"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Commentary & AnalysisOrioles ProspectsOrioles Game RecapsOrioles News and RumorsCamdencastBird DroppingsSaturday’s Bird Droppings: Where we enter the final weekend without baseballNew Cheslor Cuthbert Jersey ,57commentsThe Orioles have signed a big leaguer and announced their minor league coaching staffs.ESTShareTweetShareShareSaturday’s Bird Droppings: Where we enter the final weekend without baseballKim Klement-USA TODAY SportsMorning, Birdland!It’s been a brutally cold off-season in the Baltimore area, and the threat of snow and below-freezing temperatures will remain in the air for several more weeks at least. But there is an oasis nearing. Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota, Florida this week, Tuesday to be precise. Our annual, months-long nightmare is nearly over.The first official game of the Orioles spring won’t take place until February 23, there won’t be live radio coverage of any action until the 25th, apparently, and the team is yet to unveil an official TV schedule for the spring. So, we do need to contain our “excitement” for a little while longer.For now Brian Flynn Jersey , let’s get jazzed about seeing B-roll of the pitchers playing catch and hearing interviews with a bunch of players and coaches we’ve never heard of before. Woo!LinksJoe Angel’s retiring from Orioles broadcasts - Baltimore BaseballNoooooooooooooooooooooo! It’s not official, but this is a supreme bummer if true. Blah.Orioles announce 2019 minor league coaches and development staff - CCI won’t pretend to understand the minutiae of baseball organizations and their minor league coaching decisions, but Buck Britton seems to be highly-regarded by the Orioles brass. He’s gone from Delmarva hitting coach to Delmarva manager to Bowie manager in three successive seasons across two different front offices. Pretty impressive for a 32-year-old.A Uni Watch Look at Frank Robinson - Uni WatchFrank Robinson wore a lot of uniforms during his storied career. He’s been immortalized in three cities, but we will always think of him with the smiling bird on his cap. Why signing Nate Karns is exactly the kind of move the O’s should make - The AthleticIt’s a one-year deal for Karns that could be worth as little as $800,000. The Orioles get the possible added bonus of holding onto the pitcher for an additional year through arbitration if they’re interested. It’s a fine deal for both sides. Karns joins a team that needs veteran pitching, where he will get a fair shot to prove he’s healthy and capable of staying in the bigs. Not flashy, but a logical move by Mike Elias.Can Cadyn Grenier become the next great Orioles shortstop? - The AthleticHis first season of professional baseball was not too kind to O’s second round pick Cadyn Grenier. No matter how you slice it, he struggled. But his bat started to heat up down the stretch, and his glove is highly regarded by every scouting resource. It’s too early to be comparing him to the likes of Cal, Belanger and Machado http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-ryan-goins-jersey , but the 22-year-old has tools that everyone should be excited about.Orioles birthdays and historyIs it your birthday? Happy Birthday! The biggest name on the list of former Orioles celebrating a birthday today is Vladimir Guerrero. The strong-armed Hall of Famer turns 44. He spent just one season with the O’s, a 145-game 2011 season in which he hit .290/.317/.416 with 13 home runs as the team’s primary DH. His teenage son is expected to torment the Orioles as a member of the division rival Toronto Blue Jays very soon.Also born on this day was 42-year-old Napoleon Calzado, an infielder for four games on the 2005 O’s. He’s joined by 54-year-old right-handed pitcher Doug Linton, who appeared in 14 games back in ‘99. And we have two posthumous celebrations for Erv Palica (b. 1928, d. 1982) and Vic Wertz (b. 1925, d. 1983), two players that briefly played on Orioles teams in the mid-1950’s.1982 - A trade! The O’s send infielder Wayne Krenchicki to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for pitcher Paul Moskau. Krenchicki would play in 332 games for the Reds across four seasons, hitting .283/.350/.393 with a 105 OPS+. Moskau would never play for the Orioles, being plucked off of waivers by the Pirates in early April.2010 - The O’s attempt to fortify their bullpen with the signings of two lefties: Mark Hendrickson and Will Ohman. It didn’t really work as the team finished 66-96. I remember in the days of the Astros.com message board, there would be a monthly thread in which people would enter predictions on record (W-L) and a number of runs scored / allowed. It was a fun..."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Houston Astros NewsGame ThreadsHouston Astros Minor LeaguesAstros Game DayPodcastsCrawfishBoxes Champion: Predict the Astros W-L record in AprilNew Justin Grimm Jersey ,43commentsCDTShareTweetShareShareCrawfishBoxes Champion: Predict the Astros W-L record in AprilErik Williams-USA TODAY SportsI remember in the days of the Astros.com message board, there would be a monthly thread in which people would enter predictions on record (W-L) and a number of runs scored / allowed. It was a fun process, with all of us keeping track through out the month looking at who was most accurate to date. So I figured we could start it here, with each month, the winner being highlighted in the following month’s post.The winner will be determined by the closest on W-L. In the event of a tie on W-L, we will award it to who was closest on Run Differential (you can just put in a +/- Run Differential if you don’t want to spell out runs scored - runs allowed. Technically, we have our first few games in March, but a thread guessing on 4 games wasn’t all that exciting.Normally I’ll spell out a bit of the details of how the teams are performing, but obviously this is the launch of the season, so we’ll just use projections #’s. RS/G means Runs Scored per Game and RA/G means Runs Allowed per game.Tampa Bay Rays - 4 Games - 84-78 - 5.17 RS/G / 4.98 RA/G Texas Rangers - 3 Games - 72-90 - 5.39 RS/G / 6.00 RA/GOakland A’s - 3 Games - 82-80 - 5.57 RS/G / 5.48 RA/GNY Yankees - 3 Games - 97-65 - 5.98 RS/G / 4.88 RA/GSeattle Mariners - 3 Games - 76-86 - 5.26 RS/G / 5.67 RA/GOakland A’s- 2 Games - 82-80 - 5.57 RS/G / 5.48 RA/GTexas Rangers - 3 Games - 72-90 - 5.39 RS/G / 6.00 RA/GMinnesota Twins - 3 games - 82-80 - 5.61 RS/G / 5.54 RA/GCleveland Indians - 4 Games - 93-69 - 5.61 RS/G / 4.83 RA/GMinnesota Twins - 2 games - 82-80 - 5.61 RS/G / 5.54 RA/GTotals - 30 GamesRangers - 6 GamesA’s - 5 GamesTwins - 5 GamesRays - 4 GamesIndians - 4 GamesYankees - 3 GamesMariners - 3 Games21 Games vs (teams over .500) vs 9 Games vs (teams under .500) - 70% Over .500Overall http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-ryan-goins-jersey , this is going to be a tough month, but hopefully the Astros can get off to a strong start to establish their place among the top of the pack. I’ll post an example of guesses below. In addition to just the W-L and Run Differential, put in a fun prediction - these are not counted in the scoring - make them crazy and fun! If you have any recommendations to improve this for next month, please feel free to add them! Predictions must be in before the first pitch of the season! This will be my guesses for April - feel free to use this format: Prediction: 18-12, 175 Runs Scored, 145 Runs Allowed Fun Predictions: Correa is BACK (pun intended), Kemp keeps on Kempin’ - making it harder by the day to not make him a starter, The Astros have 3 starters with an ERA under 3. Gerrit Cole signs an extension.