The Orioles saw their 2025 season more or less end before it started due to a brutal 15-32 record in their first 47 games. That start to the season saw manager Brandon Hyde get fired in mid May, while third base coach Tony Mansolino took over as the club’s interim manager. The Pirates decided to stick with Don Kelly long-term after he took over for Derek Shelton earlier this year. The Angels opted against keeping Ray Montgomery in the manager’s chair after he took up the mantle due to Ron Washington’s illness.
Mansolino has neither been extended nor dismissed, and Mike Elias remains in place as the club’s president of baseball operations, leaving no uncertainty in the front office to delay the club’s decision. Instead, Mansolino remains in limbo. Mansolino is set to be a candidate for the manager job in Baltimore, but he’s far from guaranteed to remain in the role and a wide-ranging search is expected. That makes some sense. With a young core that was in the playoffs in both 2023 and ’24, the Orioles are still in the middle of their contention window even despite this year’s disastrous 87-loss campaign. A quick turnaround is not only possible, but perhaps even expected given their collection of young hitting talent.
That could attract plenty of interesting candidates to the role, and the allure of hiring a big-name manager is obvious. After all, the Reds’ decision to hire Terry Francona last offseason got them to the playoffs in a 162-game season for the first time since 2013. The Rangers’ decision to hire Bruce Bochy a few years ago got the franchise its first ever World Series championship that same year. Joe Maddon’s second year as manager in Chicago ended the club’s infamous World Series drought. For a franchise like Baltimore that last won the World Series in 1983 and is still in the early years since emerging from a lengthy rebuilding period, it would be understandable if those success stories held some appeal.
Mansolino managed Baltimore to a 60-59 record after taking over for Hyde in spite of one of the weakest rotations in baseball, an offense that suffered from injuries and under-performance, and a sell-off at the trade deadline that shipped out valuable pieces like Ramon Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn. The Orioles had a 35-30 record under Mansolino through the day of the trade deadline, a 94-win pace that would actually represent an improvement not only over this season, but also the club’s 2024 record if maintained over a full season.
Of course, evaluating managerial performance is difficult to do from the outside of an organization. In a sample of just 65 games, it’s easy for one hot streak to change the perception of the stretch. Even Mansolino’s 119 games on the job can be looked at with something of an asterisk. After all, most teams would look a great deal better if you simply ignored their worst 43-game stretch of the year.
How do MLBTR readers think the Elias and the Orioles should approach their managerial vacancy? Did Mansolino do enough in his time managing the team this year to earn a longer opportunity, or should the team pivot to a fresh voice? Have your say in the poll below:
Just feels like a solid baseball name.
With game management being scripted by today’s analytics I say give the kid a chance. Especially with a team like Minnesota that is rebuilding with kids, why not let Toby Gardenhire have a shot? If front offices want to hire puppets, go cheap and let the young guns handle the scripts.
Gardenhire is a name I haven’t heard of in ages
TOBY Gardenhire?
No. The role Mansolino had was to be glue. He was there to just hold down the fort, be a rah-rah and encouragement guy. Of course the players love him because that’s what he was there for. They are comfortable with him.
Next season and going forward, this is a completely different mindset. Last year was inexcusable, and the players need to know this. They need to know that their defensive lapses and terrible approach to atbats will not be tolerated. The goal here is to win, and anything less than that goal is not okay.
Tell O’Neill that he’s playing over 100 games this season, or the moment he needs to sit out a couple of weeks with a hangnail, he’s going on the 60 day IL and he’s going to stay there until he plays a full month in the minors to prove he is actually healthy and able to play more than a day in a row without missing three weeks with a mild case of “I don’t feel like playing today.”
You can’t tell a guy to not be hurt.
The Orioles signed this guy despite his career long track record of being injury prone. He’s played 8 seasons in the majors and in only 2 did he even manage 100 games played.
This is who he is.
Yeah, and you also don’t have to play him when he claims to be healthy for a day or two.
Another ridiculously horrible take from Ed
You can say that all you like, but you don’t offer anything other than that statement. There’s nothing wrong with my take at all. The problem is with your inability to recognize hyperbole when you read it.
I would take away O’Neill’s lifting weights and equipment from him and forbid him from training with any outsiders and assign him a couple team trainers who monitor him at all times. Give him a certain muscle mass he can’t go over…the dude is a goon for pushing barbells around and pretending he’s Jerry Atlas or whatever his name is.
