And now baseball’s long and unclear offseason begins.
Good morning Birdland,
Congratulations to the Atlanta Braves on winning the World Series! It’s a great accomplishment. Enjoy it. Anyway, the offseason is now underway…
Both @Britt_Ghiroli and I are hearing from sources that #Orioles Assistant GM/VP Sig Mejdal is on @Mets radar for their GM post. Unknown whether the interest is mutual. No formal interview has occurred as of today. O’s would need to OK an interview if Mejdal has interest.
— Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) November 2, 2021
Yes, other teams are interested in a high-ranking member of the Orioles’ front office. Shocking, I know. It’s as if the process that the organization has implemented over the last few years is extremely popular among industry professionals and seems like a way to develop a perennial winner. Weird.
Now, it should be said that the team interested in this case is the New York Mets. And this team has also seemingly been rejected out of hand by several other potential GM candidates already in this search. As Connolly mentions, there is no evidence yet that Mejdal has any interest himself, and that would seem to be a big caveat here.
Sig Mejdal is an instrumental part of what the Orioles are doing. He is the head of the team’s analytics department, and losing him would hurt. But part of this massive rebuild that the organization has done has included building out a front office that can absorb big losses and make meaningful promotions.
If Mejdal does return the interest and takes an interview, it’s easy to see him being one of the top candidates. That should make Orioles’ fans feel good about their organization, not concerned that removing a single person could bring it all tumbling down.
Links & Notes
The 2021-22 Offseason Begins | MLB Trade Rumors
Here is a useful timeline of important deadlines this offseason. For the Orioles, the first big deadline is November 19. That is when teams have to finalize their 40-man roster ahead of December’s planned Rule 5 draft. That could force them to make some tough arbitration decisions a bit early. But everything could be paused by the end of the day on December 1 if a new CBA is not agreed to.
Latest on Orioles’ coaching searches | School of Roch
It seems there is no real news apart from the expectation that Buck Britton will become the manager at Triple-A Norfolk. That’s very cool for him, and it could be setting him up to become a big league manager sometime in the not-so-distant future.
Moving from waiver claim to valuable bullpen piece | Steve Melewski
Cole Sulser was tremendous last year. He was the embodiment of “wait ‘til the end.” His 2020 season was bad, and the experiment of him in the closer role was a failure. But he also apparently pitched on a broken toe for most of the year. Here’s to hoping 2021 is a more fair reflection of his abilities.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Armando Benítez turns 49. The longtime big league reliever spent five seasons with the O’s to begin his career, running from 1994 through 1998. Over 333 games, all out of the bullpen, the big righty had a 2.70 ERA before he was traded to the Mets for catcher Charles Johnson.
- Mark Corey is 66. His entire major league career was spent in the Baltimore outfield, where he played in 59 games between 1979 and 1981.
- Dwight Evans is 70 years old today. He spent 19 of his 20 MLB seasons with the Boston Red Sox, but wrapped things up as an Oriole in 1991.
- Ken Holtzman celebrates his 76th. His stay in Baltimore lasted just 13 games in 1976. The southpaw had a 2.86 ERA over 97.2 innings before being sent to the Yankees as part of the package that brought back Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, and Scott McGregor.
- The late Earl Robinson (d. 2014) was born on this day in 1936. The outfielder played in exactly 162 games for the O’s, sprinkled between three seasons: ‘61-’62, ‘64.
This day in history
This has not been a particularly eventful day in Orioles’ history, according to Baseball Reference. So, here is what’s happened outside of Birdland on this day in history:
1911 – Chevrolet enters the automobile market, in direct competition with Ford.
1957 – Sputnik 2 is launched from Russia, including the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.
2014 – One World Trade Center officially opens in New York City, replacing the Twin Towers that were destroyed in the September 11 attacks.