I haven’t done talk radio in any meaningful way in a long time, but as stunning as the Brandon Hyde firing was, you could see it coming a mile away. The second-year owners who spent a fortune for their baseball team had incredibly high expectations that weren’t being met as each loss piled on top of one another.
Pittsburgh’s Derek Shelton and Colorado’s Bud Black were recently fired by teams that didn’t figure to do much in the way of contending. Look at the teams’ records since the firings. The Pirates are 3-5 and the Rockies are 1-5. Don’t expect much better out of the Pirates under Don Kelly or Rockies under Warren Schaeffer.
Time could prove me wrong, but neither strikes me as someone who is a culture changer in the clubhouse. Interim manager Tony Mansolino will have an opportunity to do so in Baltimore.
However, in all my years watching the Orioles, the only manager who immediately changed the culture of the Orioles was Buck Showalter. And I have seen some pretty decent managers come through here — Frank Robinson, Johnny Oates and Davey Johnson to name a few. But none of them actively changed the psyche of a team the way Showalter did.
So, if the culture isn’t going to change, what are the reasons a club decides to move on from the man who had managed the Orioles for 913 games at the first major sign of trouble?
It’s honestly hard for me to really imagine Mike Elias & Co. believe Mansolino will impact this team in a net positive way. No offense, but managing doesn’t seem any more in his DNA than it was in Sam Perlozzo’s or Cal Ripken Sr.’s. All three are terrific baseball lifers.
Is it possible that for the first time in his seven-year tenure here that Elias may be feeling the heat himself? After all, as The Baltimore Sun‘s Jacob Calvin Meyer pointed out, it wasn’t Hyde who signed eight major league free agents for below-replacement-level production.
The Tyler O’Neill signing is especially galling in that his contract is now most likely a three-year deal for about $50 million. He had been on the IL 14 times in his career before signing the contract. Now it’s up to 16. After watching O’Neill up close, I scratch my head as to who scouted him and thought he was a positive addition in terms of his baseball acumen.
Kyle Gibson being designated for assignment isn’t shocking. I didn’t think the signing was a bad one, but a lat injury to Zach Eflin made the Orioles rush Gibson to the major leagues after he signed late in spring training. I fail to understand how the club thought a 37-year-old could expedite his readiness without spring training. Why not sign him in time to prepare the right way, especially considering the team rolled the dice with 35-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano and 41-year-old Charlie Morton?
In fairness to both Hyde and Elias, they were hit by an amazing run of bad luck, starting with Kyle Bradish needing Tommy John surgery last June. Grayson Rodriguez hasn’t thrown a major league pitch since late last July. Andrew Kittredge hasn’t thrown a pitch yet, either. Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg are in the midst of lost first halves. Gunnar Henderson started slowly after missing most of spring training. O’Neill has been hurt or ineffective.
From the moment John Angelos hired Mike Elias, the latter had pretty much — aside from budgetary restraints — a free hand in baseball operations with nobody looking over his shoulder.
That is changing by the day now. This ownership group will not be as laissez faire as Angelos was. David Rubenstein has been like the friendly grandfather since buying the team with his group. He has been seen tossing hats to fans and playing Rubensplash to wet fans.
It’s all good PR, but now in his second season, Rubenstein is seeing the rubber meet the road. I assure you he didn’t amass a fortune of roughly $4 billion by playing the fool.
Rubenstein and Elias felt it was time for a change. They held Hyde accountable. Now the spotlight shines much more intensely on the next man in the pecking order.
I am not rooting for anything to happen to Elias, but eventually he’ll be judged as well. His recent track record isn’t taking the heat off of him. Not at all.
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