He even stated that he was just going to go about doing the same old this off season because he knows what works for him. Yeah, working so well. I mean, to collect 10’s of millions of dollars for sitting on the IL for most of the season, I guess that is success to some degree.
If you try to place a player on the 60 day IL as a punishment, you’re going to be hit with a grievance by the union, as you should be. Your plan directly impacts his future earnings ability. Also, although I’ll admit I am unsure of the legality of forcing a player to do a prolonged minors rehab stint, I suspect you could have issues there as well.
Bigger picture, you also firmly establish your ball club as a place players do not want to sign with. Sure, there are only so many jobs, and you’ll be able to sign guys without any other options; you’re not going to attract any premier players though because you’ve signaled that you don’t treat your players well. Injuries can’t be helped.
Well, I was speaking hyperbolically, I am not sure how people didn’t really grasp that joke. But, let’s go down your retort.
Given O’Neill’s injury track record last year, he was on and off the IL numerous times where he’d play for a couple of weeks, then sit for a couple of weeks, play a day or two, then get hurt again, and then go on the IL, then come back, then go back a couple of weeks later, then come back and play for a few days, go back on the IL. So, if he gets hurt again, it would be wise to make sure he’s completely healthy before you allow him to come back to the MLB roster. All you need are doctors to state that he’s not ready.
What premier players did the Orioles sign in recent memory? Remember, Burnes was a trade, not a FA signing. And just because you are trying to get the most from your investment in O’Neill by making sure he’s healthy enough to play for more than a couple of days before going back on the IL, I don’t think would make other players angry or not want to come here.
Again, speaking completely in a hyperbolic world here.
Manso was a serviceable placeholder but the O’s need a veteran fundamentals-first manager who is not sentimental to the fact that alot of these guys came up through the system together.
Credit to Manso, he did his best with what he had. He just upgraded his MLB resume in a big way. I wish him luck in the future.
I agree with you. I think if you told anyone that he would have a winning record with this team, especially after the sell-off, they wouldn’t believe you. He did a fantastic job, and this experience should possibly land him a managing job in the future, but just not with this club right now. I wish Buck Showalter was a lot younger, I would love to have him at the helm right now.
I thought this team would go .500 personally. We underperformed so bad in the beginning. It was almost impossible for the pitching to be worse than what Morton and Gibson did early in the year.
I think he did a very solid job. Particularly with the arms he had out of the pen in the 2nd half.
Are you prepared to face the press every day that O’Neill happens to be healthy asking why your 16.5 million dollar power hitter is playing in Norfolk?
A lot of teams in baseball would like to have their worst contract be Tyler O’Neill @ 2/32.
I don’t have much hope he can ever stay on the field but hopefully he can at least be useful against LHP’s like he was in 2024. As bad as last offseason was—we didn’t really saddle ourselves with much bad cash on the ledger.
I thought they they should or if they don’t hire him…they should let go of Elias as well…he had 6 years to build a team and they did not!!!!
Or if that is harsh…so be it.
Alos….they should consider Mark Prior as manager…I think he would be excellent
Was the season before last not a thing to you?
He built the team and they even traded for an ace. The problem is how they handled this past off season. They knew they weren’t going to resign Burnes. Everyone knew that. They did nothing to replace him. When their in house arms broke down, they signed an unproven soft tosser from Japan that was in his mid 30’s and 40 year old Morton. They let Santander go (which I was in favor of, i didn’t think he deserved the money he was looking for) and brought in O’Neill (which I thought was stupid) because again, the O’s were trying to be “smart” and say, Look, we got this fabulous hitter for a STEAL. We would have had to pay another similar hitter maybe twice that much! Of course the major reason for that discount was the fact that these other guys can actually stay on the field for more than 2 weeks.
Now they are back to square one. They need established pieces in a lot of areas. The good role players like O’Hearn and Urias aren’t what this team needs anymore. The rotation is in pretty dire straits despite what the Warehouse wants you to believe, the bullpen has been gutted. So, this is again, a rebuilding team, and the window once again is starting to close with the younger in house talent.
