There are now 63 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. We\u2019re much closer to the assorted milestones of spring training, now less than a month away from even the first spring training game. WBC-participating pitchers and catchers report on February 9, which is only 18 days away.<\/p>\n
Everyone\u2019s assumed list of choices for the Orioles again assumed pursuit of a top-end starting pitcher was shortened by one last night. The New York Mets, who\u2019ve been aggressive in the past week or so, went out and acquired starting pitcher Freddy Peralta as well as former Orioles pitching prospect Tobias Myers. The Mets sent prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to the Brewers.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s two top 100 prospects from yesterday\u2019s freshly-released Baseball America top 100 list<\/a>. Williams, an infield prospect was the #71 prospect on the list, with Sproat, a righty starting pitcher, at #81. There was some extra value coming back from the Brewers in here with the acquisition of Myers, a 27-year-old who\u2019s pitched in 49 games over the past two seasons since debuting and put up a 3.15 ERA in that time. Prospect lists can\u2019t be taken as gospel for considering alternate trades, but with that in mind, that\u2019s pretty close to two Orioles prospects, Trey Gibson (#72) and Nate George (#86).<\/p>\n That\u2019s quite a haul for a one-year rental of the headliner of Peralta. The Mets could afford to give up a pitching prospect like that because they\u2019ve got two even higher-ranked in Jonah Tong (#44) and former Orioles draft pick Nolan McLean (#8). They should have just signed that guy instead of worrying about whatever medical concerns.<\/p>\n This deal simultaneously takes Peralta off the board for the Orioles or anyone else and presumably removes the Mets as a possible destination for free agent starting pitcher Framber Valdez. If so, what teams are even still on the hunt for Valdez? We have no idea what Mike Elias thinks of the dude or what kind of price point he might be comfortable with in the more aggressive mode he\u2019s operating this offseason. All we know is nobody\u2019s signed Valdez yet.<\/p>\n The Orioles need a dude. If they believe Valdez can be a dude, they\u2019ve got to pay what it takes. I don\u2019t know what will happen here, but it feels like at long last, this is the only possible option left to the Orioles.<\/p>\n Some AL East news broke yesterday with the news that the Yankees are re-signing their own free agent, Cody Bellinger, to a five-year, $162.5 million deal that Bellinger can opt out of after two or three years, unless labor unrest wipes out the 2027 season, then he can only opt out after three or four years. This reunion felt pretty much inevitable, as my counterpart Andrew Mearns at the Yankees site Pinstripe Alley wrote in his reaction to the signing<\/a>:<\/p>\n As soon as outfielder Cody Bellinger decided to exercise his opt-out in early November and hit free agency again this offseason, it seemed like he and the Yankees would find their way back to each other.<\/p>\n Orioles fans can now hope that this fails spectacularly and hilariously as soon as possible. That may not be a realistic hope because Bellinger was pretty good last year, putting up 5.1 bWAR as he hit 29 homers and OPSed .813 over 152 games. No full-season Oriole had as many home runs or an OPS so high as that, and only Gunnar Hendersong among O\u2019s position players had a greater WAR. This year will be the age 30 season for Bellinger. Even the Chris Davis contract, miserable failure that it was, saw Davis post 3.0 bWAR in his age 30 season.<\/p>\n Are you ready for the evolving snow event and extreme freaking cold that are starting this weekend? It\u2019s a good thing the Birdland Caravan is starting today, because maybe the Thursday and Friday events will be able to go off without a hitch. Saturday events, I guess that depends on when the snow is really supposed to start. Don\u2019t put off the emergency grocery shopping until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n Orioles stuff you might have missed<\/p>\n Shane Baz\u2019s refined training approach could help turn potential into results with the Orioles<\/a> (The Baltimore Banner)
Every now and again I think about how, after Jake Arrieta was traded to the Cubs, he started doing pilates, and he credited this with part of his improvement. Maybe Baz\u2019s workout regimen is a difference-maker for him.<\/p>\n