When the Orioles vow to hire a new manager “as soon as possible,” it’s a good bet to get done faster than in past years under previous ownership.
Peter Angelos often handled his baseball business as he would in court, with the lawyer coming out of him. You couldn’t rush him. Efforts to gain approval on anything, including possible trades, might stall as if having transmission trouble. Past general managers just learned to deal with it. Some candidates for various jobs lost patience with the indecisiveness of the organization.
The Orioles will operate with a greater sense of urgency in their search for a full-time manager, though they’ve got more time on their side than in 2018. The Winter Meetings are two months away. News probably won’t break and appear on an MLB Network scroll while Mike Elias meets with the media in his suite in Orlando.
Every outlet is going to post lists of possible hires and every name at this point is a hunch or guess, unlike in 2018, when six finalists were confirmed – Brandon Hyde, Manny Acta, Mike Bell, Pedro Grifol, Chip Hale and Mike Redmond.
The White Sox hired Grifol in November 2022 and fired him in August. 2024.
Experience is a desirable quality, per Elias, but lacking it won’t necessarily eliminate a potential candidate.
“In our particular situation, I think it will definitely carry a lot of weight. But if you look at history, it is not a requisite for managerial success and it's not necessary and nor does it guarantee success,” Elias said.
“It'll all be weighed in the portfolio of the candidate and there are other perceived strengths and areas of lacking. We'll just look at the whole picture and the person and try to decide who's best for us right now. But you know, experience would definitely be an attractive feature by and large."
Left unspoken is how much experience. If 119 games on an interim basis count, Tony Mansolino has a better chance than some of the names being tossed around, including bench coaches/associate managers Ryan Flaherty, George Lombard, Danny Lehmann and Craig Albernaz, or Guardians director of defense, base running and game strategy and major league field coordinator Kai Correa.
Correa probably would want the Orioles job just to shorten his title. And he was interim manager in San Francisco for the final three games in 2023, so he’s got that going for him.
Staying in-house but pivoting from Mansolino would guarantee that a first-timer sits in the chair. Buck Britton and Robinson Chirinos coached in the majors for the first time this season. John Mabry was hired in May as a senior advisor and brought much-needed experience in the dugout. He also is largely responsible for Coby Mayo’s improvement at first base, working with him almost on a daily basis. But manager? Hasn’t done it.
The Orioles never committed to Mabry beyond 2025 and his plans aren’t known. He was retired until they called. And a new manager probably would want to choose his own staff, which would be a jarring shift for Britton after the Orioles promoted him and kept other teams from trying to hire him.
Skip Schumaker’s name should come with an asterisk. He’s viewed as the likely successor to Bruce Bochy in Texas after working as the Rangers’ senior advisor. Otherwise, he’d be a solid choice for the Orioles after earning the National League Manager of the Year award in 2023 with the Marlins.
You win in Miami, you should have a statue erected.
Bochy, by the way, would be a surprising hire by the Orioles, who tend to lean a bit younger than age 70. And the same goes for 76-year-old Dusty Baker. And as always, consider that the new manager must fit into the organization’s way of thinking, done in large groups.
Bob Melvin was an Orioles’ catcher in 1989-91, one of the seven teams he played for, but it won’t give him an edge. They’d have to be OK with recycling, because Melvin has managed five teams over 22 seasons. The Giants fired him after he went 161-163 in two seasons.
Melvin is a three-time Manager of the Year, twice with Oakland and once with Arizona. Buck Showalter used to say that he’d want Melvin to manage his club if he was a general manager in charge of the hire.
(Yes, I just brought up Showalter, but only for this purpose. I still don’t think he’s going to emerge as a candidate.)
Rocco Baldelli was just fired by the Twins. Davey Martinez won a World Series with the Nationals and not much else, with six consecutive losing seasons, including COVID-shortened 2020, as they transitioned into a rebuild.
Joe Maddon is intriguing … and 71 … and he’s become more critical of the over-reliance on analytics. Go with the data to a certain point but also have the freedom to go with your gut and your instincts.
Joe Girardi was nicknamed “Binder Joe” with the Yankees for his use of analytics – maybe it’s his engineering degree - but he also trusts his instincts. His name will be floated, with the people doing it still unsure exactly what the Orioles want in their next manager. It may or may not be exactly like Girardi. He’d unquestionably bring experience and a winning pedigree.
Scott Servais won in Seattle – 680 games against 642 losses, to be exact. His teams went to the playoffs one time, in 2022, and advanced to the Division Series before being swept by the Astros. Brad Ausmus managed in Detroit and Anaheim. The Orioles swept the Tigers in the 2014 Division Series because they had a much, much better bullpen.
David Ross, Mike Matheny and Jeff Banister should be under consideration. Chris Woodward didn’t work out at all with the Rangers, where he managed from 2019-22, but Joe Torre was fired three times before winning four World Series with the Yankees. Showalter has been fired four times, and he parted ways with the Yankees after he was offered a contract extension but wouldn’t fire at least one of his coaches. Something along those lines. Anyway, that’s five jobs.
Flaherty played for the Orioles, beginning with his selection in the Rule 5 draft, and he’s served in a variety of coaching roles, including advance scout, development and quality control coach and offensive coordinator – which means he also could interview with the Ravens. He’s the Cubs’ bench coach.
Bright, young, knows the game from many angles, and Nick Markakis’ brother-in-law. The last one matters as much as being an ex-Oriole under the previous regime.
There’s also a two-time Sporting News Manager of the Year with back-to-back playoff appearances, including 101 wins and a division title in 2023. But Hyde isn’t coming back.