The scary thing is no one improved even a smidgen amongst their young hitters. Perhaps Holliday got better by a smidgen but there was declining numbers in many and just a plethora of dumb injuries like obliques and lats and soft tissue strains that really should point towards their trainers and/or inadequate conditioning. I think this franchise is in a lot worse shape than people realize and I am no Baltimore hater by any means.
There were some of those, but I believe a couple of guys had injuries from being hit by pitches, and Cowser somehow broke some ribs and was playing through that injury without it ever being disclosed. I am not sure how this isn’t some kind of rule in MLB.
I think a lot of this stuff, especially in O’Neill’s case, is that these guys do their own off season training outside any observation of the team trainers.
Holliday did improve a bit, but I think he was completely misused as the leadoff hitter and got way more atbats than he should have because of that. Here you have one of your youngest hitters that is struggling, and you put him atop the oder when he doesn’t get on base very much because he doesn’t walk much.
I am a lifelong Orioles fan, and I am sick and tired of them seeing them waste the talent we do manage to develop and squander it away. This team is in bad shape and they need a lot of parts to get it up and running again. They aren’t just a part time CF’er, a middling starter, and some retread, bargain basement bullpen arms away from contending again.
The rotation is in dire straits??
Bradish, Rogers, Wells, Kremer, and G-Rod is 5 competent big league starters. Povich is a solid depth piece.
We need more but I wouldn’t call that situation dire. The backend of the bullpen is much worse than that.
Let me try to break it down for you:
Bradish is coming off of two major elbow repair surgeries.
Rogers was also hurt the season before last the beginning of this past season. That’s why he only pitched for half a season, and if you are betting on him being this new, anomally version of himself instead of the version he’s been the past few seasons, well….that’s been part of the problem all along with the Orioles approach to pitching.
Wells is also coming off of an elbow repair job.
Kremer isn’t great, but at least he’s been healthy
Rodriguez hasn’t been healthy for three straight seasons and is coming off of a surgery.
The health issues with 4/5 out of your offered rotation is the dire straits. You can’t count on all of these guys to remain healthy and perform at the level they’ve shown prior to their injuries over the course of a full season.
I agree, the bullpen overall is a major issue, and the fact that you only have proven starters a C, 2B, 3B, and SS…all of which other than Holliday are coming off of really down seasons. You have no true starting CFer, and a faltering Cowser for LF/RF, Beavers for the other corner slot and he might be good, and then O’Neill. to try to slot somewhere in the corner OF and DH (where Adley, Basallo, and Mayo will also be playing).
This team has some big problems. If you don’t agree that’s fine, but, I think you are missing some important details here that I have just pointed out for you.
I don’t agree with the dire straits scenario. We need a couple more and 1 towards the front but having 6 realistic options right now is an OK start. There’s more high minors arm with a shot this year than there were a year ago.
The pen needs a complete overhaul. That’s problem #1 and way larger to me.
So you are saying we need 3 arms for the rotation, but everything is fine. What upper level arms are you talking about? McDermott and Povich aren’t showing they are quite ready yet.
So 3/5 of the rotation is needed, but that’s no biggie.
You can’t get to the pen unless you have starters first. Otherwise you’re going to need to stock up on a half dozen long relievers.
You had my vote until you said G-rod. He’s as reliable as an ’82 Chevette.
Its not dire, but they are not “one man away”
Bradish is a #2 to #3, a risk coming off a major injury. He flashed #1 potential for about 60% of a season back in 2023 but you can’t bank on that.
Rogers’ #’s translate to mid rotation. Please don’t assume he can reproduce Bob Gibson with the BABIP and hard hit rate he has.
Kremer is now the back end, veteran innings eater – he is too hot and cold to go past that though he will pitch well in short stretches.
You can’t count on Rodriguez to do much other than find a way to get hurt again before next season. Wells breaks down each season he surpasses 100 IP – he’s 31, he’s not going to suddenly become a dependable starter at 160= IP – put him in the bullpen.
Leaves 2 spots, preferably for 2 guys who are #1/#2. I don’t want to hear about building the rotation from the bottom up or finding diamonds in the rough or Elias finding that bargain somehow every other GM missed. Go get the quality.
There is little depth beyond that. Povich is not MLB quality pitcher, and Young minus the one start isn’t either. Wells can throw in a spot start or a few as an injury replacement.
