Well, the Orioles did say they wanted more outside voices this offseason. This past week, they got an earful of noise \u2014 just not the kind they\u2019re looking for. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the Orioles laid off 16 employees, including one who played the roles of Mr. Splash and the Oriole Bird<\/a>. The team also struggled this week with the surprisingly sharp reaction to Hall of Fame pitcher and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network color commentator Jim Palmer sharing an anecdote about manager Craig Albernaz not answering his text<\/a>. <\/p>\n Giving a sassy \u201ctsk-tsk\u201d to the Orioles on their latest round of follies feels like piling on. It\u2019s hard to be any more punishing to a franchise that insists on punishing itself.<\/p>\n The Orioles have a listening problem \u2014 mainly that their fanbase and others around the franchise don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re being heard much at all.<\/p>\n For a franchise in a state of stagnation<\/a>, even innocuous news items are fanned by the frustration people are feeling.<\/p>\n I get it. The Orioles haven\u2019t really delivered the kind of joyful era that felt like it was just getting started in 2023. There\u2019s a strong desire \u2014 I feel it myself<\/a> \u2014 to knock \u2019em down a peg or two when they step on a rake.<\/p>\n But a few things worth getting straight: Neither the Oriole Bird nor Mr. Splash is actually going away. It\u2019s no small thing that the person who played those characters (and whose face appeared on the team\u2019s promotions and advertising in the role of Mr. Splash) lost his job, but the Orioles aren\u2019t actually downsizing the fan experience or closing the Bird Bath.<\/p>\n The Orioles don\u2019t comment on specific personnel decisions, but the organization is still posting jobs ahead of the 2027 season \u2014 if there is a season. While it\u2019s tempting to draw a straight line between an impending lockout and the reduction in staff, there\u2019s not yet enough real evidence that the layoffs are mere prep for a work stoppage. <\/p>\n Then, there\u2019s the Palmer-Albernaz fiasco, a minor tiff blown out of proportion. Palmer has tried (unsuccessfully) to walk back his story<\/a> as fans have called for Albernaz to be pilloried in the town square. It is just one episode between the two men, who have talked about plenty of things throughout Albernaz\u2019s first year. It didn\u2019t define the relationship \u2014 although given all the fallout in the last week, it might now.<\/p>\n Palmer probably would not have related this story if the Orioles had actually made the playoffs. Even Hall of Famers let frustration seep through the cracks if they have to sit with it long enough. Palmer spent this season watching the Orioles\u2019 slumping offense and a defense that was among the league\u2019s worst. Of course he wants to offer every little bit of help he can, because like everyone else in Baltimore, he wants to see the Orioles win.<\/p>\n Because winning seasons have been so few and far between since the Orioles\u2019 last World Series win in 1983<\/a>, Palmer and his cohort sit on a pedestal. The man pitched against Mickey Mantle. At the age of 20, he shut out the Dodgers in the World Series. At 81, he\u2019s touched every great era of Orioles baseball, as a player or a broadcaster<\/a>.<\/p>\n I think two things can be true: Albernaz knows how much his players need to work on fundamental baseball this offseason without Palmer\u2019s advice. But also, Albernaz has underestimated the peculiar politics of Baltimore baseball. <\/p>\n Palmer will talk your ear off if you let him, but he\u2019s someone you have to at least hear out, even if you\u2019re busy. <\/p>\n But breaking down the particulars of these incidents doesn\u2019t explain why the reaction has been so incendiary. I don\u2019t think a lot of people are that concerned about who returns Palmer\u2019s texts. While layoffs are always unfortunate, especially for the folks who have lost their jobs, it\u2019s surprising that fans have such a strong interest in the corporate flowchart.<\/p>\n The perception that the Orioles simply aren\u2019t listening reigns over everything right now, whether that\u2019s fair or not. The fanbase is impatient, having watched the last two seasons wash out unexpectedly, leaving them underwhelmed and overcharged. They\u2019re eyeing the Orioles like hawks, ready to swoop on the latest stumble no matter how small.<\/p>\n These frustrations stem from Mike Elias, a leader who crafted an insular franchise culture and operated within clear parameters defined by internal models and analytics and has only in the last year or so begun to reckon with the flaws in his early approach. They stem from the decisions overseen by president of business operations Catie Griggs, who got off to a rough start when she overhauled Birdland packages last year<\/a> and has been critiqued ever since for an approach that many fans associate with private equity strategies (end-of-season layoffs fall under this umbrella as well). <\/p>\n Albernaz owns a mere offshoot of this phenomenon, but fans are impatient with sloppy fielding that didn\u2019t get much better as the year went on and with platoon-driven lineups they saw often in the Brandon Hyde era, which failed to develop many of the franchise\u2019s young players<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Palmer incident invites a larger question about how the Orioles treat their alums. Former Oriole Mike Bordick, one of the hosts of the podcast where Palmer told the Albernaz story, told me that even when the organization invites former players to guest coach in Sarasota during spring training, they are advised to not actually offer, well, coaching.<\/p>\n You did not hear grousing from former Orioles about being held at arm\u2019s distance when, for example, Buck Showalter was manager<\/a>. What worked about that approach? The team should figure that out and make its own facsimile. Major League Baseball, Bordick said, is a special fraternity, and former Orioles would like the current group, including Albernaz and the coaches, to feel that connection.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it would be cool to just have a powwow with the coaching staff and the players and talk shop,\u201d Bordick said. \u201cThey\u2019re all baseball guys at heart anyway. They all played the game. They all understand. I just feel like they are missing the heart and soul of what baseball is.\u201d<\/p>\n If you asked the Orioles, they would tell you how much effort they actually put into listening. Griggs has commissioned surveys to direct improvements to Camden Yards<\/a>, which honestly offers a better game-day experience than it did before the David Rubenstein ownership era. Elias seems set upon hiring a new general manager<\/a>, which hopefully will inject new insights into a front office that needs them. And I\u2019m guessing Palmer will never see a text go unanswered by Albernaz again.<\/p>\n The wheels may be in motion on some of these changes, but it\u2019s hard to sell the fanbase on them right now. Fielding a competitive team is the only thing that can sway the crowd.<\/p>\n Inside the warehouse, the folks up and down the organization must feel like they just can\u2019t win. Ultimately, that\u2019s why this is happening \u2014 because that\u2019s how the people feel outside the warehouse, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, the Orioles did say they wanted more outside voices this offseason. 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