As The Orioles Turn

A friend of mine made the mistake of asking for my thoughts on the O's hirings and firings and general DRAMA. He got an essay...

The firing of Sammy was sad but necessary. He is a great guy and he loves the Orioles and that was his dream job...but goddamn was he bad at it. He lost us a lot of games and drove me nuts but honestly, right now I just want to give the guy a hug and buy him a stiff drink. Obviously, he wasn't the only problem. The offense has been sucktacular and really, what can be said about our bullpen that hasn't already been said about the war in Iraq? But something had to be changed because we'd hit rock bottom (theoretically) and you can't fire 25 players or Peter Angelos.

The Mazzone situation is the downside to firing Perlozzo. They are BFFs and Sammy is the only reason Leo is here. His first season with the team he didn't get much in the way of results, other than Bedard. But this season the starters are 3rd in the league in ERA and even with the bullpen leading the league in losses and our closer having a 243.00 ERA with the bases loaded (I didn't make that number up), the team ERA is 5th in the league. The Mazzone effect appears to be for real. Alas, there is a little chance he'll stick around next year, since he is pretty pissed that they fired his best friend. He's staying this season because he likes the young pitchers he's working with a lot (especially Guthrie, I think).

As for new managers, they're apparently talking to Girardi today. I don't know how I feel about him. He screams overrated. I dig his hardass attitude, but he only has one year of managerial experience and although he did win Manager of the Year, the team finished at .480. Also, after his fall out with Loria, I don't know if he could work under Angelos. But he'd be better than what we have, I'm sure.

Davey Johnson is another top contender for the job and he might have my vote. He was our last successful manager (playoffs in '96 and '97) and not only has many years of successful management on his resume (he managed the '86 Mets) but he's tough and smart and still loves the O's. He and Angelos had a huge falling out at the end of '97 over Angelos' meddling ways and Davey's contract. He resigned and they didn't talk for years. They allegedly patched it up a couple of years ago when Angelos made a peace offering after Davey's daughter died rather tragically. They also kissed and made up at the funeral of Elrod Hendricks.

There is a dirty, dirty rumor that Dusty Baker is in the running. If they hire Dusting Fucking Baker, I will fly down to Camden Yards and burn the Warehouse down.

Possibly even bigger news than the manager issue is the surprise hiring of Andy MacPhail to be COO. This allegedly represents Angelos finally giving somebody full control and taking a less involved role in baseball operations. If this is true, and MacPhail really has full operational control, its a pretty big deal. Either Angelos finally realized that his ways weren't working after 15 yrs or his advanced age is becoming a factor. Angelos is a stubborn asshole and a terrible owner, but he does want to win. Maybe he's finally admitted that he doesn't know how to do that.

MacPhail is a 3rd generation baseball guy. His father and grandfather, Lee and Larry are both in the HOF. His father, Lee, was the GM that built the first WS Champion Orioles team and the foundation upon which all the dynasty teams after that were based. Andy grew up in MD as an Orioles fan and has a dog named after Brooks Robinson. He won two WS as GM of the Twins. Those are the good things. The bad thing is that he was the CEO of the Cubs from 1994-2006 and the GM from 2000-2001. Because clearly, the best way to defeat the culture of losing in Baltimore is to bring in a guy from the Chicago Cubs. They really know how to win.
His role with the team is unclear past the part where he has operational control - basically, we don't know what is up the GMs. He might have a Lucchino type role.

So, in summation, I would like to see Davey Johnson as our new manager but anybody other than Dusty Baker would be an upgrade. If Angelos is not going to be involved in baseball operations anymore, that can only be a good thing. And besides, it got us some national TV airtime - a fun rarity for an out of towner like me. We should fire people everyday! That was a precious 5 minutes ESPN took away from their scheduled retrospective of the Yankee winning streak and the special documentary on the Life and Times of Will Nieves. All in all, it's been a pretty fun 24 hrs in Birdland.