Hello, friends.
There are now 35 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. That’s just five weeks away. Something vaguely resembling an Orioles game will be available on your television or other streaming device tomorrow with the opening of the Grapefruit League schedule.
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This also means that today is the last day that there will just be general spring workouts that are not in some way oriented towards a game. For all of the focus on spring training being a time to iron out fundamentals and what not, there’s really only a handful of days after the full squad has reported before games start up and it becomes less about drills and more about game readiness.
The only thing that can come from these early days is bad news, probably news of the injury variety. I’m still looking to get something more specific about what’s going on with Jordan Westburg’s sore oblique. Mike Elias’s “surprise offseason injury” update from the start of camp implied that Westburg would miss only the first few exhibition games and that’s it, but Westburg’s self-assessment a couple of days later was vague and not supportive of that initial claim, with not even an aspirational timeline to when he might return.
My rule about baseball injury news is that vague is frequently eventually bad news that nobody wants to say right now. I hope that doesn’t prove to be the case with Westburg’s oblique as well. Specific news can also be bad, of course. You just know how specifically bad it is rather than having to wonder. Again, the games start tomorrow. I think they should have offered a firm date for his first game by now, and until they do that I’ll be at least a little bit concerned that they haven’t said one because there isn’t one.
Just last spring we saw Gunnar Henderson’s sore oblique drag out almost through the whole of spring training, with the Orioles perpetually acting like Henderson could be back in two or three more days. That didn’t do anybody any favors, especially when they rushed him back into action at the tail end of the recovery. If that is how it goes with Westburg, I hope they’ve learned their lesson. But I also hope that’s not how it goes with Westburg.
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Orioles stuff you might have missed
Adam Jones arrives as guest coach, more from day 8 of Orioles camp (School of Roch)
Also includes Blaze Alexander hitting a home run off of Cade Povich, which probably shouldn’t be taken as a sign to get hype about Alexander. Good for him, though.
Building a football team out of all of the ‘really large humans’ at Orioles camp (Orioles.com)
There are a lot of possible linebackers around here, apparently.
Jeremiah Jackson on making an impression with Orioles: ‘Every day is a job interview’ (Baltimore Baseball)
Although he made a nice impression last year, it does seem like Jackson is going to have to fight for a roster spot even after the Jackson Holliday injury, and possibly even also if Westburg’s situation develops worse than they’ve revealed so far. I just don’t know if the Orioles will trust him to play an infield position.
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OOPSY 2026 top 100 prospects (FanGraphs)
I’m pretty much only posting this because my guy Aron Estrada checks in at #31 on the top 100. Obviously, that makes this the best top 100 prospect list that anyone has put out yet this year.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Nothing of particular note is recorded for this day in Orioles history. That probably won’t change this year unless there’s some bad news.
Of all the players to ever play for the Orioles, not a single one was born on this day.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! You may not have any Orioles birthday buddies for today, but you do have these: astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473), author Carson McCullers (1917), musician Smokey Robinson (1940), actor and movie maker Benicio del Toro (1967), singer-songwriter Chappell Roan (1998), and actress Millie Bobby Brown (2004).
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On this day in history…
In 1674, the English and Dutch signed the Treaty of Westminster, which ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Relevant to today’s United States, the treaty transferred ownership of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renamed the area to New York.
In 1847, rescuers reached the stranded Donner Party in a pass in modern-day California. The group is now infamous for its survivors resorting to cannibalism to survive.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the internment of Japanese Americans into camps for the duration of World War II.
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A random Orioles trivia question
I received a random book of Orioles trivia for Christmas. Each time it’s my turn in this space, I’ll post a question from the book until I either run out of questions or forget. The book has multiple choice answers, but that would be too easy for everyone here. Here’s today’s question:
Who slugged 31 home runs in 2002 to lead the Orioles that season?
The answer to Sunday’s question about the all-time Orioles triples leader, which stumped many who guessed, is Brooks Robinson. If you are guessing early in the day, please be considerate and place your answer behind spoiler text so that people arriving later can still have a fresh opportunity to guess.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on February 19. Have a safe Thursday.
