Saturday’s Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles are about to ditch Buck Showalter

Morning, Birdland!

We all heard the news yesterday: (cue Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”)

Buck Showalter will not have his contract as manager of the Baltimore Orioles renewed past this season. His boss, Dan Duquette, is expected to remain in place and guide the club through this rebuild.

The writing was on the wall for these moves back in July. Our own Ben Hansford wrote about it earlier this week. Duquette, for what may be the first time during his tenure in Baltimore, appears to have been calling all of the shots ahead of the trade deadline. Showalter, to his credit, has been saying all of the right things, but it’s possible that a power struggle had developed between the two.

It feels as if the fanbase is split three ways on this: keep just Buck, keep just Dan or fire them both. There don’t seem to be too many advocates for the fourth option of holding onto both of them. My preference would have been to clean house, start fresh and send a message to the entire organization that a season such as this is completely unacceptable, regardless of your title. However, this seems to be the second-best option.

Showalter’s message had likely grown stale. Players were comfortable. Whatever spark he brought to the ballpark during those early years is gone. That’s normal. Managers —even the good ones, like Showalter— tend to have just a handful of seasons in them before change is needed.

It’s a bummer to see things end on such a sour note with him, but Buck will go down as one of the best managers in O’s history no matter what. He brought winning back to Baltimore and navigated the team through a tumultuous time for the city.

Links

Orioles offense does well, pitching does not in 10-8 loss to Yankees - Camden Chat
Mark generously donated his Friday night to watching the Orioles play a baseball game ans lose for the 109th time this season. Well done!

Exactly how bad are the Baltimore Orioles? Very, very bad. - Washington Post
You, a dedicated Orioles fan, will not learn much from this Post article. You know all too well how awful this team has been all season. But if you really like looking at baseball numbers then this may be for you.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is it your birthday? Happy Birthday!

Current rookie right-hander Luis Ortiz turns 23 today. Outfielder Luis Garcia celebrates his 43rd birthday after spending six games with the O’s in 2002. Catcher Cesar Devarez played in 16 games between ‘95 and ‘96 for the Birds; he is 49. P.J. Forbes got into nine games as an infielder during the ‘98 season and is now 51 years old. The now 59-year-old John Stefero made cameos in two seasons (‘83 and ‘86). Finally, happy 88th to Bob Harrison, a right-handed pitcher for two games between ‘55 and ‘56.

1966 - The Orioles clinch their first AL pennant since the franchise moved from St. Louis.

2012 - Both the O’s and Yankees win their respective games, maintaining a one-game lead for the Bombers over the Birds in the AL East. Of course, New York would go on to win their division while Baltimore qualified for the playoffs via the second wild card spot.