Buster Olney: Orioles Hire Andy McPhail as COO! Girardi Appears Next!

[erb8472]

Is it possible that Angelos is taking a step back and has hired McPhail to over see personnel decisions, etc.

[rolliefingers]

For Godsakes, just fire Sam and let him go with some dignity. This Dead Man Walking routine is ridiculous.

[TGO]

What exactly does COO stand for?

Chief Operating Officer. Position generally responsible for day to day operations management.

This is the position that was held by Joe Foss, who recently resigned to move over to a health care company, I think? Or maybe nursing care, something like that.

Foss was not very involved in baseball decisions, so maybe bringing in MacPhail to do that job won't be a big deal. However, I have a really hard time believing that a man with his background wouldn't stick his nose into baseball decisions or that PA would hire him to do a job that didn't involve at least overseeing baseball decisions.

[Miller192]

Chief Operating Officer. What that means, exactly, your guess is as good as mine.

Just a guess here, but I'd imagine that McPhail is probably going to replace Joe Foss after he left in April. I'm sure that McPhail's duties would be similar to what Foss did.

[howie14]

I assume that COO makes him our Kasten. So we may still have the dysfunctional GM situation.

After all, Bowden still has his job down the road.

[Frobby]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2907704

The Baltimore Orioles were busy at work Monday trying to stay above the fray of Major League Baseball's worst teams.

High-ranking sources have told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney that Andy MacPhail has reached an agreement to be the club's chief operating officer, and the Orioles also were arranging a meeting with Joe Girardi, furthering speculation that manager Sam Perlozzo is on his way out.

[rolliefingers]

They already had an opening when Joe Foss left. His position has been left vacant, and is being filled by MacPhail.

Ah yes, my mistake.

[The Wedge]

Well, we have 270 people looking at this forum alone right now...we could have a crash today.

[HarCoCy]

I think the speculation that Flanequette is out might be premature. I suspect he is there to replace Joe Foss and possibly assist with getting Girardi.

[33rd&Ellerslie]

If this turns out to be accurate it's another example of a dysfunctional front office. There is no excuse for leaking that they are talking to someone while they still have their current manager.

If it turns out to be accurate it'll be great for the O's to get someone like Giardi. But now if it doesn't whomever they do go to at some point it'll be a disappointment. This organization needs to learn how to keep things quiet. If Loose Lips Sink Ships, the O's boat would be at the bottom of the ocean.

Geschinger, I understand your sentiment, but everyone knows the Orioles have been talking to others already, Trembly, Johnson all of these names have already come up. I hope Macphail signals the end of Flanny and Duquette; they are ultimately responsible. Girardi is meeting with MacPhail and I would doubt seriously there hasn't already been preliminary negotiations and conversations. It's not like this leak is earth shattering, we have all been speculating about it for a very long time. Sometimes I think that no matter what the Orioles do we find a way to trounce them; ten years of losing probably deserves that.

[NewMarketSean]

/pausies on the self-imposed ban on the Orioles Talk forum

OK, since it looks like this move will happen (but you never know with the O's) I guess it's safe to start to come out of my self-imposed ban... and boy am I glad because it lasted forever!!!

My take on this move is this. It still won't change much. The O's are still a poorly run oprganization and changing guards on the watch isn't going to do much. I hope Angelos realizes this as do the FO. While this is possibly the best move they could make with the manager position, there is still tons of work to do to improve the team.

/restart the self-imposed ban on the Orioles Talk forum

[no1pony]

What if Flanny becomes the pitching coach? Just a thought.

[erb8472]

Just a quick question.

How is Giardi in the clubhouse? Is he the type guy who will get on players for playing stupid baseball, and will is he not only a manager but a clubhouse leader?

Not sure I know a whole lot about his managing styles other than that he had success with Florida last year.

Is he a pretty emotional guy in the dugout?

I wanna see somebody who's not afraid to get tossed.

[bgfield]

Okay so here's a dumb question...what does the COO of a major league baseball team actually do? In other words, what kind of changes could we expect from this?

[The Wedge]

What if Flanny becomes the pitching coach? Just a thought.

They'll suck? And why would he take such a drastic step down voluntarily?