Perlozzo fired by Orioles

[IE]

Sam Perlozzo was fired as manager of the Baltimore Orioles on Monday with the last-place team in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.

Perlozzo's firing was disclosed by a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. The Orioles scheduled a news conference for later Monday.

Bullpen coach Dave Trembley, who has served as a minor league manager in the organization, will be the interim manager when the Orioles begin a six-game trip in San Diego on Tuesday.

Perlozzo was victimized by an underachieving bullpen and a punchless offense that ranks last in the AL in home runs. Baltimore was 27-27 and second in the AL East on May 31 before losing 13 of 15, including the final eight games of a 1-8 homestand that ended Sunday.

After Sunday's 6-4 loss to Arizona on Sunday, there was talk in the clubhouse of Perlozzo's imminent dismissal. Several players publicly defended him, including Kevin Millar, who called for a players-only meeting in San Diego on Tuesday.

"Sam Perlozzo doesn't throw the ball and doesn't catch the ball. We know that for sure, right? He doesn't hit the ball," Millar said. "He doesn't play. We play. And we've got to find a way to play better."

Baltimore will seek to do so for another manager. Former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi is thought to be one of the leading candidates for the position.

The 56-year-old Perlozzo is the second straight Orioles manager to be fired in midseason. He took over on an interim basis after the Orioles dismissed Lee Mazzilli on Aug. 4, 2005. After guiding Baltimore to a 23-32 record that season, Perlozzo signed a three-year contract in October 2005.

He finished 122-164, including 70-92 last season and 29-40 this year.

Baltimore is seeking to end a franchise-record run of nine straight losing seasons. Since Davey Johnson took the Orioles to the playoffs in 1997, Ray Miller, Mike Hargrove, Mazzilli and Perlozzo have failed to produce so much as a .500 record.

 

[IntenseOperator]

This is probably the same GM that picked up Sosa a couple years back for a totally worthless season and then picked up Corey Worthless Patterson as a chaser.

 

[shawn555]

This is probably the same GM that picked up Sosa a couple years back for a totally worthless season and then picked up Corey Worthless Patterson as a chaser.

Perlozzo was the manager not the gm.

It looks like that Girardi may be the guy that they go after now that they hired MacPhail.

 

[shawn555]

MacPhail to join O's as COO
Team, executive agree in principle on deal, source says


By Dan Connolly
Sun Reporter

June 18, 2007, 2:13 PM EDT

The Orioles have agreed in principle with former Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins executive Andy MacPhail to be the club's next chief operating officer, a baseball official confirmed today.

Reached by phone this morning, MacPhail, 54, a consultant for Major League Baseball and commissioner Bud Selig, would not comment.

"I am just not really at liberty to discuss the situation at present," MacPhail said.

The Orioles also would not confirm MacPhail's hiring, which was first reported by ESPN's Buster Olney this morning, and limited questioning at today's news conference to "on-field issues" involving the firing of manager Sam Perlozzo.

The source, however, told The Sun that club owner Peter G. Angelos and MacPhail met this weekend in suburban Chicago and agreed in principle to a deal. The source said there were "no pressing issues" that should prevent the hiring, but some contractual language still needed to be hammered out.

An official announcement probably will not be made for several more days. Angelos could not be reached for comment.

According to the source, Angelos and MacPhail were seen talking together as recently as the owners' meetings in May while MacPhail was there on behalf of Selig. Also, MacPhail and Angelos worked together closely during the 2002 and 2006 labor negotiations.

The position of chief operating officer was vacated last month when Joe Foss resigned to accept a position with a Baltimore-based developer of retirement communities. Whereas Foss' background was business and finance, MacPhail, whose surname is one of the most storied in the sport's history, is considered a consummate baseball man. He would likely be more hands-on in the day-to-day decisions of club personnel, but would be expected to keep executive vice president Mike Flanagan and vice president Jim Duquette -- at least initially. Both of their contracts expire in 2008.

Whomever the Orioles hire to replace Perlozzo, who was fired this morning and replaced temporarily by bullpen coach Dave Trembley, likely would be approved -- if not selected -- by MacPhail.

Two high-profile candidates who have been mentioned as possibilities -- Joe Girardi and Dusty Baker -- have worked under MacPhail with the Cubs; Girardi as a player and Baker as a manager.

MacPhail, who began his baseball career as a Single-A business manager in the Cubs organization, won World Series championships in 1987 and 1991 as executive vice president/general manager of the Minnesota Twins. He left Minnesota and joined the Cubs in 1994, and remained there until stepping down at the end of last season during another disappointing year on the North Side of Chicago.

