By BSR Staff, on February 25th, 2011 Former Orioles manager Dave Trembley finds himself in interesting company this season. Trembley accepted a position as Atlanta’s new minor league field coordinator and is working with four other former managers in the Braves organization along side new skipper Fredi Gonzalez.
Trembley is on the field with fellow in Lake Buena Vista with fellow former managers Larry Parrish, Carlos Tosca, Lee Elia and Jimy Williams on Gonzalez’s new staff. An article on AJC.com detailed the Braves experienced coaching staff.
“Those guys are here to help out,” Braves second baseman Dan Uggla said. “They’ve all been there before, so if a young guy wants to pick anybody’s brain, it’s not going to do anything but benefit him. Any time you’ve got five former managers helping out – I mean, they were managers for a reason.”
Gonzalez did tell the media down in Florida that Trembley may “deserve another opportunity” to manage. What do you think?
By Matt Sadler, on October 6th, 2010 I knew it was bad from the 1st game. Not only was it a blown save by Michael Gonzalez, but it also was a loss. Game 2 was not any better. Game 3 was the first win of the season- barely. Then there was the 9-game losing streak. Before we knew it, the O’s only had 5 wins in the month of April. The team that was supposed to be approaching .500 was 5-18. There were injuries- Pie, Gonzalez, Roberts, and Koji. Promising stars from 2009, Bergesen and Reimold, were abysmal.
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By Weston Bruner, on October 5th, 2010 Before the season, there were two decidedly different camps of fans depending on their outlook for this team. There were those who said that the Orioles were ready to turn a corner (most of the BSR staff included), and those who insisted that this Orioles team was no better than any of the 12 that preceded it (most of our loyal commenters included). Even so, a direct look at the season doesn’t provide us with a clear answer as to which group was right. A direct look at the final record would indicate that those who said Baltimore would be a smoking crater were right, but the Orioles .500 record in the second half of the season and incredible record under Buck Showalter indicates those with rose-colored glasses saw the field clearly. I decided to take a look at some common beliefs held before the season to see how closely each side hit the mark on other issues. READ MORE >>>
By Weston Bruner, on August 23rd, 2010 Just one away from the inevitable, and I wish it bothered me more. The Orioles’ record stands at a shockingly awful 44-81, a record that one can lose in the trees when you are tracking this team game-by-game. With one more loss, Baltimore will clinch what fans knew they would clinch back on April 30th- their 13th consecutive losing season. Now I am not sure if it is my job to put a positive spin on this or to rage against the dying of the light, but it feels odd to think about this team as one big season when there have been three managers, ups and downs of O’s prospects, and an organizational message that was at first lost then modified to give fans hope. This 13th season is unlike any of the others, and whether that is a sign of things to come may be a good thing- or something a bit more ominous. READ MORE >>>
By Weston Bruner, on July 29th, 2010 In what might be the first bit of good news that Orioles fans have had since their 4-game sweep of the Rangers prior to the All-Star Break, the front office has acknowledged that they have hired Buck Showalter to become the newest manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Showalter has long been considered the first choice of the organization, having vast experience as a manager with a 882-833 record during stints with the Diamondbacks, Rangers, and Yankees. Unlike previous managerial hirings, Baltimore will not be moving the interim tag from a current manager but instead attempting to put their fate in an experienced manager who, while he has his faults and has clashed with players and management in the past, has a track record for success. Frankly, it was the best hire the Orioles could have made given the options on the market.
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By Zach Wilt, on June 6th, 2010 Juan Samuel has only been the Orioles interim manager for three days, but I have already noticed a few differences in his style from Dave Trembley.
When I attended Friday’s game against the Red Sox and looked at the jumbotron to see Miguel Tejada hitting second I was a little confused. But Amber Theoharis pointed out in today’s game broadcast that Samuel liked his success in the two hole with the Astros last season. Miggy had hit .312 career in that spot going into today’s game. He went 1 for 5 today in a line up that included Ty Wigginton at clean up, Adam Jones hitting sixth and Craig Tatum at eighth for Matt Wieters.
