CONFIRMED DEAL: The Boston Red Sox catcher and a first-rate pitcher have been formally announced by Baltimore. However.

It has been an interesting offseason, to say the least, here in Birdland. We were staring down the barrel of another disappointing winter only a couple weeks ago. There had been no moves at all, and it looked bleak. Despite winning over 100 games and a window that looked wide open, this team needed support. Yes, they would get better and more prepared naturally for postseason baseball by just being together and having done it, but with the best farm system in baseball and a need to upgrade multiple spots on the roster, where was the urgency?

They had to go big this year. Even if it wasn’t a huge signing, at least trade for a starting pitcher to help cover some innings. Outside of signing Craig Kimbrel to help ease the blow of Felix Bautista‘s absence, little to nothing had been done.

Truthfully, this slow offseason was starting to lessen my faith in this front office. Held back by John Angelos or not, they had to make a move, yet they stayed put, not wanting to pay the high prices attached to the best starters on the trade market.

I had a piece ready to go slamming Mike Elias, similar to a FanGraphs article a few weeks ago titled, “Come on, Orioles do Something.” So why didn’t I go through with it? The simple answer is, I wanted to wait it out, hoping against hope for more moves. While it was true that the Orioles had done nothing, most teams were in the same boat.