The Orioles may have trouble attracting GM candidates with stature, assuming president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail leaves after the season, Jon Heyman writes at SI.com. Owner Peter Angelos is involved in all the big decisions the Orioles make, sometimes making the calls himself. Angelos loves manager Buck Showalter and there’s some buzz that Angelos could make his manager the GM as well, as unlikely as that seems. Here’s the latest from Heyman:
- Showalter was Angelos’ choice last year, though MacPhail appeared to be leaning toward current Mariners manager Eric Wedge.
- Cal Ripken Jr. doesn’t appear to have interest in becoming a general manager and people close to the longtime Orioles shortstop say they can’t see him working under Angelos as a GM.
- It’s hard to imagine Rangers executive John Hart agreeing to work under Angelos, unless he gets real autonomy.
- Angelos wouldn’t like the idea of hiring a Yankee to turn his franchise around and it appears unlikely that Brian Cashman would leave New York for Baltimore.
- Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine, who grew up rooting for the Orioles, figures to be a candidate for the job.
- Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts has started calling around “in earnest” about possible GMs.
- If the Astros move to the American League, MLB will add an extra Wild Card team next year.
- Mets executives see Justin Turner as a utility player.
Not saying Cashman is my choice for manager, but what does that even mean, Angelos wouldn’t hire a Yankee?
It means the Orioles are being run by a small child.
A really stupid one. If Cashman isn’t under contract with the Yankees he isn’t a Yankee.
This is ridiculous. Cashman said he wants the chance to work in a smaller market. He is proven and it would be brainless to turn him down simply because he “was a Yankee”. Angelos is the worst; this franchise will never be anything short of a disaster until he is gone.
I’m a huge Orioles fan and am disgusted at the level of incompetency observed through all levels of the organization. The blame for this level of incompetency starts at the top. The organization needs to be re-built from the ground up.
1. When did Cashman say he wants the chance to work in a smaller market?
2. Thwe Orioles aren’t exactly a small market team.
ah,yeah i got 2 words for anybody with long memories….albert belle…..all angeolos’ idea..enough said…he is incompetant
So we need to move now. (Astros)…
The fact that LA and Tampa are basically dead to rights right now is horrid.
Orioles = Trainwreck
The name of Heyman’s article is “MacPhail departure a blow to the O’s.” He then goes on to talk about how McPhail’s “stature” is why its bad the Os are losing him, and they will not get someone else of his stature.
What the hell does stature have to do with anything? Reputation doesn’t mean jack without results.
I really didn’t like what he did last offseason by bringing in Reynolds, Vlad, and Lee but still. MacPhail was pretty handcuffed in his tenure there and I think he was just desperately trying to bring SOME excitement. It’s ok to look at results to some degree, but anyone you put in there in the O’s situation isn’t going to have impressive results.
Handcuffed is speculative. MacPhail openly has stated his conviction that spending less money overseas in scouting and contracts is the way to go. I’d agree with the latter statement if he had results.
He arguably did not sign 1 MLB free agent since being the GM that provided any sort of positive return. Handcuffed has nothing to do with that.
No results.
Handcuffed probably wasn’t the right word. But my point was that any GM they hire is not going to be succesful bringing in free agents. Especially as long as Angelos keeps screwing with each GM. With that said, the only way to bring in immediate talent is through the trade market and MacPhail was actually pretty good with that. The Bedard trade was a big win, the Hardy trade was a pretty big win (not too sure about the extension), he dealt Tejada at the perfect time, and there were a couple smaller trades that turned out pretty well for him.
Overall, I’d say he’s pretty good with trades, awful with scouting and development, and the free agency to me is just an N/A because 15 straight losing seasons (guess?) isn’t really appealing to any free agent. So I don’t think he was terrible, he was just bleh
In earnest? More like, he’s identified candidates that meet his expectations and is finally acting on his desire to hire a new GM. Heyman makes it sound like the job is dreadful and no one would want it.
Why is no one saying anything about moving the Astros to the American League means we will have full time inter-league play and probably DH across the board. That seems to me to be a huge change that is getting no attention.
Slightly old news and no they’ll never have a permanent DH in the NL.
Yeah, I hate the idea of continually interleague play.
Just think about it since the astros suck so bad in the NL central just imagine how bad they will be in the AL west. It wont really be that much if any worse record than they have now a sub .400 winning percentage team. My point in all of this rambling is that you will consistently be in the top 5 of the 1st year player draft and if they put about 25 mil per year towards that they will have no choice but greatly improve their farm and eventually their MLB team. And you will have carlos lee outta left field and into the DH role and that in itself will help the team.
As an Orioles fan, I don’t understand the passion so many other fans for Ripken to come in as a GM. He has no experience whatsoever running a team at that or any level. I’m not sure how many more ways it can suck to be an Orioles fan, but having to fire Cal Ripken is definitely one of them. There’s a role for him, though: he should be the international liaison for a team that needs to expand it’s international presence.
Wait a second. You don’t want to fire him, you’d just rather send him out of the country? And I thought NY fans were tough…
Ripken’s best fit with the O’s would probably be as the owner. I agree that the idea of Ripken as the GM is a big gamble that makes little sense. He has no experience and no proven ability in such a role.
Wait a second. You don’t want to fire him, you’d just rather send him out of the country? And I thought NY fans were tough…