I particularly enjoyed watching Samuel’s reactions to what has been going on in the game. One of the criticisms of Dave Trembley was that he never showed emotion and didn’t hold guys accountable. While the jury is still out on Samuel, it was enjoyable to see him give Adam Jones a hug after he scored in the 8th inning and he let Luke Scott know that he wasn’t real pleased that Scott started a home run trot on a double in the the bottom of the second.
It’s early for sure, but there are certainly personality differences I have enjoyed watching in Juan Samuel.
By Zach Wilt, on June 4th, 2010
By Matt Sadler, on June 4th, 2010 Of course there has been no official announcement from Birdland but everyone else, including the World Wide Leader, seems to think that is a forgone conclusion. It seems when Juan Samuel brings the lineup card to home plate today, so begins another era in Oriole baseball.
This move was a longtime coming. The Orioles are horrible and while responsibility can be peppered all over the place, Dave Trembley seems to have proven his inability to turn this team around. So now, the O’s bring in a new leader in 3rd Base Coach, Juan Samuel. Sammy has been the 3rd straight manager to take over in the middle of the season. Sam Perlozzo replaced Lee Mazzilli. Dave Trembley replaced Perlozzo. Each time, the new manager had the interim tag removed and they stayed on to manage the next season. It remains to be seen if Samuel is strictly a lame duck manager. My guess is that he has a chance to compete for the job, but the team would have to make such an improvement that the likelihood is near impossible. Instead, I think Orioles fans can look forward to a 2011 season with a fresh look and a new manager and hopefully a new staff.
But for now, let’s hope that this change has provided enough spark that the players will respond and give the fans a decent product on the field for the remaining 100+ games.
Was this the right time for a change?
By Weston Bruner, on May 30th, 2010 The Orioles have put together another lackluster effort in being swept by the Blue Jays, and any fan has to wonder at this point whether this team has been afflicted by bad luck, injuries, a poor manager, or is simply a terrible team equally terribly assembled. As Memorial Day is upon us at the second month of the season draws to a close, Orioles fans must face the cold reality that this team may not be waiting to wake up, and all of the Yahoo Sports, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN prognosticators who were so bullish on this team were all horribly wrong. It is easy to throw stones at Andy MacPhail and Dave Trembley as the culprits of this disaster, but I am afraid that kind of analysis is both shortsighted and minimalistic. The true roots of this team’s failure to fly might go deeper than that.
First of all, I have trouble with the notion that this was a poorly constructed team on the level of Cleveland, Kansas City, or Pittsburgh. Coming into this season the team had a #1 pitcher better than on many American League staffs, a core of young talent that wasn’t only young but had been touted as great prospects throughout their careers. These were not upstarts who simply had a good year. The bullpen, compared to the rest of the league, did not have a track record to indicate that it would be a horrifying liability. The lineup lacked power, but it didn’t lack for average- this was a team that could hang with most American League clubs. Oddly enough, the starting rotation was one of the biggest concerns, but it hasn’t been the Achilles heel we thought it would be. This was a projected .500 team not because of a dozen or so rabid fans- there were reasons for optimism.
Nor will I blame Andy MacPhail. What exactly has he not done or done poorly? Should he have overspent to get John Lackey? The starting rotation hasn’t been the issue. Adrian Beltre? Miguel Tejada has outplayed him at third base. Matt Holliday? Left field has been a major issue, so while he would have been a good investment, I am not sure whether this team has $100 million to spare. Besides, coming off the year that Nolan Reimold had, it made sense. But then again, General Managers aren’t judged on what’s good at the time, they are judged on how it turns out. I don’t care if this team doesn’t win another game this season- the organization is in better shape now than when he arrived. He has brought in a glut of new prospects- the team no longer relies on the likes of Adam Leowen, Hayden Penn, and Daniel Cabrera. I think I would take Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, and Jake Arrieta over that trio any day. The Orioles have lost no contributor of note during his tenure while gaining a number of talented players. Is he the best GM in baseball? No. But he is better than most of them- it just has to get worse before it gets better.
