Return of Buck

[Birds08]

I hope he gets the rousing ovation he deserves tonight. 

 

As a side note, I note in an mlb.com interview yesterday he said the following with respect to that decision he made in the 2016 postseason to bring in Ubaldo over Zack.  Almost makes it sound like Britton wasn't ready or something like that (though remember at the time Britton seemed annoyed so find that hard to believe).  Anyway, doesn't matter now - we're on to bigger and better things!

https://www.mlb.com/news/buck-showalter-returns-to-baltimore-for-first-time

 

But, with the score tied at 2 in the 11th inning, Ubaldo Jiménez entered the game and failed to record an out, ultimately allowing a three-run homer to Edwin Encarnación that eliminated the Orioles from the postseason. Seven years later, Showalter would not say why Britton was never used.

“I’ll never tell. Some things you wear. I’m not going to say things that will hurt innocent people,” Showalter said. “There are always things you could say that might make you look better, but reflect poorly on somebody else. The job description [as manager] says, ‘Wear it.’ A lot of things you must wear because your job is to protect certain things.”

[Moose Milligan]

Buck is great.  Class act to not throw anyone under the bus in regards to the Britton situation.

I hope he gets that ovation, too.  And I think he will.

[Ohfan67]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

Buck is great.  Class act to not throw anyone under the bus in regards to the Britton situation.

I hope he gets that ovation, too.  And I think he will.

But in those quotes he does try to blame someone else. He’s just not naming names or explaining. I think the class act move would be to say it was a move that didn’t work or similar. He’s implying it wasn’t the move he wanted to make and that it was someone else’s fault. Not exactly the Buck stops here attitude (pun intended). 
 

On another note, I’m assuming Buck won’t be managing in the bigs next year. 

[Ohfan67]

Just now, Ohfan67 said:

But in those quotes he does try to blame someone else. He’s just not naming names or explaining. I think the class act move would be to say it was a move that didn’t work or similar. He’s implying it wasn’t the move he wanted to make and that it was someone else’s fault. Not exactly the Buck stops here attitude (pun intended). 
 

On another note, I’m assuming Buck won’t be managing in the bigs next year. 

Ps. This probably sounds more negative than I meant. I would cheer Buck if I was at the game. But he’s not perfect and he’s got a strong self righteous type attitude a lot of times. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Ohfan67 said:

But in those quotes he does try to blame someone else. He’s just not naming names or explaining. I think the class act move would be to say it was a move that didn’t work or similar. He’s implying it wasn’t the move he wanted to make and that it was someone else’s fault. Not exactly the Buck stops here attitude (pun intended). 
 

On another note, I’m assuming Buck won’t be managing in the bigs next year. 

Buck is really good with the media.

[Moose Milligan]

9 minutes ago, Ohfan67 said:

But in those quotes he does try to blame someone else. He’s just not naming names or explaining. I think the class act move would be to say it was a move that didn’t work or similar. He’s implying it wasn’t the move he wanted to make and that it was someone else’s fault. Not exactly the Buck stops here attitude (pun intended). 
 

On another note, I’m assuming Buck won’t be managing in the bigs next year. 

 

Semantics.  He didn't name names. 

[slakattack]

I appreciate what Buck Showalter did for and meant to the Orioles - I really do, we had some great times.

However, since we are on THAT topic - was there anyone watching that game that night (other than Buck) who did not know that when Ubaldo climbed the hill, the game was a good as over?

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

1 minute ago, slakattack said:

I appreciate what Buck Showalter did for and meant to the Orioles - I really do, we had some great times.

However, since we are on THAT topic - was there anyone watching that game that night (other than Buck) who did not know that when Ubaldo climbed the hill, the game was a good as over?

Ubaldo had been pitching better, but even in Ubaldo's good starts that season he was generally shaky his first inning. I was expecting the game to end at that point.

[Tony-OH]

Buck will get his well deserved ovation from the crowd tonight. I would imagine at some point they will put him on the scoreboard and give the crowd a chance to thanks for your time here.

I do find his comments about not wanting to throw someone else under the bus interesting and a bit conflicting. 

Buck said at the time, "“No one has been pitching better for us than Ubaldo.” 