MacPhail's roots in Baltimore go much further back. He moved here in 1958 when he was 5 and stayed for eight years while his father, Hall of Fame executive Lee MacPhail, ran the Orioles from 1958 to 1965.

MacPhail grew up idolizing Orioles such as Jim Gentile and Gus Triandos. While in Chicago, he had a picture of Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson in his office, and he owns a dog named Brooks after the Orioles' great third baseman.

MacPhail's grandfather, Larry, is also in the Hall of Fame.

dan.connolly@baltsun.com

 

[IntenseOperator]

I know Shawn

I was talking about whoever the GM is that fired the current mgr. I don't know if he's the same sharp that gave Sam shit players to work with in the 1st place. I'm hearing alot of bad stuff about the upper part of the O's organization off sports radio. I know the two dopes I pointed out. I'm sure there has been more sharp moves. Like sitting on Tejada to long when they had multiple chances to get quality for him when they've been out of the running for years now.

 

[shawn555]

The problem starts with the owner Angelos. He has nixed several trades that are twin gms (another joke) had on the table. Tejada to anaheim for Aybar and Santana was nixed by Angelos. He is by far the worse owner in all of sports.

The GMs are another trouble spot. The birds have a payroll of 95 million and suck. Baez, Gibbons, and Mora are all horrible contracts they have produced. However they have made a few decent signings like Burres and Guthrie. Hopefully MacPhail is coming in to take over completely. I will believe it when i see it but the rumour is that he will be the final say not Angelos. Also either Duquette or Flanagan will be out as GM. My guess is they reassign Flanagan and leave Duquette.

As for Perlozzo he was in way over his head. He is a great guy but has mishandled the roster and has been a disaster as an in game manager. He lost the team and needed to go. The team is a disgrace as well as they stopped hustling weeks ago.

 

[shawn555]

Also i wouldnt call the players Sam got shit players. This team should be an 80-85 win team easy. They have a great rotation and some decent bats. Sam has just mishandled the pen and got nothing out of the hitters.

 

[MIPS]

anything short of GOD won't help us.. our team isn't good, and won't be until we get a NEW OWNER.. angelos is a jack ass whose #1 goal is to try n screw the NATS and its funny , we are worse than them!! haha i kind of love it.. O's offense is bad, very bad.. tejada is nothing more than an avg player.. guy must have used roids in the past, its becoming more obvious.. as i said before, he never dominates any 3 game series, never wins games, and all of a sudden has NO POWER... our bull pen SUCKS, our overall pitching is starting to falter (getting tired) and that ERA is inflating fast... Other than bedard, markakis and b rob, what the HELL do we have... we keep signing guys after their prime or these fill in guys, that ish wont work ( i.e. c patterson, millar, a huff... etc etc).. as much as i hate to say it, we need to have an line up make over.. Trade bedard... he will get a LOT in return and someone like yanks or boston will over pay for him in multiple prospects/young talent.. face it, bedard is good but in 2-3 years he will be gone most likely to a team who pays a lot more $$ and then we get nothing for him....the A's do it well.. build up talent, then ship it off and get millions of prsopects in return and keep being competitive and not spending money.. we havent had a winning season in a decade and our owner is an ass.. girardi will not be able to change that... we have no power hitters, we have no bull pen and we got 2-3 (3 is pushing it) decent starters.. that spells MISERY for many more years to come.... it sucks that we are stuck in a division with yanks and red soxs but i think in order to try and be good, we need to start over and build on young talent and trade any good guys we have, suck for 1-2 years (as if we dont now) and go from there...

 

[Destructor D]

I feel sorry for Baltimore fans, but at least you don't root for a team like the Royals. Try losing 100 games in 4 of the past 5 years and being the butt of late night jokes on Letterman and Leno.

However, KC has a fairly young nucleus that seems to be improving. Their bullpen is fairly decent now that everyone is healthy. Soria is really good, Gobble is a decent lefty, Greinke is okay, Riske has been solid, and Dotel appears ready to be a good closer. The Royals were also smart enough to deal Beltran when they couldn't sign him for Teahan (leads AL in putouts from RF and is a solid hitter batting .285) & Buck (has 13 homers as a catcher, not bad).

Baltimore has a horrid bullpen. Guys like Baez and Parrish shouldn't be ML pitchers and Ray is hardly a solid closer. The Orioles starters are decent, but Cabrera is a major underachiever and Bedard should have better numbers as he's near the top of the league in K's. Guthrie and Burres have been major surprises and Trachsel is a serviceable journeyman. I wouldn't expect Guthrie to continue with a 0.92 WHIP as he's not that good. The Orioles lineup is really nothing special. Only Mora has 10 homers and their team BA is .260 in a hitters park.

 

[KotysDad]

Orioles just need a reliever who can hit with runners in scoring position.