Hyde & Sink

 

Fans are wrong to blame the Orioles’ manager for the team’s disappointing season.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde

There was so much promise and enthusiasm leading up to the Baltimore Orioles 2024 season. They were the reigning champs in the best division in baseball. Young, talented and exciting players were poised to break out. The farm system was stocked with high-ranking prospects. A trade was made for a bona fide pitching ace in Corbin Burnes. The team’s ownership changed adding life to a weary fan base that had been soured by the cloud hanging over the team by the Angelos family ownership.

The O’s met the high expectations well into June. They played well, particularly offensively, as they led the major leagues in home runs, runs scored, and a bevy of other offensive categories. They fielded five all-stars. The team was poised to exceed even last year’s win totals.

But then the injury bug hit the team. Not really a bug but a pandemic. Wells, Means, Bradish, Coulombe, Webb, Rodriguez all were either finished for the season or out for significant time. This was on top of not having their brilliant closer Felix Bautista who was out for the year because of Tommy John surgery.

While this misfortune was taking place, the position players started to drop. Westburg, Mateo, Kjerstad, Urias, and Mountcastle have missed significant time. Hays was lost via a trade, as were back-up players Norby and Stowers.

Trades were made at the deadline to bolster the pitching and to put band-aids on the wounded position players’ vacancies. Still, other maladies afflicted the team.

Craig Kimbrel, a likely hall of fame closer, was signed as a free agent to replace the injured Bautista. After a good first half, Kimbrel’s performance sunk like a stone since. He no longer is used in high leverage moments and is relegated to mop-up duty now. (UPDATE: Kimbrel had been designated for assignment.)

The disappointing performances by once heralded phenoms Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo have not helped. The decline of the veteran stalwarts who were expected to help propel the O’s to the World Series didn’t help either. I’m especially referring to Mullins, Rutschman, and O’Hearn.

Gunnar Henderson has been the team’s most consistent and feared hitter, but his defensive errors have hurt plus he strikes out too much. Santander reached the 40-home run milestone in his walk year but is woefully inept in driving in runners in scoring position when he doesn'thit a home run. In fact, the entire team has failed on that front during a sub-par second half.

None of these problems is the fault of the manager Brandon Hyde.

So many fans on social media criticize Hyde even while the team played well in the first half in leading or being close to the top of the division. Fans across major league baseball have seemingly forever from Seattle to Miami and from Boston to San Diego always, and I mean always, second guess their respective manager’s decision making whether it is the batting line-up, bullpen management, failing to call for a bunt, etc.

There is nothing new here. In New York the vitriol is even worse where a fan on X called for Yankee manager Aaron Boone to be imprisoned. Dodger fans have been screaming for Dave Roberts’ firing throughout every 100-win season.

But I find it fundamentally unfair to blame Hyde for the team’s downward spiral. As noted before, the injuries have played a significant role. The failure of the ballyhooed young talent to emerge is a contributing factor as is the regression of some of the veteran players.

When Rutschman chases out of the strike zone, he is not thinking of the manager.

When Santander pops up or strikes out when there are runners on second and third, he’s not thinking of the manager.

When Henderson boots a routine grounder, he’s not thinking of the manager.

When Cowser can’t make contact on a change-up to save his life, he is not thinking of the manager.

When Holliday and Mayo appear overmatched at the plate, they’re not thinking of the manager.

Like all managers, Brandon Hyde cannot control individual performances. It’s up to the players and the coaching staff to work things out. Over the course of baseball’s history, managers have taken the fall for the teams’ failures. Some are fair but others are not. That’s baseball.

While I’m part of an online Orioles fan page  where many of the members derisively call us who defend Hyde as “Hyde apologists,” I still defend him. The accusation that he “lost the clubhouse” is absent of any evidence. Fans believe he should have left a pitcher in longer to achieve a personal outcome and then bemoan the slew of pitching injuries. To be clear, I have questioned a few of his decisions. But I don’t hop on the bandwagon to get him fired.  

Brandon Hyde was the American League Manager of the Year last year.  He should have won it the year before as well. A manager can only operate with the personnel he is given. In my view, the Orioles regression this year is a result of debilitating injuries, hitters pressing and a spotty bullpen. This cannot and should not be pinned on Brandon Hyde.

And yet, the season and post-season still have games to be played and anything is possible in this crazy sport. Time will tell.