The Orioles won’t be retaining manager Buck Showalter, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (Twitter link). Showalter will be leaving the organization entirely, and not taking on any other role in the front office.
Showalter’s contract was set to officially expire this month, and it was widely expected that the O’s would be making a change in the dugout in the wake of their nightmarish 115-loss season. There was some speculation that Showalter could be offered another job to remain in the organization, and while Showalter and O’s management had talks about that possibility in the past, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun tweets that “discussions never got to that point” in Showalter’s meeting with team ownership today.
The Orioles’ hideous 2018 performance dragged Showalter’s record as the team’s manager under the .500 mark, ending his tenure at 669-684. While the Showalter era ended on a very sour note, however, it was under his leadership that the Orioles enjoyed a big turnaround. After taking over as manager partway through the 2010 season, Showalter stewarded the team through one more losing season in 2011, extending Baltimore’s stretch of sub-.500 seasons to fourteen. That all changed in 2012, when the O’s made a surprise run to the AL Wild Card game and defeated the Rangers to earn a slot in the ALDS.
2012 was the first five straight non-losing seasons (the club went 81-81 in 2015) for the Orioles, a stretch that included another wild card appearance in 2016 and an AL East title in 2014. That 2014 team was Showalter’s best, a squad that won 96 games and defeated the Tigers in the ALDS to notch Baltimore’s first postseason series victory since 1997. All three of Showalter’s playoff teams in Baltimore outperformed their Pythagorean win-loss record, which is a good indicator of Showalter’s ability in managing a team that often seemed to catch opponents and pundits by surprise. While the O’s had such talents as Manny Machado and Adam Jones anchoring the lineup, plus the likes of Nelson Cruz or Chris Davis contributing big seasons at the plate, Showalter navigated his team to success with a focus on slugging, defense, and a quality bullpen, despite a constant lack of stability in the starting rotation.
Showalter has now concluded four different managerial stints with as many different teams, having previously stewarded the Yankees from 1992-95, the Diamondbacks from 1998-2000, and the Rangers from 2003-06. In each of those cases, Showalter helped take a struggling team (or, in Arizona’s case, an expansion team) to success, so he could stand out as a logical candidate for teams looking for a new manager this offseason. The Reds, for instance, seem to be targeting experienced names as they look to take the next step in their rebuild, so Showalter could potentially end up on their radar screen. The Blue Jays, Twins, Rangers, and Angels are the other clubs with managerial vacancies, plus more openings could still emerge. Of course, this assumes that the 62-year-old Showalter is still interested in managing, as he has been rumored to have interest in front office positions in the past.
Recent reports have indicated that Dan Duquette could stay on as Baltimore’s executive VP of baseball operations, and since Showalter was already in place before Duquette was hired by the Orioles in November 2011, this could be Duquette’s first chance at hiring his own manager (which is no small thing, as there have long been rumors of friction between Duquette and Showalter). It remains to be seen exactly what the Orioles braintrust of Duquette, Brady Anderson and the Angelos family will look for in a new manager, though with the O’s just entering what could be a lengthy rebuild, it seems likely that a new skipper will need to be experienced in developing and teaching young players.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
It’s not Bucks fault theirs no talent in Baltimore
You had a 33% chance, and you blew it.
Who cares?!
Can I lie and say it spell checked lol
THERE’S
I tried to be nice about it.
Who cares?!
Can you come up with something better?
Grammar and spelling count. Spell check has ruined people.
Rough ending, strange franchise – I think he’ll catch on somewhere whether it be managerial or television.
He does a great job on TV.
pure stupidness on the Orioles
Not at all actually. Sad to see him go (I think he’s done some terrific things in Baltimore) but hard to justify keeping any manager after this many losses.
And yet keep the GM who put it together for Buck.
“……the Orioles braintrust of Duquette, Brady Anderson and the Angelos family….”
Combine that with a poor farm system and scouting/personnel staff – put together by the aforementioned – along with a rebuild, and what qualified, in-demand manager wouldn’t be happy to work at half the going rate to have that opportunity.
