Hello, friends.
There are now 129 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game. Much sooner than that and highly relevant to whether Opening Day will occur as scheduled is that the owners will initiate a lockout of the players in 16 more days, after which a lot of things become uncertain.
One of the big questions coming for the rest of November is whether teams will try to rush through their offseason wish lists, anticipating that there will only be a chaotic sprint into spring training at some
later time, rather than the usual months of hot stove season. The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka and Kyle Williams wrote that, while Mike Elias said “totally business as usual,” an unnamed AL executive said that the reporters should stick close to their phones at Thanksgiving dinner.
By Thanksgiving, it’s going to be less than a week until the lockout hits. That prediction makes sense to me because, holiday or not, if things are going to pop off, it’s going to happen that weekend. Maybe it will be signings, maybe it will be trades, maybe it will be both. I think that it will be a foolish team that decides to wait until after the lockout to address its roster situation.
I will tell you right now that I am not getting paid enough by the owners of this company to interrupt my Thanksgiving dinner if the Orioles do, or are reported to be on the verge of doing, something big. It’s a running joke in my house that Elias knows how to make moves when I’m busy. One side of the family’s Thanksgiving Day dinner and the other side’s happening two days later will provide two chances for Elias to get one over on me.
**
The Arizona Fall League wrapped up its schedule last night with Orioles prospects on the triumphant team. The Peoria Javelinas, with O’s prospects along with players from five other teams, were victorious in the championship game; they’d won a one-game semifinal on Friday as well. The Javelinas beat the Surprise Saguaros, 8-3, in the finale.
Ike Irish was the only O’s prospect to play in the championship. He was 0-5, though he still scored two runs and drove in one run. Pitching prospect Patrick Reilly threw a few innings in the semifinal. Congratulations to these guys! Success in the AFL isn’t a guarantee of carrying over into next year, but sometimes it is. And hey, they got sent out there, so better to play well when they did, right?
Orioles stuff you might have missed
We are into the time of year where diligent daily Bird Droppings readers may experience repeats. Sorry! It’s not going to get any better in December.
Looking back on the Orioles visit to Las Vegas (Baltimore Baseball)
Rich Dubroff summarizes some of the news and tidbits from the just-concluded GM Meetings. He also predicts a frenzied run-up to the lockout in the vein of a typical year’s trade deadline.
Orioles prospects and the coming Rule 5 Draft (Orioles On The Verge)
The folks at the Verge are more interested than most in who does or doesn’t get protected from the Rule 5 Draft ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. My guy Aron Estrada makes the cut in this prediction.
Could Orioles Opening Day roster be an option for pitching prospect Anthony Eyanson? (Steve on Baseball)
Elias has never moved so quickly with a top pitching prospect. That doesn’t mean he never will, it just means that if he’s going to do it, it will be unprecedented when it happens.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1983, Cal Ripken Jr. was named the AL MVP for the first time in his career. His MVP followed up the previous season’s Rookie of the Year, the first time this had ever happened. He was the best player on the best team and he had the best season of anybody, and he won. It doesn’t always work out that way. Cal had 211 hits and scored 121 runs. Seems pretty good.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2012-19 pitcher Dylan Bundy, 2002 pitcher John Stephens, and 2004 pitcher Darwin Cubillán. Today is Cubillán’s 54th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887), Wu-Tang Clan co-founder Ol’ Dirty Bastard (1968), and Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger (1974).
On this day in history…
In 1688, Dutch Prince William of Orange landed an army in southwestern England as a challenge to the reigning King, James II – William’s father-in-law as well as his uncle. The Catholic James was unpopular in England and by month’s end the Glorious Revolution took place, in which James was deposed and William and James’s daughter Mary – Protestants – took the throne.
In 1777, the Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation to govern the newly independent United States of America. Within a decade, it was apparent that they did not work.
In 1864, General Sherman began his scorched earth March to the Sea campaign, leaving Atlanta en route to Savannah, Georgia, which aimed to crush the Confederacy’s ability to continue the Civil War.
**
And that’s the way it is in Birdland on November 15. Have a safe Sunday.
