Andy MacPhail Expected to Leave Orioles After Season

Some fans might sing “Hallelujah” and some might wonder “well then what’s next?” but it appears that when this season is finished, so is Andy MacPhail’s stint as the Oriole’s president of baseball operations.

According to USA Today, two high-ranking Orioles officials said MacPahil plans to leave the organization after his contract expires on Oct. 31 and he will not pursue an extension. The officials are not authorized to discuss the decision publicly because it is not official.

MacPhail joined the Orioles in 2007 and was thought to be the savior to turn the organization around but it clearly has not happened and the team is only three losses away from their 14^th consecutive losing season.

A lot of the blame of the Orioles continued woes has been put on MacPhail.  He came into the organization with a plan to “grow the arms and buy the bats” but the arms haven’t grown and he’s only bought bats of players at the end of their career.  But there is one thing you can say: he did have a strategy and he did stick to it.

While there was almost no improvement with MacPhail, another change is a risky move. MacPhail did get some good players on the roster - Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, J.J. Hardy, Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, Mark Reynolds – and he added them all for certain reasons: so they could fit in a system that he planned out. By changing general managers that system is likely going to change, and those players may no longer fit in, meaning another rebuilding process in on the way.

The Orioles may not have been particularly good, but they did have a lot of youth, especially with pitching, that had a lot to do with their woes and time may have really helped.  But in this game time is not something you get.  MacPhail had five seasons to get things going in Baltimore but it never happened.

You can continue reading this blog post at somuchsports.com.