New man in town

The unprepossessing man you see below is Craig Albernaz, the former associate manager with the Cleveland Guardians, who was just hired as manager of the Baltimore Orioles, who came into the 2025 season regarded as favorites to get to the World Series but are watching the series from their homes because the team fell way out of contention before the hydrangea even had a chance to bloom this spring.

The manager, Brandon Hyde, got his walking papers in mid-May, and was replaced by third-base coach Tony Mansolino, but Mansolino was only given the title of "interim manager."  In other words, don't hang up any pictures on the wall, pal. You're only here for a while.

With only a few exceptions, Albernaz inherits the same team that had such high prospects a year ago, and it will be his job to lead them to a higher finish in 2026.

 

“I am deeply honored and humbled to join the storied Baltimore Orioles organization,” is how Albernaz expressed his gladness at being chosen. “This is a tremendous honor, and I’m grateful to (president of Baseball Operations) Mike Elias and the entire Orioles team for entrusting me with the responsibility of leading this talented club.”

I won't go into all the details here; the Orioles finished in last place last year, even though they did better under Mansolino than were doing with Hyde in charge, the top brass still got out the broom and made sweeping changes.

Albernaz is highly regarded, so let's see. What I wanted to say here was, the minute the news came out that the new man was coming on board, Facebook and other social media went to town. I guess those sports talk radio shows suffered a drop in audience for a while, because all the guys (it's almost always guys) who call them to pontificate on the virtues of the squeeze bunt and why "pound for pound (whatever that means) Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. is the finest ballplayer of the day - truly a generational talent" put down the phones and started pounding on the keyboards.

They really say things like that, and they often end their soliloquy with "any way you slice it, it is what it is." 

People can't enjoy the game for the intrinsic value of enjoying it. Nosireee Bob, they have to weigh in with the considerable expertise they gained as backup catcher on the 9-10 Unlimited Tigers back in the day. Sometimes, I used to ask them how come, if they knew so much about sports strategy and game management, how come the Orioles weren't calling THEM with job offers? 

And the answer was usually that it is what it was, or something.

Good luck, Craig. Get to know the players and the Baltimore community, and we wish you many years of success here. If you need advice, just tune in to the 37 sports talk radio shows that dot our airwaves and podcast zones like seeds on a watermelon.