At around 11 PM EST on Tuesday night, as we in Baltimore were preparing for Snowpocalypse 2014 – stocking our shelves with bread, milk, eggs, and toilet paper until nary a loaf, carton, dozen, or roll was left on local supermarket shelves, weary O’s fans got what, at first glance, appeared to be a bit of good news.
Korean pitcher Suk-Min Yoon – who the Orioles had been rumored to be “interested” in – tweeted out a photograph of himself wearing an Orioles hat.
Yoon, 27, has been mentioned as possibly being able to help out in the starting rotation OR in the bullpen, though he had shoulder issues in 2013. Several teams are reportedly bidding for his services. Any agreement would – of course – be pending a physical (cue horror movie music), but we Birds fans are desperate for anything at this point.
Here’s what got it started:
짜잔~~^^ pic.twitter.com/0Jud1odB76
— Yoon_sm-(윤석민) (@bbergong) February 12, 2014
MASN’s Steve Melewski, along with the help of “Dan” who runs @MyKBO, a Twitter account following the Korean Baseball league, translated the (Korean) text of Yoon’s tweet to basically “ta-da!”
O’s fans, of course, blew up on Twitter.
Yoon is going to be an Oriole!
While it’s not A.J. Burnett, or Ervin Santana, or Ubaldo Jimenez, it’s at least…something, right?
But wait…
The tireless beat reporters of the O’s, including Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun and Roch Kubatko of MASN, couldn’t confirm that any deal was, in fact, in place.
2 prominent members of #orioles organization haven't heard anything about an agreement with Yoon. It's a mystery selfie at this point.
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) February 12, 2014
OK, confirmed Orioles and Suk-Min Yoon DO NOT currently have an agreement. Doesnt mean wont — but none now. Not even pending physical
— Dan Connolly (@danconnollysun) February 12, 2014
I'm up to 3 prominent members of #orioles organization who know nothing about agreement with Yoon. Looks like nothing to see here. What fun
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) February 12, 2014
It got a bit of national attention as well…
Source says Yoon and #Orioles are not in agreement. Photo he tweeted might have been a joke between friends. O’s one of five clubs in mix.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 12, 2014
So in the end, to many Birdland faithful, it looked like once again our emotions had been simply toyed with. Was this young Korean man – who none of us have ever had any beef with – just trolling us?
That seemed to be the case, and the majority of O’s fans simply turned in, ready to hibernate until Saturday, when winter’s icy grip would finally once again release us.
But then…
Source: #Orioles and Suk-Min Yoon are discussing final details of the contract. Can't say it's a done deal. But O's are clear front-runner.
— GSI (@GSIntegration) February 12, 2014
On the other hand, that account has 176 followers.
Who the heck knows at this point?
“Mystery selfie” seems like a pretty apt summation of the Baltimore offseason, no?
