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. […]

As we O’s fans in and around Baltimore dig out from our first snowfall of the winter, the sights and sounds surrounding Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Opening Day seem forever away. Let’s check out some Birdland odds and ends to try to pass the time, shall we?   O’s to Hire Long as Hitting Coach According to Roch Kubatko, the Birds are set to hire Don Long as their new hitting coach. Long, 56, has held the same role in Cincinnati for the past five seasons. The hire […]

On Monday, the Orioles introduced new Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Elias in a sort of awkward press conference thing with John & Lou Angelos. Scott from Bird’s Eye View described the setting as featuring “IKEA furniture,” which seems like the perfect choice of words. After the introduction, Elias did an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. I’ll try to pick out some of the more interesting answers he gave here. Question: “Pitching development…how do you plan to fix it?” (Very direct. I like it.) Answer: “developing pitching […]

The Orioles, as is their wont, were in seemingly no hurry to start making actual decisions about their future this offseason. Having wrapped up the worst campaign in team history on Sunday, we heard nothing but crickets from The Warehouse as other teams, such as the Angels, Rangers, and Twins, got on with the dirty business of making staff changes. That finally came to an end today, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Buck Showalter will not be back with the Orioles, in any capacity, in 2019. The […]

Greeting again, Birdland. It’s been nothing but a whole lotta sadness, losing, and bad, bad baseball since we last talked. My writers are all seemingly too depressed to even analyze anything these days, as my email inbox for ESR stories has been as quiet as Chris Davis’ bat. Hey, I can’t particularly blame them. The Birds have shown zero signs of life lately, and the great majority of the “kids” getting playing time these days are either not kids at all or are kids but are performing quite poorly. The […]