End of Era for Baltimore and Buck Showalter
The Orioles are expected to let go of manager Buck Showalter, according to Ken Rosenthal. The Baltimore Orioles manager since August of 2010, Showalter did his job in turning the clock back in Baltimore. Becoming the manager during a time where Baltimore wasn’t known for baseball, Showalter and the core built around Adam Jones, Manny Machado, and Zach Britton things were turned around for the Orioles.
The highlight of his time in Baltimore takes us back to happier times in Charm City, all the way back to 2014. The Orioles shocked much of the baseball world finishing 96-66, capturing the franchise’s first AL East title since 1997. Not stopping there, Buck lead the Orioles to the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals. Though the Orioles got swept it was a fun time in Baltimore and was the first time the city was taken over with orange.
At the finish of the 2014 season, Showalter was honored with winning the AL manager of the year award, his third manager of the year award in his twenty years of coaching. Letting Buck go doesn’t come as much of a surprise, considering Buck was managing all new players after the Orioles fire sale the writing was on the wall for Showalter.
There were good times and bad throughout the time of Buck and “Our Guys” but the 47-115 season was the end all be all for this core. Oriole fans won’t ever forget this period of Baseball in Baltimore, winning the first-ever AL Wild-Card game in Texas, the Delmon Young bases-clearing double, and the ALCS series (though it was short). There’re bad times too ranging from the awful Ubaldo games, Davis contract/strikeouts, and darkly the most memorable thing Buck may be remembered for is not putting in Zach Britton during the 2016 Wild-Card game. After a great nine years with the Orioles, Showalter will be known for a winning time in Baltimore but due to this years season his overall record ends at (669-684) with a win percentage of .494.
Buck Showalter will not be back with the #Orioles in any capacity, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 3, 2018
What’s next for the Orioles opened manager position? Time will tell but I can only hope and pray that the Orioles make a decision on the General Manager position before hiring a new coach. With the way the Orioles organization seems to be going, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a pre-mature mistake be made shortly.
Former Baltimore #Orioles infielder Mike Bordick’s name surfaced weeks ago to be their next manager to replace Buck Showalter
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) October 3, 2018
One can only hope change happens before Baltimore has to see another ten years of losing but until the team is sold, I don’t think the organization is in good hands.