Being able to write Chris Davis in the line-up every day is especially exciting.
They have a LOT of good things happening on the farm.
To listen to their PR departments, so do 29 other MLB franchises.
He’s probably extremely happy about this decision.
Nope—wanted very badly to remain. LOVES Baltimore and the O’s (as have most who have played there during his tenure).
good for buck. so long O’s.
Can the Marlins get rid of Mattingly and bring in Showalter? That would be a complete opposite end upgrade. Of course, I doubt he’d want to work for this “organization”
Buck is a class act. He brought a new culture to Baltimore that turned things around. I for one, as a fan, will miss him.
Turned things around? Ok, I wonder what their record would’ve been without turning it around, 35-127?
So you’re judging him on one year? That’s smart.
Tonypro well said.
Gotta blame someone, and owners rarely take the blame for the state if there organization. Too many horrible contracts have handcuffed them in adding legitimate talent
That’s honestly not true. Chris Davis is our only big deal. Cobb and trumbo are mid sized deals and then we have nothing that could even be considered as limiting. Our lack of use of the IFA market and inability to develop SP’s is what led to our demise. Admittedly though, even if we had dove into that market earlier it’s likely we’d be rebuilding at this point in time. We would’ve just been further along or we could’ve had the trade chips in the minors in the past that could’ve gotten us to a series. But this is reality.
Had we perused the IFA market and been able to develop Bundy Gausman, And had Eduardo Rodriguez we may have had a banner flying at OPACY. All three of those guys had TOR upside and were in our system. We won a lot of games despite those two things. None of which has anything to do with poor use of salary obligations. Davis’ deal was bad as was trumbo’s but they aren’t the reason we are in the position we are now.
It’s not just about dollars, but opportunity. Instead of playing guys like Davis, Cobb, or Trumbo, they could try out young guys with actual potential. Instead they just play guys known to be average or worse and see zero growth.
This is the only year we’ve been rebuilding. We were in the thick of the playoff hunt until a late season collapse last season. Cobb certainly isn’t blocking anyone in the rotation. Any major league ready starter thenorioles have are getting their opportunity. It’d be nice to move Mancini to first so we can get Hays, Mullins and Stewart starting together in the outfield everyday but Hays hasn’t proven he’s ready to be in the bigs yet either. That’s not really a true story. We gave third to Renato Nunez and likely will have sisco and wynns splitting time behind the plate next season. The personnel isn’t there in the minors for these guys to be blocking anyone. We don’t have legitimate replacements. There aren’t top prospects that anyone is blocking. If Jonathan Villar wasn’t starting at 2B who would be? We don’t have anyone that is anywhere close to a prospect playing that spot. We can let Tim Beckham go at SS too but who plays short now? Breyvic Valera? He’s hardly a prospect.
What you said makes sense in theory. I just don’t think that applies to the orioles current roster. Maybe trumbo swats a bunch of dingers and we can get a small prospect for him and unload some cash. If Villar keeps hitting maybe we can swap him for a decent prospect. If they were blocking guys like Ryan mount castle or another top prospect I’d tend to agree with you but there’s really no harm in playing a guy like trumbo over John Andreoli or some other 4A scrub. As I said before the only thing player I believe is blocking the orioles from putting their best team on the field is Davis. It’s obviously hard to eat all that money but he needs to be given a very short leash next season. If he can’t play then he has to go. Mancini could be a legitimate 1B if we let him get the chance.
Don’t count on too much from Villar. He essentially had 1 really good year in Milwaukee, then got it in his head he was a legit HR hitter. He wasn’t/isn’t. Plus, he forgot how to field, throw, and understand that when he did get on base, steals weren’t automatic. Nevermimd that he got picked off what seemed like once every few games. For a guy who was trying to prove he was better than the contract offer he declined, it didn’t go well.
The bar Villar has to hit to be better than our internal options is extremely low. He’s off to a good start here anyway. Schoop hasn’t really been a big winner in MILW yet either.
