Brandon Hyde’s tenure as Orioles manager was a mixed bag, to say the least.
The 51-year-old brought Baltimore to the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons, led the club’s first 100-win campaign in four decades and turned a rebuild into one of the top teams in MLB. But he also never won a postseason game and led the Orioles’ worst start through 43 games since 2019.
Fans who attended Saturday’s game between the Orioles and the Nationals woke up in the morning like usual. They arrived at the ballpark with the news that they’d see a new skipper.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” said 25-year-old Spencer Sherman of Baltimore. “Brandon Hyde was handed a bag of shit at the beginning of the season and told to go win the World Series.”
Sherman was unfiltered. He felt Hyde was a scapegoat, a move general manager Mike Elias made that distracts from “absolutely disastrous offseason moves.”
The primary offensive additions offensively were outfielders Tyler O’Neill and Ramón Laureano, both batting under .240. The former is hitting below the Mendoza Line. While Laureano has provided needed pop — his five home runs rank fourth on the team — he wasn’t signed to be an everyday player.
The primary adds to the pitching staff were 35-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano and 41-year-old Charlie Morton. Sugano has a 3.08 ERA through nine starts, but Morton’s signing has proved disastrous. He has been moved to the bullpen.
“We’re [a] halfway retirement home for players that are ready to move on in the league,” Sherman said.
Sherman was adamantly more annoyed with Elias than Hyde, feeling he’s the reason for the Orioles’ poor start to the season. He said Elias is “slowly tearing apart” what could’ve been a perennial dominant team in MLB.
Sherman understood something needed to change, and while he felt Hyde’s firing was the wrong move, he was appreciative that management isn’t standing pat.
That feeling is the same for 62-year-old Jody Walter of Hanover, Pa. But Walter still thinks the move came too soon, not even through the end of May. Hyde is now the third manager around the big leagues fired in the past two weeks, joining Pittsburgh’s Derek Shelton and Colorado’s Bud Black.
Walter said that the move could possibly ignite the team in the short-term but won’t be something that turns the season completely around.
“It could bring them down a little bit, but then on the other hand it could help them, it’s really had to say,” said 45-year-old Megan Gordon of Hagerstown.
Doug and Catherine Simpson, both 61 years old from Sparks, didn’t think the firing was warranted and the struggles stem from the Orioles’ front office.
“I think that’s just the management’s fault,” Doug said. “To me, I think he’s a really good coach. He brought us up to a certain level, and you can’t go any farther unless you have the players.”
Doug mentioned how the firing doesn’t change the players on the roster, which has included clear struggles both pitching and hitting. He especially noted the issues batting against left-handed pitching — batters combined for a .542 OPS against southpaws entering play on Saturday.
“Higher-level teams like the Yankees and the Dodgers, how are you going to compete with them if you can’t hit left-handed [pitching]?” Doug Simpson said.
Both Doug and Catherine said the thing they’re miss the most is Hyde’s positive attitude and him as a person. They love people who stick with an organization — Catherine turned around to show her Trey Mancini jersey as proof.
But not everyone at the ballpark was mad about the firing.
Michael Harris, 51 years old from Washington, D.C., was told the news on the way to the stadium and expected the move. He said Hyde’s dismissal was warranted, and that “something had to happen.” Harris was happy someone new would manage to potentially change how the season was going.
There was no consensus of fans’ opinion on Hyde’s firing ahead of the first game in the post-Hyde era. Like how to describe the manager’s tenure itself, there wasn’t a clear answer.
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