I can’t take the blame off of Dave Trembley, however. He has a losing record as a minor league manager and a dismal record as the O’s manager. He plays lefty-righty matchups too heavily and tends to pull his starters too early. Is he why the team is 20 games under .500? Not entirely, but he isn’t helping. I do like him, however- he is a good baseball guy and would make a fine bench coach, but as much as I like him the numbers just don’t back him up. His teams lose, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. I don’t want to spend too much time on him because he probably won’t make it out of June. For that matter, if there was a better alternative in the wings I am certain that management would have already pulled the trigger.
The only thing that I can look to, the only thing that has been a constant throughout all of the losing seasons, is the mentality of the ballclub. When I first heard Jim Palmer mention that he felt that this team had an ingrained mentality of losing it was 2005, and I laughed at the notion. I said to my brother, “It’s amazing how a mentality can change when the team has great players, huh?” But seeing this team find ways to let it slip away, as though the slightest crack in the game will send it all crashing down, makes me think that this team comes into the game wanting and perhaps thinking that they will win, but that when something goes wrong it all slips away. I can’t help but think that if this roster was in another city with another mascot and another uniform, that winning would follow. The Oriole has become so synonymous with swimming upstream, with desperation, that even the best personnel would underachieve. I hope I am wrong, but with a disaster like this, where else can you look?
By Jeff Pilson, on May 27th, 2010 I have given a lot of thought to this, and I know not a lot of Orioles fans will agree with me, but I think Nick Markakis is the Orioles best option to bat in the lead-off spot. Markakis has always been a patient hitter who sees a lot of pitches. In 2009 he seemed to get away from working the count and drawing many walks. It seemed like Markakis felt pressure to be more aggressive and drive in runs more regularly, which is not a bad thing. The problem was it took Markakis away from what he does best. This season has seen a return to form for Markakis. He has drawn a team high 32 walks and his OBP is .410, the best among Orioles regulars. At the same time, Markakis is not driving in many runs this year. Markakis has only 15 RBI’s despite hitting over .300 with runners in scoring position and his power numbers are down. It could be a matter of time before Markakis starts driving the ball, but right now his approach reminds me more of a lead-off hitter and he is the Orioles best option.
Corey Patterson has filled in admirably as the Oriole lead-off hitter since being called up from Norfolk, but how long before he returns to his .250 hitting ways? Patterson is also likely to find getting regular AB’s tough if and when Felix Pie returns and stays healthy. Pie is certainly not a top of the order hitter, but his presence should make Patterson the O’s 4th OF’er. Pie has an aggressive approach that is better suited to the middle of the line-up. My thought is that Dave Trembley should move Markakis now. We are not likely to see Brian Roberts anytime soon. There is a need for a permanent solution for that spot in the line-up.
You could argue that the Orioles will miss Markakis’ bat as a run producer, after-all he has been billed as the big bat in the middle of the O’s line-up. Well, as I mentioned earlier, having Markakis in the #2 or #3 hole has resulted in few RBI’s. The Orioles need a spark offensively. While Markakis is not going to be a disruptive force on the bases, he is the best the club has at getting on base. The Orioles are likely to struggle with RISP all season. A good way to counteract that is to have Markakis become the official table-setter, a role that he is performing well already.
By Matt Sadler, on May 24th, 2010 After reading Roch Kubatko this AM, it’s hard to imagine that it is not……
We knew that today’s off-day following a series loss in D.C. would bring heightened speculation about manager Dave Trembley’s job status. He was especially irritable after yesterday’s walk-off heartbreaker, but I’m not sure how much of his dark mood was attributed to him sensing that the end is near and how much was due to losing another game and another closer.
While Roch offers some reason why today might not be the day, I am starting to believe that it is. It’s nothing I am happy about. I think it’s sad. You want to see someone like Trembley succeed. You want to see the Orioles win; however, in order to salvage something this season, the front office is going to have to make changes. Unfortunately for Trembley, this is the most obvious change. Unfortunately, this organization will need multiple changes to ever really improve.
