Hello, friends.
There is now just one week remaining until Orioles Opening Day. Seven days from today, we’ll all get up and O’s baseball will be happening that day… weather permitting, of course. This is going to be one of the most exciting Opening Days at Oriole Park at Camden Yards since the very first one when it opened.
Elsewhere in the world, the real MLB season has already gotten under way, which is still weird to think about. The Dodgers and Padres were in action in Seoul in the morning hours here in America yesterday, and they’ll be doing the same again today, with a game beginning before this article even posts. Los Angeles was able to rally late to grab a win in MLB’s first game of the year, in part thanks to a through-the-glove-webbing grounder that might have otherwise led to an inning-ending double play. To have a $300 million payroll AND that kind of luck is quite a combination.
The Orioles merely played a fake game on Wednesday evening, a game in which they broke out the bats and put a whooping on the Phillies. The final score was 13-4. Anthony Santander, Ryan O’Hearn, and Gunnar Henderson all homered off of Phillies starting pitcher Taijuan Walker, and the O’s backups added a six-spot in the eighth inning to turn it back into a blowout. Less exciting, Dean Kremer only pitched 3.2 innings and each of Yennier Cano and Bryan Baker had a shaky inning. Check the full box score here.
You’ve got to feel good about a big percentage of regular players looking good against a genuine big league starter this close to Opening Day. It’s been a good spring for offense overall, so maybe it will mean nothing when the games start. But you know, as I have said a bunch over the last month, it’s much better to have fun meaningless sample sizes than ones that aren’t as fun.
It’s another evening game on tap for the Orioles tonight. They’ll be traveling to play the Red Sox for a 6:05 start. This appears to be a case of “don’t use any of your real starting pitchers against a division opponent late in spring” because the team has selected Albert Suárez to make the start. This game, like each of the previous two, will be televised on MASN.
Three televised spring training games in a row? What a treat! If the broadcasters weren’t calling the game from Baltimore and if the network wasn’t going to just piggyback off of the Red Sox television feeds, which will likely put minimal focus on the Orioes players, you might almost be tempted to think this is a real television network around here.
There was one more Orioles happening yesterday: The team optioned reliever Nick Vespi to minor league camp before the game. That leaves them with 45 players in camp, meaning there are another 19 cuts to be made prior to the roster being set for Opening Day. They haven’t made any of the big decisions yet! You could have theoretically sketched Vespi into the bullpen, but with so many out-of-options guys in that relief mix, I think the ones who can be sent to the minors might be sent there, assuming all else is equal.
Around the blogO’sphere
Maryland Stadium Authority approves Orioles transfer to David Rubenstein’s Inner Harbor Sports (The Baltimore Sun)
Another hurdle towards the sale’s final approval was cleared yesterday. It’s not surprising, but it’s still good to get through the routine stuff without any weird things happening.
Cowser finding balance: ‘maturing’ but ‘still a goof’ (Orioles.com)
Players can be as goofy as they like to be in my book, as long as they’re playing well!
Health updates for Hays, Westburg, Mountcastle (School of Roch)
Austin Hays has been down for several days with an illness. He told reporters that he’ll be back on Friday, as he needs to get his strength up. Getting sick sucks.
The 2024 Aces Project: MLB Insiders rank starting pitchers (The Athletic)
Corbin Burnes gets the #3 ranking from this panel among all starting pitchers in the game, which: I sure hope that’s how the season plays out, because that would be amazing.
2024 positional power rankings: shortstop (FanGraphs)
An entirely different website’s ranking that uses a different methodology, and in this case is focused on a different position, is also feeling good about the Orioles, where they come in at #5 at shortstop. They might be even higher if the playing time formula thought that 100% of Henderson’s playing time was going to come at short.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2018, the Orioles officially signed Alex Cobb to a four-year contract that would pay him $57 million. He stunk for the team but has gone on to better results, when healthy, elsewhere.
There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2017-19 pitcher Jimmy Yacabonis, and 1972-75 batter Tommy Davis. Davis passed away two years ago at age 83.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685), composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839), actor Timothy Dalton (1946), composer Nobuo Uematsu (1959), actor Rhys Darby (1974), and actress Sonequa Martin-Green (1985).
On this day in history…
In 1801, British and French armies campaigning in Egypt fought the Battle of Alexandria, a British victory that helped lead to the overall failure of the French expedition about five months later.
In 1861, then-vice president of the then-Confederacy Alexander Stephens delivered the Cornerstone Speech, so named for his statements about white supremacy and slavery being the foundational principles of that government.
In 1928, Charles Lindbergh received the Medal of Honor for his accomplishment in completing the first solo flight across the Atlantic without stopping.
In 1970, the first San Diego Comic-Con was held.
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