Bradish is easily a #2. Nothing about the way he’s pitched suggests a mid rotation starter. Rogers won’t be the best pitcher on planet Earth but his sweeper is real. There’s a shot we get #2 production there.
I’d grab Eflin again.
And then I like Cease and Gallen.
To answer Ed—I think there’s a good shot we see Trey Gibson at some point. He wore down in AAA but he’s a very talented arm. I think Povich could take another step himself. I don’t think he’s more than a #4 but there’s nothing wrong with that.
Forret has a shot to help us too. Luis De Leon I think comes up at some point and goes to the pen as a power lefty. I think he’s underrated and could take a big leap this year. If the control is ironed out—he could become an impact starter.
Then you have Watts-Brown and German who profile as back of the rotation guys. Levi Wells I think ultimately winds up in the pen and could be up this year. (Not counting on these guys and we shouldn’t plan for help from the minors. But I do think this is the best crop of upper minors arms that we’ve had in Elias’ tenure.)
As opposed to this year when we had what?
Brandon Young, Chase McDermott, and Povich as the only realistic options to help the big league club. I was never high on Young and McDermott fell apart. That’ll inevitably be the case with some of those names above but there’s a lot more depth and quality this year. I think that some of those guys will help either out of the pen or making starts.
Jbigz
I am also not opposed to a low base/high incentive deal for Eflin. He’s likely looking for a prove it deal.
I knock down Bradish a notch due to the injury. His stuff is of a #2 overall.
Rogers can be an effective 3-4 over the long run, someone with a mid/high 3 ERA who will give the innings. Absolutely decent/needed.
I think Rogers could be a low-mid 3 ERA guy. Like I said, when you have a pitch as effective as his sweeper then there’s something there. I thought Bradish looked great coming back from injury. Really encouraging.
I agree that Tyler Wells will wear down/ can’t be counted on for a full season but he did look very good. If he can give us 20 starts and maybe some pen work down the stretch—I think that’s a W. Believe he still has an option remaining too. That’s a big plus for him if we need to skip some starts. Also need to have those option able starters like Povich because you can’t carry all 9 guys you’ll need on the major league roster at once.
Realistically you’re going to have 9 guys make multiple starts in this day and age. I see 6 viable options at minimum right now. That’s not an awful start. We need to finish though.
I agree 100% on adding an impact TOR guy. I think the backend of the bullpen is critically important though. Maybe GRod is a late inning reliever but there is way less at the back of the pen than there is in the rotation today in my opinion.
I mention the young guys specifically because look at what we’re watching this postseason. Nobody had Schlittler and Connelly Early starting postseason games. The brewers are using a plethora of young arms this postseason. There’s more meat on the bone than we’ve had in the minor league pitching dept. I really believe we’ll have a young arm come up and impact this squad that most people aren’t considering today.
I know bullpens don’t do it anymore, but the Mark Williamson/Sammy Stewart role would be great for Wells. A few good starts as an injury replacement. A guy who can give 2 or 3 good innings to rescue a “Bad Kremer” start. A mid to late innings reliever.
I agree with the back end of the bullpen. GrayRod could do it…maybe. No one in the current bullpen has it. Akin is miscast there but was a good mid to later inning guy.
It sounded like they were shifting McDermott to the ‘pen and I think that’s where Povich should be (and he’s probably like an emergency starter). But there’s a couple roles that need to be filled.
Also encouraged by Bradish’s end to season but staying healthy and being #2 level for a full season, have to see him do it.
Mark Prior nah, how bout Moises Alou?
Elias is top 3 of all GMs at rebuilding and getting prospects but he’s made way too many bad major league moves
Where is that big name starting pitcher he acquired that isnt a rental? (Trevor Rogers is an asterisk but not Corbin burnes)
Tony did a good job. But the o’s need a new voice and style than the previous coaching staff.
I feel like you keep Mansolino if you plan on taking a step back and resetting. If you have eyes on contending then you bring in a more proven option
It all depends on what Rubenstein does and he’s only been behind the wheel for a year.
@ Rsox
I tend to agree. Their contention window is right now. Given the youthful nature of the roster, it would make sense to have an experienced manager on hand to give firm direction for the club.
Look what Tito did in Cincinnati in his first year. He could do wonders with this roster. Shame for Baltimore that he’s currently employed.
Cinci won 82 in 2023. 77 in ‘24 and 83 in ‘25.
