Showalter meets with MacPhail, Angelos for 3 hours
Buck Showalter, the ESPN baseball analyst who has managed three different major league organizations, met with Orioles President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail and principal owner Peter Angelos for about three hours in Baltimore on Wednesday.
Showalter would not go into specifics about the meeting, what was discussed or whether he has significant interest in the Orioles’ managerial opening.
“I am not going to comment on it at all,” he said.
Showalter’s interview occurred on the same day in which another high-profile candidate, Bobby Valentine, reportedly took his name out of consideration for the post. Valentine, also an ESPN analyst, told ESPN The Magazine that, “I am honored and flattered that the Orioles reached out with this potential opportunity, but at this time in my career, I feel I should direct my energies in another direction.”
That direction is apparently pointed toward Florida. The Marlins, who are in town for a three game series, fired Fredi Gonzalez on Wednesday and Marlins team president David Samson confirmed that Valentine has been contacted and “is a candidate for this position. … There is a list of candidates. The reason I address Bobby by name is because of speculation that’s been out there for some time.”
Valentine, who did not respond to multiple requests from The Sun for comment, was the second candidate to be interviewed by the Orioles, meeting in Baltimore with MacPhail and Angelos on June 11. Former Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge met with MacPhail on June 9.
A Baltimore native, 
Comments
It's a good sign that Showalter isn't commenting. To me, that shows that he's much more professional than Valentine.
Of course, we all knew from the start that Valentine was never going to manage here. I honestly believe that the only reason he interviewed was to get his name out in the media again. And then, when he came out of the interview, basically running his mouth the second he stepped out of the warehouse door, it became abundantly clear that the poor guy is absolutely starving for attention.
I would be thrilled to see Showalter get the job, and to see Andy take the Rosenthal approach, naming Showalter the manager for 2011, and letting him get a feel for the club while starting to search for his staff.
Posted by: not brooks | June 23, 2010 6:24 PM
They're interviewing all of these men who don't want the job. Shouldn't they also interview the two men who actually would say yes.......Dempsey and Samuel?
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Jeff Z's reply: Samuel pretty much gets interviewed every day becaus MacPhail sits down with him and talks to him about the club, and watches him manage every night. Dempsey will get interviewed soon.
Posted by: dspedden | June 23, 2010 6:43 PM
Why do you guys want Dempsey so badly? He has never managed in the bigs, he was let go from his last gig in AAA, and he has been interviewed 3 times for this opening already! I don't care how bad he wants the job! I want to be the GM of a MLB team too... Stop it already with the Dempsey for GM campaign... if they hire him or Samuel it shows me and the rest of the fans that have been putting up with this nonsense for the last 13 years that it is just going to be more of the same... Face it, the Oriole Way is long gone, ruined by free agency and poor organizational management. Bringing back old Orioles is not going to revive it. Hiring competent experienced, no-nonsense Managers and developing depth and talent within the organization from the bottom up is how you go about doing it. Showalter should not be allowed to leave the city without an offer. And we should increase our scouting department by at least 50%. You know why we can never sign or find the players that other teams seem to find? Because we run about HALF the staff of the scouting department that the other teams in our division run!! In order for this franchise to turn itself around is to INVEST in player scouting and development, Hire a REAL MLB manager and give him 4 or 5 seasons to develop an organizational style of play and get him the FREE AGENTS he needs to play that style and teach our young core the right way to be a Major League Baseball Player! If you are going to build around pitching and defense, great! Don't then turn around and play 3 out of 4 of your infielders in NEW POSITIONS! If you are going to be an offensive minded club and play for the 3 run homer, great! Don't have 10Hr guys lining your roster!!! The biggest problem this team has is that it has NO IDENTITY! That is the reason you don't hire inexperienced managers! This franchise needs a leader, a face... We don't have a player on the current roster that fits that bill, so you need your manager to be that Franchise Leader. Showalter and Valentine are those types of managers and since we blew it with Valentine (he would have come here if he heard what he needed to hear from PA and AM and the money was right), we need to make sure Showalter does not leave the city limits without an offer.
Posted by: Tony P in AZ | June 23, 2010 7:37 PM
Dempsey is a bafoon and we are going to have to overpay by A LOT to get a decent manager that we desperately need!!!! Dempsey and Samuel just continue the same awful losing ways.
Posted by: Tristan O'Connell | June 23, 2010 7:45 PM
no one in their right mind would take this job (at present). This Fall after a miserable season would someone be looking to try and right this aweful ship.
Posted by: phil | June 23, 2010 10:08 PM
I'd like to see Dempsey get a shot as the bench coach and learn from someone like a Showalter. I think just having Dempsey in uniform would be beneficial.
Posted by: steviebaltimore | June 24, 2010 5:40 PM