No argument on Schoop. I wasn’t a huge fan of the acquisition. All I’m saying is the brewers wound up using Brad Miller, Eric Sogard, Tyler Saladino and Hernan Perez in the hope somebody, ANYBODY, could take his place on a regular basis..and ultimately moved Travis Shaw there.
The bar was pretty low here too. Difference is he didn’t hit until after the trade.
Yeah I don’t think Villar is going to be a stud by any means but his defense hasn’t been too bad in Baltimore and in all honesty he’s probably been our best overall player since he’s arrived here. Not a lot of major league caliber players in our lineup the last half of the season. If he can maintain the defense I think he has some trade value. Can always use a guy who can steal bags and cover a couple slots even if he doesn’t do it very well.
Owners are going to fire themselves?
Didn’t someone say today he and the Marlins are a good fit for a front office position? That seems like an odd fit to me but I’m sure some of you have convincing evidence to say otherwise?
Jeter first came up under Buck, and maintained a good relationship with him over the years. Get Jack McDowell as pitching coach too.
That’s right – I forgot Buck managed Jeter for a year with the Bronx Bombers
He’ll end up with the Angels. Good club, great talent.
They should hire Joe Girardi
no way he is awful with young players… if he comes this long time is done with Orioles. The only person fit for the job is Cal Ripken Jr
Jr wants no part of the Orioles
lol Cal is not the guy for the clubhouse
Girardi is horrible with young players? Is that why he won manager of the year with a young Marlins team? Is that why Judge, Severino, Montgomery, Sanchez, Betances, Green, and Hicks all had great years last year? Cuz Girardi is horrible with young players? That’s a really dumb statement. Yeah, I’ve heard the heresy that he was clashing with some Yankees and that Sanchez may have had issues with Joe being hard on him. But look at how Sanchez performed without him this year. Girardi is a top notch manager and I’d love to have him manage my club any day.
A change was obviously necessary, but when you don’t have a single starter with an ERA+ of over 94, and a historically bad season from Chris Davis, there’s plenty of blame to go around
The second biggest mistake of the year right next to not trading Adam Jones
Not trading the guy who vetoed a trade because of his 10 and 5 rights? Explain how that could be a mistake.
Thank you, jbig.
They tried trading Adam Jones, he blocked the trade
Batter up, how do you frequent this site enough to comment, but not know that jones blocked a trade?
Lol. In all honesty say he didn’t veto that trade. What do you think we honestly got back in return from that proposed deal? They were getting jones to be a part of a platoon in RF. We weren’t getting anything but salary relief and extreme lotto ticket prospect. That wouldn’t be our #1 mistake even if we hadn’t had a deal in place.
Thoughts and prayers for Buck. No way he saw this coming
thankful this is coming to pass. nothing against buck, but he had been holding this rebuild hostage because he’s had ownership’s ear more than the FO. If i was older and had won, i would be stubborn about wanting vets and not wanting to go through a down few years either. but he’s been the worst possible thing for the O’s for a while. this is long overdue
A good man, stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’s no kid, and might very well retire. If not, he almost certainly will have his pick of FO consulting jobs (rather immediately) or possibly even another managerial gig (further into off season).
Not a great move for the O’s, but sometimes you have to make a change just for optics.
I think the lack of minor league scouting and development, trading away international slots, rushing pitchers and other bad decisions were a bigger issue.
If Buck was guilty of anything it was that game against Toronto. Not bringing in Britton and leaving Ubaldo in was the moment everything changed.
IMO no one is innocent in the worse season in club history. But Buck was the least of the problems. It’s probably a relief for Buck.
In reality, O’s bats were cold leading up to that inning against Toronto. Ice cold.
I wish the headline was Orioles part ways with Pete Angelos.
Angelos’ goal isn’t winning but rather achieving the title of oldest owner still meddling with his team. He’ll probably have his consciousness transplanted into an immortal avatar just to crush the last shred of hope O’s fans had that a regime change would happen in their lifetime.
