Leading OFF
Orioles’ Showalter at peace with decision, career
You can see Buck Showalter’s face tighten at the first mention of October’s wild-card shootout against the Toronto Blue Jays. He knows what’s coming. He has the question — and answer — memorized. His eyes flash a “Don’t Go There” warning when asked to relive the 11th inning, tie score against the Blue Jays.
Orioles closer Zach Britton, the game’s best left-handed reliever, never left the bullpen as Edwin Encarnacion smoked a walk-off home run against Ubaldo Jimenez. The blast ended the Orioles’ season and ran Showalter’s streak to 18 seasons without winning a pennant.
He’s second on the list of managerial victories without a World Series appearance to show for it. The leader was Gene Mauch, who won 1,902 games over 28 seasons (1960-87). Buck passed Jimmy Dykes last year to move into second place with 1,429. You don’t have to wonder if the gods have singled Showalter out. The question is why.
Showalter’s legacy for preparation and hard work have given way to that of a permanent alsoran. Thing is, he’s arguably the smartest manager in the game, a half-step ahead of Bruce Bochy, Terry Francona, even Joe Maddon. But Showalter’s critics will never forgive him for keeping Britton in quarantine while the Blue Jays were celebrating Encarnacion’s home run.
Showalter hasn’t wavered in his belief that closers aren’t supposed to appear games with tie scores on the road. But he has grown tired of litigating the case.
“If something works, it’s right. If something doesn’t work, it’s wrong,” Showalter says. “Sometimes you make a decision that’s really chancy and you don’t really like, or you pick the right thing and it didn’t work out and … it’s up to other people to engage right or wrong. You realize it’s a what have you done for me lately world.”
But was it the right move? Showalter’s push-back is immediate. After four months he still hears the dog-whistle criticism in what’s now a neutral question.
“If you knew how everything was going to turn out in your life, would you have done it differently?” he says. “Of course you would, that’s my answer. It’s a result-oriented society.”
Showalter can be forgiven for being touchy. At 60, he says, “I can see the end of the tunnel” in his managerial career. The Orioles owe him for two more years, and it’s possible, if not probable, he’ll never reach the holy grail. Baseball Prospectus projects Baltimore to finish last in the American League East in 2017. Showalter’s fate took a further plunge when free agent Matt Wieters, who hit 17 homers with 66 RBI last season, signed with the Washington Nationals.
As much as Showalter loathes excuse makers, he acknowledged losing Wieters “is going to hurt.” As usual, the Orioles will have to get by with a home run-oriented offense in tiny Camden Yards. Five of their returning players (Mark Trumbo, Chris Davis, Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Jonathan Schoop) topped 20 homers last season. The problem, as always, will be pitching. Baseball Prospectus believes no team will allow more runs than the O’s.
None of this seems to faze Showalter. He points out how wrong the experts were about the O’s in 2016. Picked to finish last, they won 89 games and made it to the wild-card game, even though the season ended in heartbreak.
Yet Showalter has mostly moved on. Nothing will crush him again like the New York Yankees’ meltdown in the 1995 AL Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, in which his team blew a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five series. While the old Kingdome devolved into a riot after Edgar Martinez’s walkoff double in Game 5, Showalter was in his office, slumped over his desk, sobbing into his hands.
George Steinbrenner had stormed in, presumably to blister Showalter, but instead walked out when he realized his manager was near emotional collapse. It was Showalter who turned the Bombers around from 1992 to 1995, and to this day is convinced they would’ve won the World Series in the strike-shortened 1994 season.
But Steinbrenner never grasped the degree of Showalter’s love for the pinstripes. He fired him soon after the loss to Seattle. Showalter says the experience forever hardened his protective shield.
That would explain why Showalter is more at peace about his day-to-day life in the dugout. He used to wear out players and executives alike with his need for control. Friends begged Showalter to lighten up. It has taken decades, but he’s finally combined his IQ with a Zen-like calm.
He can tweak the Yankees now with a mere arching of the eyebrows.
“Oh, please,” Showalter said, when told the Bombers are calling 2017 a rebuilding year.
“How many Rule 5 players do they have (on their 25-man roster)?” he asked. None. “Thank you.” The exchange needed no translation. Showalter’s Orioles are paupers next to the Yankees and Boston Red Sox. If anyone gets satisfaction from sticking it to the American League’s 1-percenters, it’s Showalter. But the clock is ticking, and hiss ultimate revenge, winning a World Series, might be beyond his grasp.
True or not, Showalter asks only one favor: Don’t bother feeling sorry for him.
“The more you’re in this,” he said, “the more you realize it’s not about you.”