Wednesday Bird Droppings: An agreement has been reached, and we are waiting on the incredible ace to arrive.

More details on the Camden Yards lease, heat check in the East, and twiddling our thumbs until a move is made.

Good morning, Birdland!

The waiting continues. In case you haven’t heard, Yoshinobu Yamamoto still hasn’t picked a team. Whenever he does pick a team it won’t be the Orioles. But his delay has drawn the entire pitching market to a halt.

The latest information came from reporter Bob Klapisch. He says that teams feel that the process is likely to extend beyond Christmas and could even drag into the new year. This comes after Yamamoto has already reportedly met in-person with the all of the league’s biggest teams, including the Yankees and Red Sox. It would seem that formal offers should materialize from there, all of which are expected to exceed $250 million before factoring in the posting fee. As Yamamoto mulls, the rest of us stand by.

Teams that don’t get Yamamoto may turn to free agents like Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery, so those two are standing pat. Many of the winter’s biggest trade chips are also pitchers, specifically Dylan Cease, Corbin Burnes, and Shane Bieber. Their current teams will want to get top dollar, and that means waiting for the deep-pocketed teams in on Yamamoto to be fully engaged in trade talks.

The Orioles’ most likely avenue to acquire a front-half starter remains via trade. That’s been true since the season ended, and nothing that has happened since has pushed them away from that reality. But they don’t seem to be in the driver’s seat here. The pace at which a trade happens is up to the team holding the desired big leaguer, and none of them seem inclined to jump Yamamoto in line.

Links

What’s noteworthy in Orioles lease? Wish list includes removing ballpark seats to create social spaces and more. | The Baltimore Sun
Camden Yards is about to get a lot more social, it appears. Many of the desired renovation projects around the park seem aimed at allowing patrons to enjoy the game from somewhere other than a traditional ballpark seat. But there is more practical stuff included, like eventual updates to video and audio systems in the park. As far as I can tell, there is no timeline just yet on these updates.