“Virtually every level of the [Orioles] organization is in flux,” The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes in his latest subscription-only piece, as he describes how John and Lou Angelos (the sons of owner Peter Angelos) are taking an increasingly larger role in the team’s regular operations. The elder Angelos “is less involved than at any point in his” 25 years of owning the team, Rosenthal notes, and it could mark significant changes in how the O’s do business in the coming seasons. Most directly, the changes could impact executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter, both of whom are in the final years of their contracts.
Despite the Orioles’ success in Duquette’s tenure, there has long been speculation surrounding his future in Baltimore, particularly after the Blue Jays made a strong push to lure Duquette away in the 2014-15 offseason. Duquette “is frustrated by his loss of power,” Rosenthal writes, as Lou Angelos, Showalter, and VP of baseball ops Brady Anderson also have significant voices within the team’s front office. Anderson, in fact, “was the point man” in Baltimore’s signings of Alex Cobb, Andrew Cashner, and Chris Tillman this offseason.
It isn’t clear what direction the Orioles will take if Duquette did leave after the season. Anderson may prefer to remain in his somewhat undefined role (which hasn’t always pleased some past players and coaches) rather than become an official general manager, while it’s also possible Showalter could move into a front office role rather than continue in the dugout. Sources within the organization aren’t sure if Showalter would prefer to keep managing or shift to a baseball operations position, though he could conceivably do both in some capacity — a GM would be hired to handle day-to-day business while Showalter acted as the de facto front office head while still managing the team.
Of course, much could also depend on the direction of the Orioles’ season, as the team could look to trade one or more of its prominent free agents (i.e. Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Zach Britton, Brad Brach) if it falls out of contention. A total rebuild seems unlikely, as Cobb just signed for four seasons and the O’s would still have a core group that includes Jonathan Schoop, Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman, Trey Mancini, and older veterans like Chris Davis.
Though John and Lou Angelos have been involved in a wide variety of the Orioles’ operations, “concerns exist in the industry about their ability to run a franchise” since Peter Angelos carried such a dominant role in the team’s business, Rosenthal writes. There are some indications, however, that the Angelos brothers’ influence is helping the franchise act in a more efficient way. For instance, since the owner’s approval is no longer constantly required, some of the decision-making process has gone from “painstakingly slow” to “more streamlined.” Some in the front office feel that the new direction will lead to the Orioles spending more on young talent pipelines such as the international signing process, which the O’s have (somewhat notoriously) almost entirely avoided in recent years — sources tell Rosenthal that “Peter Angelos never found anyone he trusted to run the international department.”
Until there is no Angelos owning it they will suck. When you are not willing to field major league pitchers nothing else matters.
So you don’t think that Cobb and Cashner are major league pitchers?
MLB teams require more than 2 major league pitchers haha
They are a 3 and a 4, at best. The team needs a 1 and a 2.
Gausman and Bundy have 1 & 2 ceilings. In which order you’d put them in is subject to discussion.
This Oriole team sucks more because of areas that are traditional O’s strengths: bottom of the order hitting and the bullpen. The starting pitching doesn’t look so bad in the long run by comparison
Bundy Gausman Cobb and Cashner not a bad staff
It could be the best staff the Os have had in a long time, but the bullpen looks lost and the lineup is hugely struggling. Amazingly this team looks to be easily the worst of the Buck era when on paper it seems like it should be better than the 2017 team
Give the sons a chance. Look at the Yankees. You never know. If they actually have the ability to make changes, can they really make it worse? As a Sox fan, any news about changes in Charm City are bad news. Simply put, status quo is great news for the other AL East teams.
Out with all the Angelos family we need owners that want to field a good team. Until you put major league pitchers on the mound nothing else matters.
Why don’t you post it again, maybe someone will care.
What on earth would indicate—in anyway whatsoever— that the Angelos family doesn’t wish to field a competitive team?
They can wish it all they want — but they refuse to sign and are unable to develop top talent, on and off the field. Then they go and allow terrible moves like the Chris Davis contract and trading Arrieta for next to nothing. The Angelos family are ambulance chasers not title chasers.
Yankees , RedSox and Blue Jays appear to be running da O’s
At the moment, yes.
“it’s also possible Showalter could move into a front office role”
Showalter is too old to be employed as a manager or GM. 35 years old is the cutoff for a GM and 40 is the cutoff for manager.
Gabe Kapler hired a __28__ year old assistant hitting coach, Pedro Guerreo (no relation to the former Dodgers player). The assistant hitting coach for the Phillies is four years younger than Carlos Santana.
In a few years kids in the Little League World Series will get hired as coaches and General Managers.
They might do better because kids say the darndest things…..
I’m honestly not sure how to take this. The average age for a GM is not 35, dude. If you look up the ages of all of them then you see over half of them are well over 45. If I recall correctly Buck showalter is 58 or 59 now. Dan Duqquete is 59. You must have just pulled your stats from left field. Or you could just be looking for attention. Who knows?
“half of them are well over 45.”
Not when they were hired.
Jon Daniels is 40 years old. How old was he when he was hired as GM of the Rangers? Phillies, Brewers…..
