free agents. And we're still about a day away from the deadline to decide whether or not to make a qualifying offer of $17.2 million for the 2017 season, which players will then have a week to accept or decline.

Once the qualifying offers are made, teams will be free to sign the rest of the free agents as they please, or more likely in the case of the Orioles, as they don't please. They do not strike fast. It's not what they do. Some good players or at least decent players better than the O's will have a chance to sign later will probably sign quickly and the Orioles will never be in the market for them at all. A player who fit this category last year was Rich "The Blister" Hill.

No point in worrying about that for another couple of days, at least. For now, a quiet weekend edition of the links, because while there will soon be stuff going on with the hot stove season, there ain't nothing going on yet.

Around the blogO'sphere

Should the Orioles revisit pursuit of Dexter Fowler? - Steve Melewski
Of course the Orioles SHOULD, but the price tag is going to be higher this time around, so that means that if they do pursue him, they won't pursue him very far.

Minor League Podcast: Spotlight on Frederick Keys - BaltimoreBaseball.com
There were basically no good prospects on the Keys for most of the past season, but if you're interested in hearing a podcast about them, here you go.

Camden Depot: Hey, Look: The Orioles Are Being Weird Again
This is about the Dom Chiti thing, which, yeah, it's weird, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over the fate of the Orioles bullpen coach position.

Birthdays and anniversaries

On this day in 1969, the 1969 AL Cy Young award was announced. Orioles pitcher Mike Cuellar finished in a tie with Detroit's Denny McClain. Cuellar's ERA was almost half a run lower.

Also on this day, in 2011, the Orioles agreed to terms with Dan Duquette to have him become the executive vice president of baseball operations. Despite a certain pundit's proclamation that no one with any self-respect would take the job, Duquette's Orioles have made the playoffs three times in five seasons.

There are two former Orioles with birthdays today. They are 2003 shortstop Deivi Cruz and the sporadically-appearing Leo Hernandez from the 1982-85 Orioles.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Along with those former Orioles, your birthday buddies for today include: Ottoman sultan Suleiman I "the Magnificent" (1494), saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax (1814), composer/conductor John Philip Sousa (1854), baseball Hall of Famer Walter "The Big Train" Johnson (1887), From Here to Eternity / The Thin Red Line author James Jones (1921), Mystery Science Theater 3000's Dr. F and Crow Trace Beaulieu (1958), NFLer/Army Ranger Pat Tillman (1976), and Zombieland actress Emma Stone (1988).

On this day in history...

In 1789, Pope Pius VI appointed Maryland-born Father John Carroll - yes, of those Carrolls - as the first bishop in the United States of America. Carroll would go on to found Georgetown University.

In 1869, the first official intercollegiate football game takes place between Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and Rutgers. The winner was Rutgers by a 6-4 score.

In 1944, at the Hanford Atomic Facility, plutonium was first produced. This was later used in the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

And in 1995, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced that he had signed an agreement to move his franchise to Baltimore, where they became the Ravens. Whining Cleveland fans had a new team, with their name and history, before the decade was over.

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And that's the way it is in Birdland on November 6 - or at least, unless something happens later, which it probably won't. But you never know! Maybe today will be the day there's a surprise Manny Machado extension. I wake up every day telling myself this. It hasn't happened yet. Have a safe Sunday.