Last night, the Orioles earned a walk-off against the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5, in ten innings as Jake Fox and Ryan Adams both drove in runs to snap a two-game losing skid. Well, as memorable as the game was on Tuesday, much of attention on the night was focused on Andy MacPhail and his job status in Baltimore.
I know a few sources, including Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, have hinted at this fact for a while: Andy MacPhail, once the season ends will move on from his current position in the organization.
The story picked up some steam as on Tuesday, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that two sources within the Orioles’ brain trust said that MacPhail will walk away at the end of October – when his contract expires.
If that does happen, I would not be surprised at all.
Right now, MacPhail is keeping everything close to the vest — as he usually does — and refused comment on the report to the Baltimore Sun. He is waiting until after the season to announce whether he’ll be back in Baltimore — or not.
The only thing I can say is that MacPhail has had a mixed amount of success with the Orioles (depending on whose perspective you get).
He was able to get Adam Jones from the Seattle Mariners in a very lopsided trade for Eric Bedard, bring in Buck Showalter and improve the farm system somewhat; however, the bottom line is that the win-loss rate for the Baltimore Orioles has not changed much in his four years at the helm.
Whether it is because of poor drafting, bad decision making, not spending the money or whatever — the Orioles will finish 2011 with their 14th straight losing season.
The Orioles are still bottom feeders, and a lot of MacPhail’s well-laid out plans – most notably, with the new additions in 2011 – didn’t work out at all.
The young pitching that was supposed bolster the big league squad and get Baltimore close to .500 ran into some bumps, and the simple fact is that the American League East is probably the toughest division in all of professional sports. In a results-driven business, MacPhail has barely moved the neddle of success to the right direction. That’s just the reality of the situation.
Considering the state of the team a few years ago, I would perhaps give MacPhail some more time to see if he can turn the Orioles around. It sounds like it is his decision to make. I know a lot of fans and those in the media liked the MacPhail hiring in 2007.
Now, four years later, most are simply wondering … can this organization turn the tide for a change?
At this point, a lot more has to happen with the Baltimore Orioles aside from a general manager swap. There’s a lot that needs to change with the organization, from top to bottom.
