END OF THE SHOW’?
Turmoil at the top and record at the bottom may mean Buck’s time with O’s is over
ST. PETERSBURG – A week ago, Buck Showalter was sitting at his desk in the visiting team manager’s office at Tropicana Field when his bench coach, John Russell, dropped the lineup card in front of him for the day’s game between the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays. As he picked up the card, Showalter winced, then placed it back on the desk face down.
When you’ve been Manager of the Year three times, as Showalter has, won three division titles and gone to the postseason five times, it’s hard to fathom what has become a losing season of historical proportions for his Baltimore Orioles. Not only are the Orioles, at 42104, 58.5 games out of first place, by far the worst team in baseball this year, they are the worst team in Orioles history, worse than the 54-100 team of 1954 that had just arrived from St. Louis and was formerly known as the Browns that finished 57 games back, and worse than the last-place 54-107 1988 team. How do you wake up every morning and look at a 58-plus game deficit and go on with your day?
“To be honest,” Showalter said, “I haven’t looked at the standings in three months. I know how bad it is. I could tell when the writers started talking about 100 losses a few days ago. But I’m wearing it.”
The question is for how long. Above and beyond their horrendous record, the Orioles, once a model franchise in the game, are presently the most dysfunctional team in baseball, with rumors beginning to percolate they might actually have to leave Baltimore if they lose pending litigation with the Washington Nationals over their stake in MASN TV network rights fees. It starts at the top where Orioles owner and CEO Peter Angelos who, according to sources, is battling debilitating health issues but apparently never drew up a succession plan, which reportedly has become a grave concern for Commissioner Rob
Manfred. As a result, Angelos’ two sons, John and Louis, are running the team but it is not known if they have official authority to make decisions on the future of Showalter or GM Dan Duquette, whose contracts are both expiring at the end of the season.
Showalter and Duquette have been engaged in a power struggle the past few years and it’s highly unlikely the two can work together much longer. When Duquette was allowed by the Angelos sons to undertake the massive trade deadline fire sale to save some $40M in payroll in which the heart of the team (Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, Zach Britton et al) was traded for what amounted to one established player, second baseman Jonathan Villar, 15 mostly borderline prospects and $2.75 million in international signing money, it was assumed he had won the power struggle. Duquette attempted to trade team leader Adam Jones as well, but was rebuffed when Jones exercised his 10-and-5 service time rights (10 years in the league, five with current team) and nixed a deal to both the Yankees and Phillies. The upper Orioles brass were so upset by that decision they ordered Showalter to start limiting Jones’ playing time, a situation he calls regrettable.
“I wish I could have talked to Adam when all this came down,” Showalter said. “Just like I was able to convince him to move from center field to right, we have a special relationship and I would have told him how advantageous it would have been for him as a free agent after the season to get some national TV postseason exposure.”
Meanwhile, neither Duquette, who desperately wanted to leave two years ago to take the Blue Jays’ presidency job only to be denied by the senior Angelos, nor Showalter has heard anything from ownership. Even if he is asked to stay, Showalter is undecided whether to come back and preside over a rebuilding job and more losing seasons. A guess? If Duquette is asked to stay — only because no one else would take the job in which there is so much uncertainty with the managing general partner — Showalter will probably opt to leave. At 62 and an old schooler, Showalter doesn’t fit the mold of the managers so many of the young analytics-minded GMs are hiring now. On the other hand, he maintains a close relationship with his former Orioles boss/now Phillies president, Andy MacPhail, and if the Phillies’ collapse under Gabe Kapler extends into next year, that might be the perfect last chapter for a proven winner who shouldn’t have his career end like this.
THE WRIGHT STUFF
Saturday the 29th will be a sad occasion at Citi Field when David Wright is expected to take his customary place at third for the last time and closes out his career as one of the great Mets of all time. He may not be going to the Hall of Fame, but he will be revered forever as one of the all-time class acts to grace the New York sports scene. In that respect, there is no escaping the comparisons to another class act who toiled on the other side of the Triborough Bridge (that’s the RFK Bridge to you Millennials) and that’s Don Mattingly. Both were the team captains and ultimate grinders whose careers had them headed for Cooperstown until debilitating back injuries cut them down. Unlike Mattingly, however, I don’t see Wright becoming a manager, only because he’s too nice a guy. Happily our everlasting memory of Mattingly will always be his closing act: His vintage .417, four doubles, a homer and six RBI in the 1995 ALDS against Seattle. There’ll be 42,000 people at Citi Field September 29 rooting fervently for Wright to say adieu in similar fashion — with one last splash from the past.
STORY-BOOK ENDING?
Last week the Rockies’ Trevor Story became the first primary position shortstop in history to reach 40 doubles, 30 homers and 25 stolen bases in the same season and if Colorado should wind up winning the NL West, he would have to be a prime candidate for NL MVP. But will he be done in by the Coors Field factor? At home, Story has a 1.019 OPS as opposed to .794 away from the Mile High stadium, and a .301/ 23 HR/66 RBI at Coors versus .283/10/36 in three fewer games on the road. It’s the same stigma that’s probably kept Larry Walker out of the Hall of Fame. It’ll be interesting to see how Todd Helton, with similar Coors-and-away splits, fares in his first time on the ballot next year.
DEREK &THE DOMINOES
The final indignity for Derek Jeter in his first year in Miami is that the Marlins are about to become the first team not to draw 1 million fans since the Expos’ last season in Montreal in 2004. On the other side of the state, the Rays have already clinched their seventh consecutive year of finishing last in attendance in the American League —but at least they’ve never fallen below 1 million.