9:59 pm: MacPhail made his decision last month and told several fellow general managers in September that he wouldn't return in 2012, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).
7:49 pm: Andy MacPhail will leave his position as the Orioles' president of baseball operations because of family obligations, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link). MacPhail's current contract expires on October 31, when he will officially part ways with the team, reports MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli.
MacPhail has been widely predicted to leave the O's this offseason, though there had been speculation in recent days that he could remain with the team. With manager Buck Showalter staying in the dugout, the Orioles now join the Angels and Cubs (and theoretically the Yankees, Red Sox and Astros) as teams looking to hire a new general manager this winter. It will be hard to tell how much freedom a general manager will have in Baltimore, given the rumors that Showalter could be the de facto GM and owner Peter Angelos' reputation for involving himself in the team business.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports the situation with Showalter is "still fluid" and the manager could still be convinced to take on the GM's job. Rosenthal also names Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava and Marlins assistant GM Dan Jennings as two executives under consideraton to be Baltimore's next general manager.
MacPhail, 58, has served as Baltimore's president of baseball operations since June 20, 2007. The Orioles had a 307-433 record under MacPhail's watch, never winning more than 69 games in his 4.5 years with the team. Prior to coming to the Orioles, MacPhail won two World Series titles as the Twins' general manager from 1985 to 1994, and was the Cubs' team president from 1995 to 2005. His name has been mentioned as a possible successor to Bud Selig as Major League Baseball's commissioner.
This is the day that turns the Orioles organization upside down.
I hope the orioles some day get sold to an ownership group led by Cal Ripken
Can I “like” this a billion times?
There is a God!
and
Thank God for that!
Good Riddance!
addition by subtraction
orioles and angels in the early lead for best offseason
Only true if they hire a decent GM. Allowing Buck to manage and control player movement is a terrible idea IMO.
they will step back again if they hire another loser, but this is a step forward
Fair enough. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for Dipoto (but expecting to be disappointed).
In no way do I want this to happen, but wouldn’t it be fitting if the Orioles hired Theo to be their General Manager? I wonder what Buck would have to say about it?
Unfortunately, they probably will hire another loser. Or, at best, another good old boy who was a winner 20 years ago, just like MacPhail.
Reports may say that Peter Angelos has softened and given up some control over the past few years, but I won’t believe it until I see the Orioles young, successful executive with a solid history in scouting and/or player development. If Angelos isn’t willing to open up the checkbook and spend with the big boys, and I seriously doubt he it, that’s the kind of GM the Orioles need.
Unfortunately, they probably will hire another loser. Or, at best, another good old boy who was a winner 20 years ago, just like MacPhail.
Reports may say that Peter Angelos has softened and given up some control over the past few years, but I won’t believe it until I see the Orioles young, successful executive with a solid history in scouting and/or player development. If Angelos isn’t willing to open up the checkbook and spend with the big boys, and I seriously doubt he it, that’s the kind of GM the Orioles need.
Theo! I kid, I kid.
Who the heck is Bob Nightengale and where does he get his information?
MacPhail made his decision last month and told several fellow general managers in September that he wouldn’t return in 2012, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today
Andy MacPhail told several GM’s.. Really?? Why would other opposing GM’s swear to a vowel of silence and secrecy?
This guy is ridiculous!
PS Why is there propoganda spreading about Jerry Dipoto who is he and what has he ever done?
Chuck LaMar for GM!
the infamous vowel of silence. like a consonant of quiet, only more secreter
just like drink your ovaltine in the Christmas Story with the secret decoder ring.
Vowel or Vow it’s all good LOL
Dipoto? Look him up. He did some things for a playoff team.
Lefty you are right, this is a bunch of baloney. MacPhail is the most secretive GM I can think of. This is the last thing he would do.
Nobody can sit back and look at the results of the past 4 years of Andy’s tenure and say that things changed for the better, at least not yet. Some of the players Andy acquired in trades still haven’t played much for this team, but is anybody thinking that Jo-Jo Reyes, Tommy Hunter, and Chris Davis are going to become very good players? We know Davis has a lot of power. We also know that he has trouble connecting the bat to the ball. Tommy Hunter is a power pitcher with some control, but no out pitch. Jo-Jo Reyes….well, he’s a bullpen arm at best. Some of his trades have made an immediate impact, such at Reynolds and Hardy. While the individual performances might be getting better than the year before, the team as a whole is still awful.
A new GM isn’t going to change anything, especially if it is another MacPhail type who will be content to keep his mouth shut, operate on a shoe string budget, be told what to do on all the major moves whether he likes it or not, and will be hearing it constantly from the Owner and the Manager about what he should and should not do. Really, who wants that job? And the guy that actually REALLY wants this job…do you want him? I want a GM who will come in here and demand to have full control over the team. To be given a budget and to be allowed to operate any way he sees fit within that budget.
Another lame duck GM just means more of the same in Bird Land. I don’t know how much more I can stand more of the same. No stability, no direction, no organization. The front office always looks inept in just about everything it attempts to do. Half-hearted offers to top tier FA’s and then crying foul when shockingly the player goes to a better team for MORE MONEY.
Something needed to change alright, but I don’t think it was the GM.
this argument is so full of holes i stopped mid counter and deleted it.
If by holes you mean what actually is happening, then you’d be correct. Go ahead and bury your head in the sand while a figure head GM makes promises that “The check book is open,” and that “things will be different, we’re really going to turn things around.” Meanwhile we will sign no top tier free agents, we’ll continue to pin unlikely expectations on rookie pitchers that have no track record of success, stop gap players will be filtered in and out every season, and the team will still be one of the worst in the game of baseball.
The GM wasn’t the problem. He may have been part of the problem, but it is a much larger thing that just one person or one specific item.
So go ahead, stop reading something you can’t understand and then just ignore it. Then continue to wonder why you have no clue as to what is going on and why in 4-5 more years you’ll have all the same unanswered questions about why this team is as bad as it still is.
Ignorance is one thing. Stupidity is another. You can fix ignorance, but you can’t fix stupid.
Happy to see him go, sad to see another GM get thrown to the wolves (aka me).
How original…
How original…