Memo to Peter Angelos
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by user J Cunningham
Given how the Baltimore Orioles have struggled since last year's All-Star Break, light speculation in Charm City has mentioned the potential firing of manager Sam Perlozzo and pitching coach Leo Mazzone. Mazzone is in his first year with the club, and Perlozzo is in his first season without the word "interim" attached to his job title.
I realize the Orioles come into tonight's game against the lowly Royals with a losing record and are a Tampa Bay Devil Rays hot streak away from moving into the A.L. East basement, but for the Baltimore front office to can these two would be a mistake.
It's hard to believe it's been almost 10 years since Baltimore enjoyed any kind of success. The team that made it to the ALCS in 1996 and 1997 has seen nothing but losing baseball since, despite the presence of such baseball figures as former Cleveland Indians guru Mike Hargrove, 2002 AL MVP Miguel Tejada, and one half of 1998's Odd Couple, Sammy Sosa. One of the main reasons? A lack of stability at the top.
Once Davey Johnson left the team after the 1997 season, when owner Peter Angelos refused to give him an extension, the team began a downward spiral. Key free agent losses, coupled with the decline and retirement of some of the team's most beloved players--Cal Ripken included--many of the important positions on the team have become a revolving door.
Former pitching coach Ray Miller was manager for a time; that didn't work. Hargrove worked wonders in Cleveland, resurrecting a once-irrelavant franchise, but he landed flat on his face with the Orioles. It seemed during the first half of last season the Orioles found something in former Yankees first base coach Lee Mazzili, but after a poor second half and a Rafael Palmeiro steroid scandal, Lee was also shown the door.
Miller, who was pitching coach last year, also left, and the Orioles replaced him with arguably the most recognizable pitching coach in baseball, Leo Mazzone. The human rocking chair was said to bring intelligence and credibility to a young and inconsistent pitching staf, but that's yet to happen.
Which isn't entirely Mazzone's fault.
Rewind to spring training: four of Baltimore's five starters bailed to take part in the World Baseball Classic: Erik Bedard, Daniel Cabrera, Rodrigo Lopez, and Bruce Chen. The only one who stayed behind? Newly-acquired Kris Benson, and it's no surprise he was the team's most consistent and successful starter at the beginning of the season.
The pithcing has slowly come together; Bedard is among the league leaders in wins, and when Cabrera isn't walking everyone, he's got perhaps the most dominating stuff this side of Justin Verlander and Francisco Liriano. Chris Ray has shown to be a worthy replacement for B.J. Ryan in the closer's role, and the bullpen has slowly come into its own.
So while Mazzone doesn't have the Cy Young-caliber arms he had in Atlanta, he's slowly getting there. To uproot him now would be a terrible mistake.
But getting back to Perlozzo...he's clearly shown an aptitude for managing a baseball team. The Orioles' 46-56 record coming into Thursday's play is less an indication of Perlozzo's ability to manage and more an indication of how the players can't quite seem to put things together on the field. Coaches always get the blame in sports, and more often than not, the criticism is at least somewhat unfair.
Perlozzo needs more than one season to gel with his players and learn what it takes to manage a team that's clearly not as talented as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Clearly, the Orioles have some talented players--Brian Roberts, Tejada, Kevin Millar, Javy Lopez--but the team itself just hasn't gelled.
The Orioles need stability, both in the clubhouse and on the coaching staff. Dumping yet another manager will do nothing to solve the team's problems...if anything, firing Perlozzo and Mazzone might exacerbate them.
The best thing Angelos can do right now is nothing.
...On second thought, the best thing Angelos can do is sell the team to someone who knows what he's doing. I hear Mark Cuban's been wanting to buy a baseball team...
Date
Thu 07/27/06, 5:50 pm EST
