The O's fired Sam Perlozzo today. As I told Marc today, this is like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Do I think Perlozzo could lead the Orioles to the promised land? No. At best he's a mediocre manager; more likely he's a good coach and a lousy manager. But firing him is not going to change the Orioles' fortunes.
The potentially much more significant move is the reported hiring of Andy McPhail as COO. McPhail replaces Joe Foss, a former banker with no baseball experience. McPhail, on the other hand, has been in the game his entire life. His father, Lee, was GM of the Orioles from '58-'65 and helped build the O's into one of the premiere organizations in baseball. Andy won 2 World Series as Twins' GM and as President of the Cubs, Chicago made 2 post-season appearances. As a point of comparison, they made one postseason appearance in the previous 50 years.
I see 2 possible scenarios - the O's/Pat Gillick scenario or the Indy Colts/Bill Polian scenario. In the first scenario, Pat Gillick ran into the Peter Angelos Ego buzz-saw and quit after 3 seasons, despite 2 playoff appearances. In the second scenario, Jim Irsay ceded all football operations to the previously successful Polian (something his father could never do). We all know what happened there.
As I've said previously, the one thing Peter Angelos has taken away more than anything is HOPE. According to the reports, Angelos has agreed to give McPhail full authority. If this is true, then HOPE has returned. However, given his track record, I'm not holding my breath.
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