What are your thoughts? Is Trembley going to be sacked today?
By Steve Giles, on May 20th, 2010 When a team is 13-27, the first person everyone wants to blame is the manager. Some people may argue that the manager isn’t on the field and he shouldn’t be blamed for the inability of the players to perform. I say the reason why teams are as bad as the Orioles are this season is because of both the manager and the players. But I do think that if the O’s had a more capable manager they would have a better record than 13-27.
I understand that when the O’s are winning, which hasn’t quite been the theme lately; nobody says anything about Trembley’s decision-making. Well, the O’s aren’t winning so every bad decision he makes is going to be scrutinized. This is how it should be when you get to the major league level. As a big-league manager, you need to be able to make crucial decisions, sometimes several, over the course of a game. It seems like most of the time Trembley makes the wrong decision in these situations.
One of the more popular mistakes, at least in blog land, was the decision to pull Koji in the eighth inning in Saturday’s game against the Indians after he got out a jam he didn’t create. Instead of letting Koji start the ninth, Trembley put Alfredo Simon in and he blew it. Simon was five-for-five in save opportunities, but at that point in the game you have to let Koji start the ninth and see what happens. No matter what anyone says, Simon is NOT a proven closer and Trembley didn’t HAVE to put him in. We aren’t talking about a Mariano Rivera or Jonathan Paplebon here. We are talking about a guy who throws hard and lucked out a couple games in a row.
Anyway, back to the point. I said before that the blame for the O’s dismal start to the season should be placed on both the players and the manager. While this is true, it all starts with the manager. Let’s face it, the O’s aren’t starving for talent so there shouldn’t be any reason why they only have 13 wins 40 games into the season. So the missing piece in the equation is a manager who can mend all this young talent and form a team that can make a run toward the postseason.
I don’t want to hear all this stuff about it not being Trembley’s fault. If you look at almost any team that has won a championship in their respective sport, they all have at least one thing in common – discipline. Discipline starts with coaching and it ends with championships. It’s not a big surprise. The Rays are a perfect example. They were at the bottom of the league every year for the first decade of their existence. Meanwhile, they were piling up top draft picks, much like the O’s are doing now. So, they had all these talented young players but needed a leader, or manager, to point them in direction and get the most out of each and every one of his players – enter Joe Maddon. It took him a couple years to mold the individual players into the team he wanted, but after 10 straight losing seasons Maddon led the Rays to a 31-game improvement from 2007 and a World Series appearance in 2008. This was no fluke as the Rays are still one of the best all-around teams in the major leagues. This remarkable turnaround is the result of good managing and good decision-making.
The O’s front office needs to take a page out of the Rays’ book and hire a manager is capable of doing the same. I know it’s not the easiest thing to just pick a guy who can turn a team around in a couple years. But maybe the front office should use this season to do some research and bring a manager in here next season that is not just a replacement, but a guy they truly believe can get the job done. They need to actually put some thought into who the next manager is going to be. They shouldn’t just fire Trembley in the middle of the season and hire an interim manager from within the organization because that hasn’t seemed to work in the past. Let’s bring a guy in who can do what the past few managers haven’t been able to do in Baltimore, win.
Submitted by Steve Giles
By Clark, on May 18th, 2010 If the shoe doesn’t fit, then don’t wear it. Andy MacPhail discussed the O’s yesterday and their consistent lack of focus in the batter’s box. In particular he was asked about Garrett Atkins and whether there was anything there could be done to reverse the trend. MacPhail continued his stance on “This is not a suicide pact” and was quite honest about his thoughts of first base production.
“We’re not getting enough out of first base,” MacPhail said. “That’s one of the reasons we’re trying to add to our options. We need to get more production out of that than we are. We’ll go the way we are for the time being, and we’ll see how things evolve.”
