In a bit of a surprise move, the Orioles are reportedly signing former Seattle Mariners Ace “King” Felix Hernandez to a minor league deal. It’s a minor-league deal that will pay King $1 million if he is on the club, according to Roch. Hernandez was a shell of his former self the last time we saw him on an MLB mound, when he went 1-8 with a 6.40 ERA in 15 starts for the 2018 M’s. Last year, after signing a similar deal with Atlanta, Hernandez opted out due to […]

Alex Cobb’s disappointing time in Baltimore appears to have come to an end, as Dan Connolly of The Athletic first reported that the Orioles and Angels were in talks to deal the righty out west. Things have crystallized a bit since this morning, as Ken Rosenthal reports that the O’s are getting second baseman Jahmai Jones, LAA’s 2015 second-round pick. The Birds are also on the hook for half of Cobb’s $15M 2021 salary. Cobb almost seems like a relic from another time, for so many reasons. Dan Duquette signed […]

Longtime followers of Eutaw Street Report will remember that we always participate in the midseason show put on by our friends over at Bird’s Eye View, The BEVy Awards. Of course, since 2020 was such a crazy season, things are a bit different with the event this year, but, as they say, THE SHOW MUST GO ON! Jake and Scott are still putting on the BEVy awards, but they are doing it as an end-of-year show this year, instead of the usual midseason version. We thank them for trying to […]

After Birdland was initially left disappointed on this front through the first few weeks of the truncated 2020 season, Ryan Mountcastle was finally called up from the alternate site in Bowie to make his much-anticipated MLB debut. The 2015 first-round pick did not disappoint, hitting .333/.386/.492 over 140 plate appearances in 35 games, with five home runs, five doubles, and 23 driven in, good for a 140 OPS+. Perhaps the most encouraging part of Mountcastle’s debut three dozen games was that his walk and strikeout percentages, both concerns during his […]

Mike Elias pulled off another trade just ahead of today’s 4 PM deadline, dealing Miguel Castro to the New York Mets for Kevin Smith. It marks the end of Castro’s frustrating time in Baltimore, a tenure during which the lanky right-hander flashed plenty of promise, but could never put it all together. His best year as an Oriole was actually his first, in 2017 when he had a 3.53 ERA in 66 IP. His ERA climbed to 3.96 and 4.66 over the next two seasons. This year, he sports a […]

It’s apparent that Mike Elias has been busy in the days leading up to this year’s late MLB trade deadline. On Sunday morning, the team announced that they had traded pitchers Tommy Millone and Mychal Givens, to the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies, respectively. For Millone, who was a reliable starter over his month with the Birds – in six starts, he threw 29.1 innings with a 3.99 ERA and 31 strikeouts to only four walks – the O’s received the always exciting players to be named later (two, to […]

One of the most pleasant surprises here during this truncated Orioles 2020 season has been the play of Anthony Santander. The former Rule V pick just had his 18-game hitting streak snapped, but came right back with a clutch RBI that tied the game late in last night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Santander has posted a .279/.328/.631 line, with 10 home runs and 21 driven in, good for a 148 wRC+. Even though most of Birdland (though not Mike Bordick…) has now learned how to properly pronounce Santander […]

*stay with me here The Birds completed a three-game sweep over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night, on the back of another 15-hit performance. The 11-4 win was the Orioles’ fifth straight win. Remember, MLB is only playing 60 games here in this truncated 2020 season, so each game is the equivalent of 2.7 games. Winning five straight in a 60-game season is therefore the equivalent of winning (2.7 x 5 = 13.5) 14 games in a regular year. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Thanks to my friend Rob (@oriolesfactoids) […]

Rio Ruiz has really come into his own in his second season in Baltimore. The 26-year-old has put up an .885 OPS (141 OPS+), with four home runs, a double, and nine RBI through 49 plate appearances. He was out with an injury for a few games last week, during which time the Birds lost four of the seven games they’ve lost all season. That prompted the following light bulb over my head: Guys. Guys. ORIOLES – RIO = LOSE — Eutaw Street is Empty Report (@EutawStReport) August 6, 2020 […]

The Orioles were in position to pull off an unlikely sweep of the reigning World Series Champions down in Washington D.C. yesterday afternoon, leading 5-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning on the strength of RBI by Bryan Holaday, Hanser Alberto, and Anthony Santander. This after 11-0 and 5-3 wins in the first two games of the series, on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Then, despite clear skies over the large majority of the DC-Baltimore area, a stray storm popped up over Gnats Park. The deluge wasn’t expected to […]

I’d avoided writing about the COVID19 pandemic here on Eutaw Street Report for months. The news has dominated all of our lives for nearly five months now, and it seemed somehow inappropriate to opine on it as it related to baseball. Others here at ESR have filled the void at various times, including Andrew Stetka and Aidan Griesser, and for that I’m thankful. Speaking of being thankful, I was just that – apprehensively, but completely – when MLB play resumed last weekend. The Birds putting a spanking on the Boston […]

After drafting four college bats with their first four picks in the truncated 2020 MLB Draft, the Orioles went high school with their final two. It was Florida (Stoneman Douglas HS) 3B Coby Mayo in Round 4, and Iowa RHP Carter Baumler in Round 5. Baumier was the only pitcher the Birds took this year. Previous Picks Round 1: Heston Kjerstad Comp Round A: Jordan Westburg Round 2: Hudson Haskin Round 3: Anthony Servideo Round 4: Coby Mayo Here’s MLB pipeline on the hurler: Baumler boosted his stock late in […]

With the 74th overall pick, the Orioles picked Ole Miss shortstop Anthony Servideo. That’s the fourth college bat in four picks for the O’s this draft. Previous picks: Round 1: Heston Kjerstad Comp Round A: Jordan Westburg Round 2: Hudson Haskin Here’s what MLB Pipeline had to say about Servideo: Servideo played sparingly as a Mississippi freshman in 2018, then spent most of 2019 shuttling between right field and center field for the Rebels before posting the worst batting line (.149/.228/.277) in the Cape Cod League. He looked like a […]

After surprising many and taking Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad with the second pick, the Orioles had another pick on night one of the draft, #30 overall, the first of the competitive balance picks between rounds one and two (it was tonight because the Houston Astros were stripped of their first round pick). With this one, they went with Mississippi State shortstop Jordan Westburg. Here’s what MLB Pipeline has to say about him: Though neither was a heralded prospect or drafted out of high school in 2017, Mississippi State’s Westburg and […]

The Orioles threw us a curveball with their first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, going with Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad. The guys on the ESPN broadcast were calling him the second-best power bat in the draft, after Spencer Torkelson, who went first overall to Detroit. His coach at Arkansas called him “the best left-handed hitter in the country.” He was number 10 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100. Here’s what they wrote about him, pre-draft: “A 36th-round pick by the Mariners as a Texas high schooler in 2017, Kjerstad teamed […]

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, […]