Then Zach Britton was quoted as saying, “I was frustrated to sit and have to watch that and not participate,” after the game, adding it was Showalter’s call and that he would have been ready. So it certainly does not sound like Britton was not ready to go.

Here's a good wrapup of comments about Buck's poor decision. https://thecomeback.com/mlb/watch-blue-jays-win-on-encarnacions-walk-off-3-run-hr-off-jimenez.html

Now saying all that, I do think Buck is a quality guy who would not just make something up. But who could he had possibly be talking about? Did the bullpen coach get the wrong guy up? Did someone tell the bullpen coach the wrong guy? 

Is so, why would Buck just not have seen that Ubaldo was throwing instead of Britton.

I think Buck is a quality baseball man and a good man overall, so I'm not going besmirch his comments here in 2023, but I'm not sure who he could throw under the bus anyways. Even if he got bad advice from a coach, ultimately, it was his decision. 

Do we think in million years Hyde would have not run Bautista out there instead of Irvin in the same situation? 

It was the meat of the Blue Jays order. Unless Britton is lying and Buck too at the time when he said Britton was available and ready if needed, there is no other person who could have caused Ubaldo to come in instead of the best relief pitcher in the league that year.

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, slakattack said:

I appreciate what Buck Showalter did for and meant to the Orioles - I really do, we had some great times.

However, since we are on THAT topic - was there anyone watching that game that night (other than Buck) who did not know that when Ubaldo climbed the hill, the game was a good as over?

I hoped that since he had looked better recently that this was going to be a good move but I knew better.

 

[Sports Guy]

Buck was a good manager and the culture change he brought was great. He will get a huge ovation tonight and this weekend and he deserves it.

That said, he benefits from how bad the Os were before him and that added to his Orioles lore and DD doesn’t get enough credit for moves he made.(and he deserves blame for others as well)

Ultimately, it’s mixed for me. 2012-2016 was great but Buck had too much power, had PA’s ear too much (none of which is Bucks fault) and he was a big reason the organization was in shambles for so long after he left.

The DD/Toronto stuff really changed things imo.

[Baltimorecuse]

I like Buck.  

[LTO's]

Wow, that's a pretty weaselly comment in regards to the WC game. I respect Buck and think he should/will get an ovation but come on man. We all know he was saving him for a save situation. It's something he's continued to do this season with Robertson. Honestly, Buck's career accolades don't even come close matching the perception that surrounds him. He should've stuck to being a media personality because he's a funny/thoughtful guy. 

[dzorange]

15 minutes ago, slakattack said:

I appreciate what Buck Showalter did for and meant to the Orioles - I really do, we had some great times.

However, since we are on THAT topic - was there anyone watching that game that night (other than Buck) who did not know that when Ubaldo climbed the hill, the game was a good as over?

The Orioles were holding on for dear life for most of that game. They should have lost earlier but Givens got out of a major jam. I thought the game was as good as over for several innings, but they kept plugging along. Buck was saving Britton to close out the game, which wasn't unprecedented for a manager to do, but I never really understood that anyways. It was clearly going to blow up in Buck's face. If you're gonna go down, go down with your best.

I don't really care in hindsight. Buck's probably annoyed as a four time Manager of the Year in four different decades to be talking about this one mistake he's made for the last 7 years. 

[O's84]

12 minutes ago, slakattack said:

I appreciate what Buck Showalter did for and meant to the Orioles - I really do, we had some great times.

However, since we are on THAT topic - was there anyone watching that game that night (other than Buck) who did not know that when Ubaldo climbed the hill, the game was a good as over?

I thought it was foolish.  I know what he was trying to do but it wasn't likely to work out and it didn't.  But to not correct things when it got to man on 3rd and 1st with no outs with Encarnacion up needing only a sac fly to win it.  You have a struggling pitcher in Ubadlo leaving pitches up in the zone and you don't go to Britton, the best reliever in baseball.  You know, the guy with 80% groundball rate.  Kinda useful when a flyball wins it.  

Anyway, I do really appreciate Buck did and am thankful he came here.  But that Ubaldo move is a gigantic head scratcher.