– The Baltimore Sun
With that lack of confidence vote from the general manager, I think it’s safe to say that Atkins may be sitting the bench more frequently in the coming weeks. With absolutely no offensive production from first base, who could blame MacPhail. Batting .236 with no homers, 6 RBIs and an on base percentage just barely above .300 is the bottom of the barrel for first baseman.
Where do the Orioles go? MacPhail is hinting at bringing someone in to pick up the slack, but who’s next on the depth chart? Salazar? Reimold? Gonzo? If Gonzo can’t pitch maybe he’ll be more effective as hitter. Trades aren’t heating up yet and the O’s aren’t going to get much for him anyway unless they packaged him with other players. Where do you think the Orioles move to shake things up?
By Weston Bruner, on April 26th, 2010 Okay, so last night’s win aside, there aren’t a lot of reasons to follow the Orioles right now. The prospects aren’t panning out, the veterans are either on the DL or ineffective, and the bullpen hasn’t arrived yet from Sarasota. I think they may have lost their luggage at BWI… if only they’d brought their change-up as their carry-on. Either way, the Orioles are the proud owners of the worst record in baseball, and the .500 season is as much of a pipe dream as a World Series ring was before the season. The only reason a lot of fans are following the team at this point is to see whether manager Dave Trembley, who fans have either loved or hated from the moment he was made full-time manager, will be fired before the beginning of May. I won’t try to throw my two cents as to whether he should or should not be fired, or whether the Silence of the Bats or the Raging Bullpen (see what I did there?) are his fault. All things considered, with the guillotine squarely over his head, I wanted to go over the possible alternatives on the market for Mr. David Michael Trembley.
To me, one shouldn’t simply bring in a new face to shake things up- the new manager would have to be an upgrade over Trembley. Remember, Trembley has helped develop these players and has a rapport with them that will be difficult for any new manager to step in and recreate. I don’t believe in change for the sake of change, even when the team is 3-16. And don’t tell me it can’t get any worse. If you have been an Orioles fan for the last 12 years, you know that it can always get worse.
The new manager would have to have a winning resume. One of Trembley’s biggest weaknesses is that he has never been a winning manager, and he has never been at the major league level before his time with the Orioles. He lacks the authority, either as a manager or as a player, to show that he knows how to win. This team needs to learn how to win, and the players need to be shocked and awed into playing for their manager. Secondly, the manager has to know how to hold his players accountable. He cannot be afraid to bench a player for ineffectiveness and get the maximum effort out of his team. This will come a bit automatically with a new face as the roster hopes to prove itself to the new manager, but a heavy hand wouldn’t hurt. Finally, he needs to have experience with a young team. This is not a Phil Jackson squad, in that it is not established with the need only to bring the city a championship. This is still a rebuilding project, and not a tremendously attractive one in the AL East.
So who are the candidates? I will list a few big names on the open market who may be looking for managerial jobs: Bobby Valentine, Buck Showalter, Willie Randolph, Davey Johnson, and Phil Garner. I omitted some names, so please feel free to give some alternatives in the comments. You will ask “What about so-and-so?” but I tried to include just the most qualified and likely candidates- I surely missed a few.
On paper, Bobby Valentine has all the experience necessary. He is a household name whose experience in reaching the World Series with the Mets and in winning championships in Japan would surely enable him to command a clubhouse with few strong personalities. He routinely laid down the law with his Japanese players, benching them if they bunted against his wishes and insisting on instilling his style of play, with an emphasis on the long ball. He has a strong win-loss record in the majors, but there is one reason why Bobby Valentine couldn’t be the Orioles manager. Valentine has been fired twice in two countries for personal conflicts with the front office and ownership over a variety of issues. I just don’t see Andy MacPhail or Peter Angelos taking on a manager with any history of adversarial relationships with ownership. I also wonder about his patience with a young team.