I love Tito but the Mets just collapsed their way out of the slot that should’ve been there’s very easily
Experienced as in drunk sleepy Tony
I can’t see Elias tying his future to Mansolino. I would be Shocked if he was the manager in 2026.
I’m hoping for Joey Chestnuts. At the very least, the Birds will lead the American League in hotdog sales.
I like the job Mansolino did, despite coming into command of a team that was completely underperforming and injured. I think he should be considered for the job he did with the lack of….damn near everything he had to work with. He had very little reliable starting pitching, it was literally Rogers being an absolute monster, and Sugano/Kremer ranging from pretty good to pretty bad until Bradish and Wells returned. The bullpen was pretty terrible overall with a few exceptions i.e. Akin/Strowd/Garcia/Enns. And they too had some inconsistencies. I would not be up in arms if they decided to keep him on, he should definitely be considered at least, but there are probably some more qualified options out there. But again, this damn franchise that I love has so many damned holes to fill. I want to trust that the front office will address every need but I’m not that naive.
Also I’ll defend Brandon Hyde a bit by saying the way this year turned out is definitely not his fault. I didn’t agree with a lot of how he managed the team in a game to game basis but the bulk of any responsibility for how the year turned out falls on Elias.
I wasn’t surprised that the move happened. I was thinking to myself, “at what point do they fire Hyde?” I was even going to make an article about that, but the O’s actually fired him before I even had chance to make a draft of that story! I didn’t think they would do it so soon.
He certainly was not to blame for all the injuries, but the team was making a lot of fielding errors and just looked lost out there at times. Making a lot of mental errors, and I guess the office just didn’t see any improvement in that area quickly enough. Maybe there were some internal rumblings that he lost the clubhouse, or his message/approach had gotten stale over several years. It happens.
Red Foreman always had it out for Hyde but Kitty would come to his defense. How bout Kelso?
Kelso had it coming. A foot in the you know where…
No lol
Bring back Hyde!!!
Meh, Hydes a stoner. How bout Fez?
Are you at least making yourself laugh at these corny jokes?
I voted no. I like Manso. I think he’s capable of doing the job and doing it well – but not with this group of players. What these “young” (not that young actually) “core” (not very core) players need is someone that will ride them until the wheels fall off and make them grow up and recognize that the world isn’t going to be handed to them on a platter like it was when they were in college and then as prospects. Someone with a hard nose needs to drive these guys to act like major leaguers instead of spoiled little poster boys. And, the O’s need someone that’s going to march out and give it to an ump now and then. The league views Baltimore as a soft team. So, Manso has to be replaced by tough, outside blood for the sake of even returning to some semblance of competitive.
Ozzie Guillen, Gabe Kapler, Brad Ausmus???
Kapler? That gave me a good laugh.
Fredi Gonzalez.
Hell no!
so you’re saying “no?”
Jim Riggleman. Or Derek Shelton.
Bring back Buck!
I’d like to see Bob Melvin I think. Someone who knows how to work with the younger guys. His stints on more veteran type teams sucked, but you can’t deny what he did with the A’s, who are always running young teams.
Bring back Buck.
Bucks with Troy
I think this young team needs a young manager they can relate to. Britton or Flaherty.
I like Ryan Flaherty as option #1 by a wide margin. It just feels like a nice fit with him being seen as an attractive candidate and learning under a talented manager and having a recent history with the Orioles. Sounds like Elias would prioritize someone with experience so maybe those guys 2 or 3. Melvin maybe.
I dont think Mansolino did a bad job. Think he deserves credit for getting the team in a better place than where they were with Hyde this year. Then he deserves credit for getting the team to play reasonably well after the deadline subtractions. Just think it fell short of really impressing. Yankees to end the year disappointing. Solid but just maybe not wow.
I think Mansolino deserves to be a manager again somewhere eventually. I just might put him 4th or 5th on the list for the Os next year.
I gave a No despite Mansolino doing a decent job of holding together the threads of a ruined season.
A clean sweep with a different message and approach is needed, primarily due to the regression of basically all young hitters save Holliday (who still slumped too). Unlock that, and the lineup goes from what it is to being extremely competitive.
This means going outside the organization. Mansolino may well manage elsewhere and do fine, same with Buck Britton. But an external approach is needed in 2026.