After much deliberation and sweating from the fans, the Orioles finally made the decision on Buck Showalter as the new manager of the team. Showalter is expected to be in uniform Aug. 3, says multiple sources close to the situation. 

Baltimore will be the fourth big league stop for Showalter who compiled a career 882-833 record (.514) during 11 seasons with the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. He was named the 1994 and 2004 AL Manager of the Year.

Showalter has not managed a game at any level since he was fired by the Rangers, Oct. 4, 2006. He served as senior baseball advisor for the Cleveland Indians for the 2007 season before returning to the commentating side as a baseball analyst for ESPN.

Stan "The Fan" Charles offers his take on the O's new skipper.

Gotta Have The Horses? Buck is Right Rider

By Stan "The Fan" Charles

Even my late mother, when talking about baseball, would quote Casey Stengel's stock reply about a manager's importance to a team: "You gotta have the horses." Well, don't horses need to have jockeys to guide them through the myriad of things that can happen during a race?

This baseball mantra repeats over and over again when a team plays poorly and is now treated like the gospel. Luckily for the Orioles, new manager Buck Showalter believes differently.

In fact, he is so confident in his ability to be a difference-maker, the two-time Manager of the Year (1994, 2004) is jumping back into managing in the deep, deep waters of the AL East.

Orioles fans should be excited on a couple of levels. First, somehow the team of Peter Angelos and Andy MacPhail convinced Showalter he can get the type of support needed to move this flat-lining franchise back into the land of the living. Second, at 54 years old and desirous of getting back to the work he loves, Showalter just may be changed enough to lead and to follow.

While Showalter can clearly lead, as proven by his work in New York, Arizona and Texas, he has also had issues in his ability to handle being managed himself.

Issues aside, there are a few things I want to get on the record:

Buck Showalter is the right guy at the right time to lead the Orioles out of the wilderness and take them back to the future we envisioned when MacPhail came riding in on his white horse three long years ago.

Buck Showalter could be the longest-running manager in Baltimore since Earl Weaver held the reigns from mid-way through 1968 through 1982.

More importantly, it's clear there will not be simple, clear sailing on the Good Ship, Birdland. With an oil-and-water combination like MacPhail and Showalter about to run the show, there's bound to be some ups and downs. But where is it written in stone, like the aforementioned "You gotta have the horses," friction creates a bad baseball team?

Between Sam Perlozzo and Dave Trembley, the losses piled up, but the sailing always seemed clear.

While the daily post-game shows on MASN are not the place for going off on Mel Gibson-like rants, it does seem like the place for someone as smart as Showalter to create a connection with fans and once and for all have someone managing games with a heartbeat that shows.

I, for one, will be rooting for Showalter.

Posted July 29, 2010 (Photo courtesy of ESPN)