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.

Overcoming the Orioles’ Inferiority Complex

As the 2022 Major League Baseball trade deadline approached, the surprising Baltimore Orioles record was hovering around .500 and only 3 games back for a Wild Card berth. The team, which was the worst during the past 5 years, was experiencing a remarkable and unexpected turnaround. Baseball fans may have forgotten that the Orioles’ miseries were recent; they had the best record in the American League the previous 5 years.

The fan base was understandably excited over the chance the O’s may make it to the postseason despite a string of 100 + game loss seasons. Would General Manager Mike Elias make a big move or two to shore up some holes and provide the team with reinforcements to actually make a run?

No, he continued on a path to what he calls the long-term picture. Instead, he traded fan favorite Trey Mancini, a move in which I was begging he would not do on several levels, and emerging star closer Jorge López—both for minor league prospects.

Despite no help from the cavalry, the 2022 Orioles persisted and finished the season 4 games over .500—with 31more wins than they had amassed in 2021—and only 3 games from a Wild Card spot. If not for a team batting slump for most of September, they most likely would have landed in the post-season.

Following 2022, Elias spoke of—actually promised—increasing the payroll (the O’s have the 2^nd lowest of the 30 teams) but as it turned out, did not include large long-term deals for free agents. A few free agents signed for short deals and none of them are in the superstar category.

Elias declared the rebuild is over and said this year’s goal is to make the postseason building on last year’s success. Here’s my problem. Why can’t he simply say that he and team ownership will do whatever it takes to get the team ready for a run deep into October and not just make the Wild Card?  After all, most inspirational speakers implore us to “reach for the stars”, “aim high”, etc.

Why doesn’t owner John Angelos commit to a higher payroll rather than clinging to the default notion that small and mid-market teams can’t compete for the top dollar stars? Look at the San Diego Padres, a comparable team in the TV market and what they are spending.

Kyle Stowers greeting Gunnar Henderson

The lack of significant financial commitment is among the reasons the O’s attendance was so dismal in 2022 especially during a playoff-contending run. Fans aren’t convinced the management and ownership believe in the team’s ability to compete at a high level. It’s some form of inferiority complex.

There is a lot more to be excited about in 2023. The emergence of young stars catcher Adley Rutschman, infielder Gunnar Henderson, starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez and other talent like outfielder Kyle Stowers will be mainstays in the solid core line-up.  With the acquisition of Kyle Gibson and Cole Irvin, the starting rotation will be competitive for the few remaining spots with their ace John Means still on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery.

And the Orioles boast arguably the best farm system in baseball with a plethora of talent in the pipeline, so the team should be quite entertaining and competitive in the years to come.

Disregard the stat-driven projections, which are ridiculously predicting a fall-off this upcoming season. No wonder there is an inferiority complex. I’ll bet against those projections, especially with the new balanced schedule favoring the O’s.

Team ownership and the front office need to become as excited as the fan base and media and act like the Orioles are a big-time ballclub because they are.  Of course, they want to manage expectations. But come on, this is a talented, young squad. They are not the “Why Not?” team of 1989.  They’re better, and don’t be shocked that they will prove it by season’s end.