Good riddance.
Come on back to Texas Buck!
He should be a potential target for every other managerial opening out there, if he wants to be. He’s done good work at every stop along the way in his career. This year’s disaster was less about him and more about the cards he was dealt.
As a life long O’s fan, I’m not outraged anymore. Nor am I surprised. The organization is run by a family who is in it for the money and is led by a GM who has had his hands tied and then they untie them only to make the worst contract agreements in franchise history. The refusal to play in the international market alone should be a sign that you’re out of touch with the times. It’s a shame they let go of the best “baseball man” in the organization today. Here’s to another decade of losing unless the get another Showalter type to resurrect them like he did this past decade or they finally sell the team to new ownership (that won’t happen because his kids are worse than he is).
Buck Showalter’s a great baseball man. Solid manager, Has helped improve every organization he’s been with. Someone should hire him.
Seemingly every year since the O’s made the postseason in 2012 they were written off. They would be picked near the bottom of the AL East every year and they’d outperform expectations. That’s a testament to Buck and his staff.
O’s fans remember, and would like to forget, life before Showalter. It was an awful period for the organization. Buck helped in their turnaround and that cannot be overlooked.
The wrong person was fired. Dumpster Dan should be the one to go. Buck’s job was to manage the team on the field. Dan’s job is to put that team together. It was a horrible team from Day 1. You then proceed to trade the best 5 players we have. August 1st, Buck was basically coaching a AAA team. The best managers in the history of baseball could not do anything with that scrap heap of mediocrity
Agreed. It looks even worse for DD after he went out and brought in Cobb and to a lesser extent Cashner and then the team had the season they had. It seems everybody foresaw this outcome except for their front office.
buck has prevented roster turnover for a long time. dealing vets, parting ways with expiring contracts has not been an option for dan, in i don’t know how long. he’s hung in there because it was a job. it wasn’t a fair assessment of dan at ALL. buck’s luck and rep convinced angelos that the spit and glue and math gods forgetting about miguel gonzalez could be a perennial contender. two seconds to think about that team competing yearly in the AL east is just laughable. but buck convinced pete. end of story. take a year or two off from reality and baseball flies past you.
The definition of a fool is anyone who signs Pedro Alvarez and tells him to bring his glove. Your GM meets that definition..
I lived in B-more in the late 70’s and early 80’s. During the 79 WS Howard Cosell made some disparaging remarks about the city.
The following year some of the tavern owners in Baltimore came up with a great idea for Monday Night Football. The would buy a junker TV and then raffle off a chance…a chance to throw a brick through the TV as soon as Howard’s face appeared on the screen for MNF.
.Maybe some of the fine people of Baltimore could come up with something similar for Papa Angelos.
Through all of this, I’ve really seen how fast a window can close. 2014 was the best chance for the birds and in 4 years it’s a total rebuild
Buck did a good job, for a terrible employer that has done nothing to help him. In a terrible city, by the way, where there’s no real future for a baseball team with the Orioles’ pedigree. You can’t be a successful baseball team when there’s a good chance people will be rioting outside your park, on any given day.
It’s good that they’re parting ways, and, with all the available openings this winter, Buck will find a good job, possibly even manager, if he wants it.
It’s a shame for Buck, he’s a really good Manager (minus leaving Britton in the bullpen during the highest leverage situation in yonks) – hopefully he catches on somewhere else.
The front office and ownership were never going to fire themselves, so someone had to go.
Bottom line is, the Orioles still have issues that run deep. A complete lack of IFA talent in the farm, an owner who not only meddles but makes bad decisions, a systematic failure to develop pitching into anything resembling a half decent staff..the list goes on.
It’s going to be a lot of ugly years in Baltimore, before it gets better.
And the other shoe drops. Clean sweep. Bye Dan!
Good
It’s sad, but the end of an era. What I will remember most about Buck is he always wore a sweater no matter how hot
Whoops meant jacket. Idk how he does it Lol