Has Joe Girardi been hired to manage again? Joe Girardi is 53 years old.
How old was Joe Girardi when he was hired to manage the Yankees?
Jim Leyland had a good reputation during his career, in 2006 he was hired by the Tigers to help with their rebuild. He was 61 at the time. Terry Francona was 54 when he was hired by the Indians.
Girardi will likely be a candidate for a few spots after this season or possibly during the season if the Phillies have an open rebellion against Kapler.
“Jim Leyland”
When did Jim Leyland last manage?
Will Terry Francona ever manage another team? His health is not the answer.
Why was Pete Mackanin fired by the Phillies just months after being extended and then seeing the Phillies on field play improve dramatically?
Dusty Baker just got canned, can’t find another job and was replaced by a peach fuzz face.
Do you think Baker will ever manage another team?
When do you think a GM over 50 years old will be hired again?
MLB seems ripe for an age discrimination lawsuit.
We should write our congressmen and senators and demand our Social Security retirement kick in at 50 years old.
Joe Girardi? Of course he’ll get another opportunity when he wants it. No one talks about it but timing is everything. Girardi’s contract expired and the team got hammered publicly years ago negotiating with Joe Torre. They would have had to offer a new multi year deal at huge bucks so if a move was going to be made, last year was the time to do it. They saved millions as compared to firing him at the end of 2018. Personally, I think he handled Sanchez correctly. A manager has to manage and as great a talent as Sanchez is, he appeared lazy at times behind the plate. Sanchez has the bat and arm but stopping balls is part of being a catcher. My question is with that bat, why have him catch? He should have been learning first base to save on his knees. I also love Bird but he’s an injury always waiting to happen.
“Replaced by a peach fuzz face”
Hahaha Dave Martinez is 53 years old. Think you have successfully shot your self in the foot.
Funny. I think you just implied that the Phillies are a model organization.
“I think you just implied that the Phillies are a model organization.”
A model for what?
I’ll assume you are joking. But in case you’re not, you know there’s no maximum age to run a team as gm or field manager. Some, let’s call them “ old school” baseball guys are smart enough and fullllu capable of adapting to the “new” way of baseball. Give me one of those guys any day.
*fully
Why don’t you tell Showalter that, just let me get a front row seat and some popcorn first.
You can stick a fork in Tillman because he’s done. Hopefully we see David Hess get a shot in the rotation in the coming weeks.
I do think he’s done. Last night was a substantial move in that dismal direction. The key will be for Buck to wake up to this sooner rather than later (unlike how loyal Buck was to a failing Jimenez).
Right now the biggest concern for Baltimore is their hitting. Awful start for a team loaded with bats. That wasn’t the expectation going into the season.
Whomever is responsible for their 2 massively bad sluggers contracts needs to go…..after being flogged.
Sorry are you referencing Epstein and Hayward; Sabean and his pitchers; Rizzo and Strasburg. Look around: most teams have made their fair share of poor signings.
Rizzo signing Strasburg isn’t a poor signing
Re Strasburg, I tend to agree; but it’s hardly a great signing. He’s not an elite pitcher, likely never will be.
Lmao if he was on the Orioles you’d be saying he’s the greatest pitcher in the league. To even lump him in with the Davis contract is ridiculous
He’s pretty dang good… have you looked at his numbers? He only seems like he hasn’t been great because he was ticketed to be the best.
Strasburg is a fine deal. There’s a long way to go on the deal but that’s the price you pay for a guy like that. Well worth it thus far.
How’s that Cobb signing working out so far?
Seriously? You are a complete moron
Yeah, you’re probably right. I was way out of line saying that, what was I thinking? He’s a great pitcher.
Cobb has had success pitching out of the AL East. A much better risk to take over Lance Lynn who’s been hiding in the NL Central his entire career. Injuries or not, a good gamble.
Hindsight is always 20/20 when it comes to pitching, but the O’s should have spent the Davis money on Machado. Pitching is outlier! Other than Scherzer Sale, and a few others most are unpredictable from one year to the next.
Sure the Orioles would like to undo that Cobb signing. One of the worst signings ever. Unbelievable.
Yeah exactly—he’s been consistently AWFUL for them ;-)
Where’s outinleftfield? Isn’t he the foremost authority on all things Orioles…
Success under duquette. He blundered what MacPhail was building. So any success was by default.
Showalter is a loser. As long as he’s there they will be just good enough to never win anything.
?
He posts this stuff about every team…
Buck is loyal to his players to a fault. The fact that he kept trotting Tillman and Jimenez out there all season last year is testament to that. Mike Wright does not belong in the Majors. I’m sure he had a lot of influence in the bad re-signings of Trumbo and Davis. This team doesn’t bunt or hit for singles or steal bases. All they do is swing from the heels. That falls on the manager. I’m tired of his schtick.
Ridiculous.
I would also add that Peter Angelos is now. 89. If anything should happen to Peter, what happens to the ownership? I have heard that given that situation, the team will be sold.
Use the int market to once. It is one of the most clueless things a front office could do