Four Orioles farmhands find themselves on FanGraphs’ Top 120 prospects list to begin the 2020 season. Adley Rutschman (#5), Grayson Rodriguez (29), DL Hall (86), and Ryan Mountcastle (108) represent Birdland’s best hopes for the future, according to the amateur scouting team over at FG (full list here). Immediately jumping out at me were the omissions of Dean Kremer, who I think deserved to jump onto some lists this year (yet hasn’t, at least that I’ve seen) and Yusniel Diaz (who understandably dropped off some lists this year after his […]

The Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles couldn’t be more different. Both are major league baseball franchises, and up until very recently, that’s about where the similarities ended. The Astros have appeared in two of the last three World Series, winning one (in 2017), and losing another in seven games (last year, to the Washington Nationals). The Orioles, of course, haven’t appeared in a Fall Classic since 1983. Houston has won an average of 96 games per season over the past five years, topping 100 each of the last three. The […]

While many O’s fans are still stinging that Trey Mancini was “snubbed” for the 2019 All-Star Game in favor of John Means, the fact is that Means had just as much of an argument for being included on the squad as did Trey. A glance at the three main providers of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for fans tells the story. At FanGraphs, Means has racked up 1.9 fWAR to lead the team, compared to Mancini’s 1.6. Andrew Cashner even bests Mancini here, coming in at 1.8. At Baseball Reference, Mancini’s […]

It’s BEVy time again! Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday the Orioles walked down the orange carpet, took a lead against the Yankees into the late innings, and then saw the bullpen immediately shit said lead away. Of course, the bullpen shitting probably did happen again yesterday. And the day before. And it’ll happen tomorrow. Such is Orioles baseball in 2019. Only three-plus months left of it! Can the Birds lose fewer than the 115 game bar of awfulness set by last year’s squad? Stay tuned. Anyway, […]

After much unnecessary hand-wringing, the Orioles did what everyone expected them to do all along, drafting Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman with the first overall pick in the 2019 MLB first-year player draft. The Birds kept their cards close to the vest, as even moments before the pick was made, experts on Twitter had no idea if Mike Elias & Co. would throw a last-second curveball. An aside: I much preferred this to say, the NFL Draft situation, where the top overall pick is now known hours, if not days, […]

The Orioles played another very unfortunate baseball game last night, in which they bashed Cleveland Indians Ace and Terrible Human Being Trevor Bauer for seven runs and yet still got doubled up on. The Tribe hadn’t put up double-digit runs yet in 2019, but they posted two touchdowns on Baltimore, thanks in large part to plays like this: Oof. Here's how not to play defense.pic.twitter.com/May44vHM3Z — Sporting News MLB (@sn_mlb) May 17, 2019 At 14-29, the Orioles are exactly who we thought they’d be here by mid-May. Despite the fact […]

In case you missed all the hubbub, there was a firestorm of sorts in Birdland yesterday. First, let’s get this out of the way: Yesterday during @Bruce45Sports Saturday show, Bruce had attorney Benjamin Neil as a guest. Mr Neil mentioned a rumor involving the Orioles. It should be taken as just that, a rumor. There are no facts to back up his claim. (1 of 3) — Chuck Sapienza (@chucksapienza) May 5, 2019 . @1057TheFan allows our guests a platform to speak on their areas of expertise. Guests that choose […]

It’s not hard to find negative things to talk about in regard to the 2019 Baltimore Orioles. The pitching staff is giving up home runs at a record-setting pace. The team has very few pieces that could be considered “trade bait” as a way to bring more talent into the organization later this summer. Dylan Bundy continues to head in the wrong direction. The defense is making the pitching even worse. As far as positives, they’re obviously fewer and further between. In general, those of us who choose to watch/listen […]

The mention of Trey Mancini sets off a bit of a firestorm among O’s fans. There are those who view him as a cornerstone piece of the team, a player “to build around,” who will be a star on the next good Orioles team, one that’s ostensibly four-five years in the future. These are the same folks who were furious that the team traded Jonathan Schoop last summer, for the most part. Then there are those who view Mancini as a nice piece, but certainly not a centerpiece…more of a […]

