On Thursday, the official start of free agency begins in Major League Baseball and the Baltimore Orioles still do not have a general manager.
Yesterday, Tony LaCava – who currently is under employment with the Toronto Blue Jays – turned down the offer from the organization, after meeting with the organization a few times and getting pretty far in the interview process. It seemed like LaCava was the man for the job; however, for one reason or another, he was not exactly feeling the Orioles.
Considering there are only 30 general manger jobs in Major League Baseball – and they don’t open up often – it’s a little surprising to see someone turn it down.
At the moment, I would assume the principals of the story really know what happened, but the Orioles are in a pretty rough spot now. I guess one must wonder how the organization could not fill a position with such importance when they knew it was being vacated for a while.
Whatever happens, the team may fall behind in the free agent hunt, much more planning for 2012 and beyond. I wonder what Buck Showalter is thinking right now. Is he the defacto general manager (or Peter Angelos) until this all gets sorted out and someone is hired?
I’m sure the interview process will continue; however, it is quite galling that the Orioles still don’t have a general manager on cusp of one the most important days of the baseball off-season.
