Showalter impresses in first news conference
The Orioles newest manager lived up to his reputation, arriving for his first meeting with the Baltimore media prepared and candid about the formidable task that awaits him in trying to rebuild a once-proud franchise.
Buck Showalter, 54, who bears a slight resemblance to a younger Earl Weaver, admitted the Orioles -- 32-73 and about to post their 13th straight losing season -- "haven't been exposed to a winning-type environment."
And he flatly admitted: "We need an identity as a franchise."
Right now, the identity of the Orioles can best be summed up thusly: they're the creampuffs in the tough American League East.
Showalter said he's heard all sorts of rumors in the past of tinkering with Major League Baseball and realigning the divisions.
But unless and until that happens, he said, the Orioles have to find a way to beat the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays and get into the post-season, no matter what it takes.
"You're looking for 25 nuggets" on the Orioles roster, he said. "When you have 25 nuggets, you get to play in October."
Showalter also said he doesn't think the Orioles are as bad as a lot of people think.
"Because a club has struggled for so long, everyone thinks everything there is bad," he said. "That's not the case here. There are a lot of good things, and I've done my homework."
Showalter will manage his first game for the O's tomorrow night, when the team begins a seven-game homestand at Camden Yards with a three-game series against the Los Angels Angels.
But he said he had no particular message for long-suffering Orioles fans who "have heard it all."
"Right now it's just words," he said.
Until the team starts winning, the fans probably wouldn't listen anyway.
Comments
I really appreciate his sincerity with involving the history of the Franchise. Doing that will buy him a pass for some time to turn this thing around the right way, and with The Great Orioles past being involved. I hope that will be the case.
In Buck We Trust!!
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PRODDING ON
Posted by: Jaime K. | August 2, 2010 3:00 PM
Welcome to the Angelos nightmare, Buck.
You remember when the Orioles' name was synonymous with quality, with a winning tradition built upon commitment to doing things right. But now an entire generation has grown up without any experience of that. They know only what you have inherited: a losing culture established by a losing owner who has discovered that winning baseball is more complicated than rocket science--despite his early, smirking assurances to the contrary.
Posted by: rockvillejake | August 2, 2010 3:16 PM
Well, we'll see how Buck does. In previous stints with the Yankees and Diamondbacks and Rangers, he made little difference in the teams' W-L records in his first full year as manager, but then all 3 teams improved substantially in his 2nd year.
Maybe we have one more year of torture to endure before the team makes significant improvement in its W-L record.
Posted by: Jim | August 2, 2010 3:39 PM
I think Buck is an Earl Weaver type. That's what we need. We also need a knowledgable and tough pitching coach in the Dave Duncan mode. Kranitz is part of the reason our young pitchers have been beaten up. He needs to be gone, and quickly. Let Buck gather his own coaches and lets make a clean sweep of the coaching dept. It has to get better.
Posted by: woodieman | August 2, 2010 4:04 PM
MacPhail looked emasculated. It looked like a mea cupla from him. His power has been drained.
Posted by: joefoss | August 2, 2010 5:32 PM
Dribble. They are rge cream puffs of all baseball, not just the AL East.
Read this. It's very funny.
http://hokeshouse.com/2010/07/29/welcome-to-baltimore-buck.aspx
Sample:
MacPhail galavants down to his office and yells to Buck from the down the hall leaning out of his office door. “It’s a great plan – you’ll see!” Showalter grimaces and shakes his head. He then pulls out his cell phone and types a memo that says “Pull brick from warehouse. Hit McFail with it as soon as possible. Instantly make new friends and get free drinks from fans.”
Posted by: joefoss | August 3, 2010 12:20 AM
I believe it was Andy MacPhail who said the 'we need an identity as a franchise.' Weren't you there?
Posted by: bobbybo | August 3, 2010 8:03 AM