Fans sitting in the upper deck will get a bit more room to stretch their legs as the Maryland Stadium Authority has announced that there will be some changes made to Camden Yards. Larger seats in the upper deck is just one of the few minor changes announced for the ballpark as it enters its 20th year in service. Railings that currently obstruct the view of the field in the upper deck will be redesigned to be less conspicuous and out of the way.
The left field “all you can eat porch” will have its bistro-style seating expanded and further minor improvements. All-in-all the end result will be a reduction in the stadium’s overall capacity from just under 49 thousand seats to just under 46 thousand seats.
So any rumors about a restaurant or expanded bar or picnic area – this should put them all to rest. For now at least.
In other Orioles news; in a recent tweet Sports Illustrated Jon Heyman stated that the Orioles were being “aggressive” at the early onset of Free Agency. What exactly does that mean? I have no idea. The cynic in me immediately goes: “…when I see it..” and there is next to nothing we can actually sink our teeth into here but its nice to think that the Orioles are being proactive for a change.
Former Seattle Mariners skipper Don Wakamatsu, close friend and colleague of Orioles manager Buck Showalter, decided to take the bench coach job with the Toronto Blue Jays. Some people have used this as criticism of the Orioels situation. That is to say, how bad must the Orioles be that even Showalter’s friends are turning him down. But that is just reaching. Wakamatsu was a major league manager, he wants to be a major league manager again in the near-term odds are he has a much better chance of that happening in Toronto than in Baltimore, I think it is just as simple as that.
Outside of that not a lot is happening in Birdland right now. The winter meetings are just around the corner and we should start seeing things pick up, hopefully. The Orioles need to take some serious steps forward this offseason, they simply have no reason to stand pat.
