This week in "As the Orioles Turn"

Just think, a week ago tonight Sam Perlozzo was still the Orioles' manager, Andy McPhail worked in the commissioner's office, Dave Trembley was a faceless bullpen coach, Miguel Tejada was approaching 4th place on the consecutive games played list, and Joe Girardi was an ex-manager turned TV analyst. At least one thing hasn't changed.

Here are my thoughts on a very memorable week in Baltimore:

• Orioles fire Sam Perlozzo as manager and replace him with Dave Trembley on an interim basis: As I mentioned earlier, firing Perlozzo isn't going to fix the O's problems, but it had to be done. Perlozzo really had no clue when it came to handling the bullpen and the overpaid players had lost confidence in him. Trembly was the right choice to replace him on an interim basis. He has a terrific minor league record. I'm not sold that he's the long-term solution though. One question for my man Pete Angelos: WHY WASN'T TREMBLEY AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCING HIS HIRING???? As a fan, I'd like to know what the man has to say.
• Orioles hire Andy McPhail as President of Baseball Operations: IF, and this is a HUGE IF, Pete fulfills his promise to allow McPhail to have full and complete autonomy over baseball decisions, then this is the best move the Orioles have made since they hired Davey Johnson and Pat Gillick in November 1995. McPhail won 2 World Series as Twins' GM and led the Cubs to 2 post-season appearances in 13 years (which equals the # of Cubs' post-season appearances in the previous 50 seasons). If Wood and Prior had stayed healthy the Cubs would have been a perennial post-season team this decade. He really had that team set up for long-term success with a rotation of 3 20-somethings in Wood, Prior, and Zambrano. Of course those incredibly baseball-savvy Cubs fans (see Steve Bartman) couldn't see that and chased him out of town. No wonder they haven't won the World Series in 99 years!
  
• Joe Girardi turns down the O's managerial job: This really hurt. When I heard the news it felt like someone had just kicked me in the stomach. I know that Girardi has only managed 1 year and didn't even have a winning record. And I know the Marlins basically have the same record without him this year. But he was NL Manager of the Year. And, to me, the bigger blow is the fact that the best available candidate out there turned down what was once one of the best jobs in baseball. Compared to Girardi, the rest of the candidates pale. I love Davey Johnson, but he's 64 and hasn't managed in 7 years. Dusty Baker scares me because of the way he overused Wood and Prior (and the fact that the O's do have some good young pitchers). Jerry Manuel lost the White Sox clubhouse. Joey Cora actually interests me. He's young and was an overachieving, hustling 2nd baseman. He could very well be the next Joe Girardi or Manny Acta, which is what I think the O's need. Why do I want a younger guy when I just said a few weeks ago to hire Davey Johnson? Because with McPhail on board I think the O's need to commit to a rebuilding effort with younger players. More on that later.
• Miguel Tejada's streak of 1152 consecutive games ends...and not without some controversy: On Wednesday night Tejada's wrist was broken when he was hit by a pitch. On Thursday Tejada tried to keep his streak alive by batting 2nd, bunting into a force play, and leaving for a pinch-runner. On Friday the O's officially determined that his wrist was broken and put him on the DL. A lot of people made a big deal about Thursday's charade. I didn't like it but I didn't think it was that big a deal. First, it was obvious it wasn't a day-to-day type of injury so you knew the streak was going to end anyway. Second, Lou Gehrig pulled a similar stunt at least once to keep his streak alive by batting leadoff and then leaving the game. That is what makes Cal's streak even more amazing - he started every game, in the field, with the intention of finishing it. (He was ejected a couple of times early in a game.) The bigger issue for the Orioles is that their incredibly anemic (and WAY overpaid) lineup is now missing its most dynamic threat for at least a month. I think last place is looking more and more likely.
• Peter Angelos again takes the cowardly approach: Pete was a no-show for both press conferences this week, despite the fact he OWNS a team worth $600 million with millions of hard-working fans that give their time and money to HIS team and despite the fact that both decisions were HIS. On top of that, his "baseball people" heard about McPhail's hiring when it was reported on ESPN. You're such a class act Pete. Why don't you just SELL MY TEAM?
  

So where do the O's go from here? Since McPhail was unable to get Girardi, I think he should stick with Trembley for the rest of the season. In the meantime, he can evaluate the O's talent (or lack thereof) and determine what he needs to do. Personally, I would trade Steve Trachsel, every veteran reliever he can, except Chris Ray, and every regular player he can, except Nick Markakis. The two-headed GM catastrophe of Flanagan and Duquette (with Pete's input) have assembled an overpaid group of mediocre veterans everywhere except the starting rotation. It's going to be hard to get rid of bums like Aubrey Huff, Jay Gibbons, Melvin Mora, Ramon Hernandez, and Danys Baez because they have contracts through 2009. No sane team is going to want to give up much to take on those contracts (each makes at least $5M/season). So McPhail may not be able to really do much until next July, when these players have one less year left on their contracts (and maybe they're performing better).

During the offseason McPhail should seriously consider trading Brian Roberts. Don't get me wrong - I love Brian Roberts. He's everything that the old Orioles were about. But he's a free agent after '09. With the contracts the O's have on their books, they won't be a contender until at least '10 or '11, by which time Roberts will be in his 30's, making a ton more money, and have declining stats. With the great year he's having and 2 more years on his contract he will probably be at his highest trade value this offseason.

I would also consider trading Erik Bedard. Like Roberts, he's a free agent after '09 and he's having an good year. Unlike Roberts, he's a jerk and I have a feeling he won't play nice in negotiations. I would get the maximum value while I can.

If McPhail follows this line, then he would probably want to hire a guy like Cora. If he thinks he can win with the current crap roster then he would be better off hiring Dusty Baker or Davey Johnson. Either way, IF Angelos leaves him alone, I'm confident he will get the O's back on track. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, that's a HUGE IF.