In the process of blogging about Chris Davis‘ record-setting futility this morning, I found myself complaining that it was the only subject of discussion surrounding the O’s among national outlets. In writing that, I also realized it was the only headline on ESR this morning as well. I need to remedy that. So, let’s talk about this O’s defense! The Birds have turned 16 double plays, tied for most in the majors with the Atlanta Braves. We’ve witnessed some great infield wizardly over recent seasons, with the steady consistency of […]

The Orioles racked up 15 hits in Monday’s 12-4 win over the Oakland Athletics, which also broke a four-game losing skid. Sadly, a different streak continued, as none of those 15 hits came off the bat of Chris Davis. Davis, of course, entered the game on an 0-for-44 streak dating back to last season. The all-time leader in at-bats (by a non-pitcher) without a hit was Eugenio Velez, who went 0-for-46 over the 2010-11 seasons. Davis needed a hit in one of his first three at-bats to avoid making history. […]

Legendary Baltimore Orioles and Colts broadcaster Chuck Thompson made this phrase famous in Charm City over 50 years ago, and even now, over a decade after his passing, Birdland still knows exactly what it means. Ain’t the beer cold? Now, thanks to our friends at Breaking T, you can let everyone know you enjoy cold beer and Orioles wins wherever you go. Get yours here! We’ve partnered with Breaking T plenty of times before, with shirts like Dealin’ Bundy, Adam Bomb, Straight Outta Camden, and more. These shirts are extremely […]

In just his fourth game as manager, new O’s skipper Brandon Hyde faced a huge decision – about as big of one as could be imagined during the first week of the season. Starter David Hess was cruising to the tune of 6 1/3 IP, one (very questionable) walk, and a career high eight strikeouts. He was cutting through the Toronto Blue Jays’ revamped lineup (one that, to my eye, isn’t any better right now on paper than the O’s lineup that seems to be the constant butt of jokes […]

Much to the surprise of seemingly everyone who follows or covers baseball, the 2019 Baltimore Orioles will NOT be going 0-162. Perhaps even more shockingly, they won’t even be going 0-18 against the mighty Yankees of New York. Now that you’ve picked your jaw up off the floor, let’s talk a little about how these scrappy Birds shocked the sports world and managed to come out ahead in a nine-inning contest of hardball. Before we get into that though, let’s check out the post-game festivities in the Birds’ clubhouse: https://twitter.com/Orioles/status/1112113671533150208 […]

As we sit here on the eve of another Opening Day in Birdland, the feeling is a bit different than that to which we’ve become accustomed around here. Generally, as recent seasons approached, sentiment around Birdland ran from one end to another of a pretty short spectrum: MOST fans found themselves in one of two camps: either “they didn’t do enough to build upon last year” or “this is the year they finally take that next step!” There was a third group though. A minority, to be sure, but a […]

In the new issue of PressBox, Stan “The Fan” Charles sat down with Mike Elias for an interview on a range of topics, from Elias’ background, to his feelings on analytics, his thoughts on manager Brandon Hyde, and more. One answer from Elias that caught my attention was in response to a question about international scouting. SC: The Orioles have never dedicated many resources to international scouting. You clearly have a very different view of that. Can you talk a little bit about that and what international scouting director Koby […]

As if facing the prospect of at least one, if not several, more 100-plus loss seasons wasn’t enough here in Birdland, we’ve recently received the devastating news that we won’t even have our favorite radio voice on the call to help soothe any of the misery. Orioles radio voice Joe Angel announced his retirement yesterday via his Twitter account: https://twitter.com/WaveItByeBye/status/1096194371983011840 Last week, Baltimore Baseball’s Rich Dubroff posted that this announcement was imminent, but having heard nothing official, we Birds fans held out hope that Dubruff’s information would be proven false. […]