Hello, friends.
There are now 63 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. We’re much closer to the assorted milestones of spring training, now less than a month away from even the first spring training game. WBC-participating pitchers and catchers report on February 9, which is only 18 days away.
Everyone’s assumed list of choices for the Orioles again assumed pursuit of a top-end starting pitcher was shortened by one last night. The New York Mets, who’ve been aggressive in the past week or so, went
out and acquired starting pitcher Freddy Peralta as well as former Orioles pitching prospect Tobias Myers. The Mets sent prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to the Brewers.
That’s two top 100 prospects from yesterday’s freshly-released Baseball America top 100 list. Williams, an infield prospect was the #71 prospect on the list, with Sproat, a righty starting pitcher, at #81. There was some extra value coming back from the Brewers in here with the acquisition of Myers, a 27-year-old who’s pitched in 49 games over the past two seasons since debuting and put up a 3.15 ERA in that time. Prospect lists can’t be taken as gospel for considering alternate trades, but with that in mind, that’s pretty close to two Orioles prospects, Trey Gibson (#72) and Nate George (#86).
That’s quite a haul for a one-year rental of the headliner of Peralta. The Mets could afford to give up a pitching prospect like that because they’ve got two even higher-ranked in Jonah Tong (#44) and former Orioles draft pick Nolan McLean (#8). They should have just signed that guy instead of worrying about whatever medical concerns.
This deal simultaneously takes Peralta off the board for the Orioles or anyone else and presumably removes the Mets as a possible destination for free agent starting pitcher Framber Valdez. If so, what teams are even still on the hunt for Valdez? We have no idea what Mike Elias thinks of the dude or what kind of price point he might be comfortable with in the more aggressive mode he’s operating this offseason. All we know is nobody’s signed Valdez yet.
The Orioles need a dude. If they believe Valdez can be a dude, they’ve got to pay what it takes. I don’t know what will happen here, but it feels like at long last, this is the only possible option left to the Orioles.
Some AL East news broke yesterday with the news that the Yankees are re-signing their own free agent, Cody Bellinger, to a five-year, $162.5 million deal that Bellinger can opt out of after two or three years, unless labor unrest wipes out the 2027 season, then he can only opt out after three or four years. This reunion felt pretty much inevitable, as my counterpart Andrew Mearns at the Yankees site Pinstripe Alley wrote in his reaction to the signing:
As soon as outfielder Cody Bellinger decided to exercise his opt-out in early November and hit free agency again this offseason, it seemed like he and the Yankees would find their way back to each other.
Orioles fans can now hope that this fails spectacularly and hilariously as soon as possible. That may not be a realistic hope because Bellinger was pretty good last year, putting up 5.1 bWAR as he hit 29 homers and OPSed .813 over 152 games. No full-season Oriole had as many home runs or an OPS so high as that, and only Gunnar Hendersong among O’s position players had a greater WAR. This year will be the age 30 season for Bellinger. Even the Chris Davis contract, miserable failure that it was, saw Davis post 3.0 bWAR in his age 30 season.
Are you ready for the evolving snow event and extreme freaking cold that are starting this weekend? It’s a good thing the Birdland Caravan is starting today, because maybe the Thursday and Friday events will be able to go off without a hitch. Saturday events, I guess that depends on when the snow is really supposed to start. Don’t put off the emergency grocery shopping until it’s too late.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
Shane Baz’s refined training approach could help turn potential into results with the Orioles (The Baltimore Banner)
Every now and again I think about how, after Jake Arrieta was traded to the Cubs, he started doing pilates, and he credited this with part of his improvement. Maybe Baz’s workout regimen is a difference-maker for him.
Remaining questions before Orioles spring training begins (Baltimore Baseball)
“Are they going to get a number one starter?” is the first question, same as it has been since the offseason began. It is only even more a question now that Peralta has been dealt and the choices are even more slim.
Buster Posey takes center stage amid the newcomers for next year’s Hall of Fame ballot (The Baltimore Sun)
It’s weird that Buster Posey became a president of baseball operations before he was even eligible to be included on a Hall of Fame ballot.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2006, the Orioles traded Jorge Julio and John Maine to the Mets for Kris Benson. Although they acquired two years of Benson, he only pitched one season with the team, posting a 4.82 ERA (94 ERA+) in 30 starts. Sadly, this made him that team’s effective #2 starter.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2014-17 pitcher Ubaldo Jiménez, 2004-05 pitcher Aaron Rakers, 1967-72 pitcher Dave Leonhard, and 1954-54 infielder Bobby Young.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher Francis Bacon (1561), poet Lord Byron (1788), pepper spice categorizer Wilbur Scoville (1865), DJ Jazzy Jeff (1965), actress Diane Lane (1965), and Maryland-born rapper Logic (1990).
On this day in history…
In 1901, England’s Queen Victoria died after reigning for 63 years. Her son, who took the regnant name Edward VII, became king at the age of 59.
In 1905, a revolution sparked in Russia following the massacre of hundreds who were attempting to deliver a petition to the tsar seeking better conditions for workers.
In 1973, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier was resoundingly beaten by challenger George Foreman, being knocked down six times before the Kingston, Jamaica fight was stopped in the second round. This fight produced the famous sportscasting exclamation: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”
A random Orioles trivia question
I received a random book of Orioles trivia for Christmas. I’ll ask a question in this space each time I write until I run out of questions or forget. The book has multiple choice answers, which I’m ignoring because that would just be too easy. Today’s question:
The 1971 Orioles had four pitchers with 20+ win seasons. These were Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, and which other pitcher?
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 22. Have a safe Thursday.
