Hello, friends.
There are now 105 days until the next Orioles game. They still do not have a manager, although if Tuesday night’s reports that were dismissed by GM Mike Elias as “premature” prove to be accurate, there could be a specific manager-in-waiting, in spite of the denials.
Today is, however, Christmas for the Orioles. It’s Rule 5 draft day. The Orioles have two open spots on the 40-man roster and Elias seems to have indicated that’s to give the O’s the option to pick two players if they want.
The Rule 5 draft was previous GM Dan Duquette’s particular strange obsession, not so much because of always making a pick or multiple picks as because of the way he made sure to twist and contort the roster to hang on to players who were not and possibly never will be MLB-ready.