On Thursday, the Minnesota Twins became the third team this week to hire a new manager, appointing former big-league outfielder Rocco Baldelli as the 14th skipper in franchise history. The Blue Jays also reportedly made the decision to hire Rays coach Charlie Montoyo to fill their managerial opening. That leaves just two remaining dugout vacancies: one belonging to the Texas Rangers and the one left with the Baltimore Orioles. It feels necessary to separate the O's because no team has taken an odder approach so far this fall.
Sure, the New York Mets have landed on three general manager candidates who share few similarities. But at least the Mets are closing in on a hire. The Orioles are not, as best as anyone can tell, and the slow search comes despite having the worst record in baseball and knowing that both manager Buck Showalter and top executive Dan Duquette were on lame-duck deals entering the year.
Since dismissing the pair -- and noting in a press release the intent to hire someone from outside the organization to run the team's baseball operations -- the Orioles have handed the reins to some combination of Brian Graham, Gary Rajsich, and Brady Anderson (the internal favorite to take Duquette's place). That's been about it, so far as news goes.
Dig through the MLB Trade Rumors archives as best as you can, and you'll find less than a handful of names publicly connected to the Orioles' general manager position:
Ned Colletti, the GM of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006-14 (source);
Km Ng, who worked under Colletti for a time and is currently MLB's senior vice president for baseball operations (source);
Ben Cherington, formerly the GM of the Boston Red Sox (source).
That's about it -- even the grapevine is quiet when it comes to the Orioles' search. (There aren't any names out there concerning the O's managerial vacancy, because the belief is they'll (sensibly) hire their new baseball operations head first.)
To be clear: the Orioles don't owe the public anything when it comes to revealing their process. It's possible they're close to making an announcement on who will run them heading forward. Lord knows whoever they hire isn't likely to make a huge difference for their 2019 outlook. Perhaps the Orioles have just done an excellent job of preventing leaks.
Still, the Orioles knew before any other team they'd be in the market for new decision makers -- for them to now feel so far behind everyone else in the process is remarkable.