Buck Showalter has the dubious distinction of having teams win a World Series right after he leaves, though he has had great success in helping build future winners. He managed the Arizona Diamondbacks as an expansion team, leading them to 100 wins in their second season of existence. Showalter also helped turn around the Texas Rangers following the Alex Rodriguez trade. However, a common theme is that his teams never reached their potential during his tenure. He could be the man to deliver Baltimore a winning season, and he does have great experience in melding a young team into winners, but I don’t know if he is the long-term solution to the Orioles problems. Of either of the TV analysts on this list, he is probably the most likely.
Willie Randolph’s teams are known for collapsing at the end of the season. So right off the bat, he and the Orioles have something in common. He is known as a very mild personality, which would suit MacPhail and especially Angelos just fine, but probably wouldn’t exactly inspire his players, who during his last years with the Mets were accused regularly of not giving their best effort. However, in his three years of managing, his team never had a losing record, and his firing likely had as much to do with General Manager and noted malcontent Omar Minaya as it did with his own performance. There are several additional hurdles any team attempting to sign him would have to overcome- for one, he is currently the bench coach for the Milwaukee Brewers and it would be difficult for him to bail on the team midseason. Secondly, he lacks any experience in the American League, and has likely engrossed himself in the National League since he has been a manager.
Davey Johnson was the last manager to bring the Orioles to the postseason, leading Peter Schmuck to wonder whether this team’s consecutive losing seasons streak was caused by “The Curse of Davey Johnson”. This distinction would immediately make him a favorite in Baltimore, and give him some of that aura the new manager would have to have to be successful in the clubhouse. He has the best record of any of the candidates I have listed, and has brought a variety of teams in a variety of situations to success, including a World Series ring with the Mets. You are waiting for the “but”, aren’t you? But he would have to be hired by Peter Angelos, and that would hurt the owner’s pride too much to ever be a possibility. Angelos already tried once to drag Johnson through the mud, resulting in Johnson’s bitter resignation. There is no way on this earth that Angelos would ask Johnson to come back 13 years later- that would be tantamount to admitting he was wrong, and that does not happen in this organization. Despite being out of managing for a decade, he would still probably be the best of this bunch.
I have heard Phil Garner’s named bandied about, so I felt that I had to include it here. He has an interesting history with Andy MacPhail, having interviewed for the Cubs job that eventually went to Dusty Baker. He was eventually hired by the Tigers, who brought him in to serve as a teacher to the players about accountability and hustle. His nickname “Old Ironsides” from his playing days was a testament to his hard work and unrelenting effort on the field, and Tigers fans hoped that it would help teach their young team how to play the game right. Garner was and is not a screamer, he is more of the laid-back personality that Trembley is. He failed to bring winning seasons to Detroit in two years and was canned after an 0-6 start to 2002. In 16 seasons as a manager he failed to win 90 games all but once, his first season, never won his division, and brought his teams to the playoffs only twice, with the Astros. The experience is there, an of the likely candidates, he doesn’t have any single fatal weakness aside from his win-loss record. That is a big weakness however.
So who would you pick? Remember, if there were perfect managerial candidates out there they wouldn’t be available on April 26th.
By Matt Sadler, on April 22nd, 2010 I have never been the biggest Dave Trembley fan, but I have to admit that I loved him going off last night after the Birds were swept by Seattle.
From the AP report as seen on ESPN.com
“I’ve been in a position where I’m a really nice fella and I’ll cover. I’ll get questions point blank and I feel like I’m a damn presidential press secretary sometimes instead of telling it what is it. I have to smooth it over,” Trembley said. “I’m not smoothing it over anymore.”
“The whole thing has gone totally different from what we want. It hasn’t been acceptable,” Trembley said. “I’m very patient but I will tell you the truth. I didn’t have anyone come up to me afterward and disagree with what I said.”
“I’m not going to let things continue to slide and say it’s OK. … I’m tired of that,” Trembley said. “I want to see the guys succeed. I’d like to get them back on track so they can enjoy that. You’re going to have to make some sacrifices and play some more as a team and do the things necessary in order for you to win. In order to do that you have to get your priorities straight. The priorities are the team.”
Do we even care to see any emotion out of Dave at this point?
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