In a lost season, the task is to evaluate talent and move forward. Does that also include the manager?

Yes, in this case. Longtime infield coach Tony Mansolino—now serving as interim manager since Brandon Hyde got fired on May 17 after a 15-28 start—is under the microscope. GM Mike Elias, in typical sphinxlike fashion, hasn’t said anything about next year’s plans, other than, “We’re looking at that position [coach].”

The longtime Cleveland org manager was hired as O’s third base coach in 2020, a position he’d occupied until this year.

It looks like Mansolino has had some good results. The Orioles’ record between May 17, when he took over, and the July 31 deadline: = 35-31. It’s not “Wow,” but considering the team was thirteen games below .500 when he took over, it’s better.

Since the Trade Deadline, the team is 4-7 this month. But it’s hard to blame the skipper when the front office forces him to play an outfield of … Ryan Noda, Greg Allen, and Jordyn Adams.

Here, to my eye, are several features that distinguish the Manso Era from the Hyde Age. Not all of them are important in a manager; I’m just saying I’ve noticed the difference.

He’s managing to win, whatever that means at this point. The longtime infield coach seems driven to win, no matter what circumstances he’s been dealt. About a month into his tenure, he tried openers, who eat an inning or two before the “real” starter takes over (think Scott Blewett for Cade Povich, or Keegan Akin for Dean Kremer). He’s encouraged his team to be more aggressive on the basepaths (er, to missed results—I’m looking at you, Jackson Holliday). I believe he pinch-hits more frequently, but I haven’t checked the data. Or as to whether Mansolino is playing the platoon matchups less. It feels to me like Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday are facing a lot more lefties.He trusts his starters (and his own instincts), not just the data. On August 6, against a Philly lineup that had given Trevor Rogers fits his whole career, and with Rogers not having his best stuff, Mansolino gave his starter a chance to work out of a jam in the sixth inning. Rogers had allowed a tough flyout to outfielder Colton Cowser and a pair of singles. But Mansolino stuck with the lefty. Following that, an eleven-pitch AB to Edmundo Sosa ended in a pop fly, and a groundout ended the inning.It may not be coincidence, then, that out of ten outings where starter Dean Kremer has thrown six innings or more this season, nine have come under Tony Mansolino. Trevor Rogers is averaging 6 1/3 innings per start. But Manso isn’t a sucker, either. On June 20, he kept a tight leash on starter Tomoyuki Sugano at Yankee Field. With the score 3-2 Yankees and a runner on second with two outs, Manso yanked his starter in favor of lefty Keegan Akin, who luckily ended the inning.He gives great postgame interviews. OK, OK, I know, they’re not handing out Cooperstown plaques just because the manager makes nice with the reporters. But I still appreciate it, because I learn something about his intuition. Here he is on July 24, explaining why he went to de facto closer Seranthony Domínguez in the eighth inning. Or yesterday, August 14, explaining what Jeremiah Jackson did well during a play where the interim outfielder punched out a runner trying to take the extra base on a single.

“You pick up the ball on the ground and make a throw and put it on the base, those are infield skills, which lend themselves nicely to playing the outfield, because the ball on the ground and throwing to bases is a huge part of playing the outfield. Where Jeremiah’s going to get better in front of our eyes as long as he’s here and going forward in his career is the ball in the air.”
Spoken like a true longtime third-base coach. But also, that was giving Jackson praise while pointing out areas where he could be much better. Which seems like good leadership to me.

So, do we think he’ll be back next year?

There are reasons to think so, and also not. The main reasons why Tony Mansolino would be back are his long tenure with the Orioles, and the general feeling that he is well-like by his players. Read, for example, Charlie Morton’s postgame comments about the trust his manager had in him during a 6 2/3, 107-pitch start, and how much that mattered to him:

“That interaction with the manager where they truly, they care how you feel. They care about how it’s going to make you feel if he pulls you or if they let you go back out there. So, I’m really appreciative for that and for those conversations that we’ve had this year, because there’s been a couple times where he really honored and respected what I was thinking and feeling.”

This sounds genuine and felt to me.

As for why the Orioles would move on from Tony Mansolino next year, one would be a felt need to clean house because of a general change in approach is required. This wouldn’t be his fault, at all. But the Orioles rank 22nd out of 30 teams in offense (measured in wOBA) and twenty-fifth in pitching (in WAR), and these totals were not much better while the team was still intact before the deadline. Even if it’s hard to blame Manso and the coaches for the state of the pitching, what with a whole team’s worth of arms on the injured list, but the hitting has not been great, either. Gunnar, Westburg and Adley are seemingly healthy but have had offensive regressions this year. Adley, in particular, is walking more than he did in a down 2024, but not as much as he did in the minors. Perhaps coaches are messing too much with his approach.

Another reason the Orioles would move on from Mansolino is a symbolic “changing of the guard” rationale. We don’t know what kind of an owner David Rubenstein is yet. He’s said all the right (supportive-sounding) things, but it wouldn’t be crazy to see him fire GM Mike Elias, who has arguably squandered a championship window with a team composed of multiple 1-1 picks that has won a grand total of zero playoff games in three season. If Elias goes, expect Mansolino to go, too.

Other than losing, one of the tougher things about a season like this is knowing that the bad play means several of your team favorites are going to go. I for one am now a Tony Mansolino fan. But we’ll see if his performance in the skipper’s chair can earn him a longer tenure with this team.