Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! We’re just three days to Christmas, so if the Orioles are going to make another big move this week, it will probably happen today or tomorrow. It feels greedy to hope for
another big move just days after Mike Elias traded four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for Shane Baz, but I am desperate to see this roster finalized.
Whether you agree or disagree with the choices the Orioles have made this winter, you have to admit that it has been exciting. It’s the most active offseason in many years, and it’s so different from the days when we had to get excited for the Rule 5 draft.
On Friday, the news broke that the Padres are re-signing starting pitcher Michael King. He had been linked to the Orioles, among others, but instead they got Baz. As we’ve said over and over on this site, that shouldn’t be the end. The biggest starters are still out there, namely Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, and Ranger Suárez. The Orioles need to get one of them, and with the way Mike Elias is going I believe he might just do it.
In his comments to the press over the weekend, Elias stated that he thinks Baz hasn’t tapped into his potential and that he has top-of-the-rotation stuff. I hope Elias is right about that, but it’s not something the team can rely on to be a reality. Go get that last part of the rotation, Elias.
In other news around baseball, the Red Sox traded for Willson Contreras to bolster their lineup. The Red Sox parted with pitcher Hunter Dobbins and two prospects for Contreras, who is signed for two more seasons. Contreras is a good bat but a bit of defensive liability at first base.
The surprise signing of the weekend goes to Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, who signed a two-year, $34 million contract with the Chicago White Sox. Murakami is a big bat and was expected to get a much bigger contract. And surely no one thought it would be the White Sox to go out and get an exciting young hitter.
Jeff Passan reported that other teams did offer bigger contracts but at a lower yearly value. Even a big slugger in Japan isn’t a sure thing in MLB, so there must have been concern to keep the contract offers suppressed. Over the past three seasons, Murakami has had a strikeout rate of just under 30%. Japanese batters tend to strike out more when they come to MLB, so maybe that was a factor in teams not wanting to give him the huge deal. So instead, Murakami is betting on himself. He’s just 25 years old now, so if he proves himself in the majors he could get a huge contract. And as for the White Sox, if Murakami is good, they can trade him.
Murakami is an infielder and would not have anywhere to play on the Orioles, especially now that they have signed Pete Alonso. But it would have been exciting to see what he could do in Baltimore on a similar contract.
Links
Good Morning, Birdland – Camden Cast
Camden Chat’s managing editor, Mark Brown, also has a podcast. Did you know? During the offseason, his pod goes up on Monday morning. You can be sure he has plenty of thoughts on the Shane Baz trade and the direction of this team. This link goes to Amazon’s podcast page, but you can find the Camden Cast wherever you get your podcasts.
Five points to ponder after latest Orioles offseason acquisition – MASN Sports
Roch Kubatko looks at what this latest trade means regarding prospects, the Orioles’ pitching program, and more.
Elias on Shane Baz trade, Coby Mayo’s future with Orioles – Baltimore Baseball
If you missed it over the weekend, Mike Elias spoke to the press about the Baz trade and also touched on Coby Mayo and Grayson Rodriguez, among other things.
In trading for Shane Baz, the ‘transactional’ Orioles show again how things have changed – The Baltimore Banner
The way the Orioles operate has changed, that much is clear. Jon Meoli looks at how they’ve changed and what that means.
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have a whopping nine Orioles birthday buddies, many of which you may have no memory of. But there are two you definitely know: longtime player and coach Elrod Hendricks (b. 1940, d. 2005) and shutdown relief pitcher Zack Britton (38).
Hendricks had three stints with the Orioles. He came to the Orioles from the Angels in the 1967 Rule 5 draft. He played with Baltimore until August 1972 until he was traded to the Cubs. The Cubs traded him back to the Orioles after the season. In 1976, the Orioles traded him again, this time to the Yankees. That 10-player trade brought five players to Baltimore, including Tippy Martinez, Rick Dempsey, and Scott McGregor.
Hendricks re-signed with the Orioles after the 1977 season, but played in just 13 games from 1978-79. All told, Hendricks appeared in 657 games as an Oriole. After his playing career, he stayed with Baltimore as a bullpen coach from 1978 (player/coach) until 2005. SABR.org has a nice bio on the longtime team and fan favorite.
Zack Britton was drafted by the Orioles in 2006 and started his career as a starting pitcher. In 2014, he moved to the bullpen and spent the next three seasons as the best relief pitcher in the game. In 2016, he led the league with 47 saves with a minuscule 0.54 ERA. He only allowed four earned runs all season! His ERA+ was 804. The 2016 season came to an end with Britton sitting in the bullpen in the Wild Card game as the Blue Jays walked off in 11th inning.
The injury bug to Britton after 2016, and he was traded to the Yankees in the 2018 fire sale. He had some good results with them in parts of five seasons.
Also born on this day in history are former Orioles Richie Martin (31), Jacob Stallings (36), Rey Navarro (36), Blake Davis (42), Chris Jakubauskas (47), Lonnie Smith (70), and Tom Underwood (b. 1953, d. 2010).
On this day in 1953, John Dunn turned over the name Orioles to the new major league franchise coming to town. His family had operated the Baltimore Orioles of the International League.
In 1999, the Orioles signed pitcher Buddy Groom. Groom played a big role in the bullpen for five seasons, appearing in 330 games from 2000-04.
In 2009, they signed Garrett Atkins. It was a terrible decision.
