Orioles Fire Trembley

The Baltimore Orioles have finally decided to cut ties with manager Dave Trembley, firing him this morning after the Orioles got off to an awful start. The Orioles opened the season 2-16, already putting them in a major hole in the AL East division. They are currently 15-39 and have gotten swept in their last two series, both on the road to the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees. They only scored 8 runs in the six games in which they lost, an average of only 1.3 runs per game. Third base coach Juan Samuel was appointed interim manager of the Orioles.

After the 2-16 start for the Orioles to the 2010 season, it was inevitable that Trembley was going to be fired. It was just a matter of when, and it is a little surprising the Orioles waited this long to fire him. Trembley becomes the second manager fired this year. Trey Hillman of the Kansas City Royals was fired last month after a 12-23 start for the Royals. That is much better than where the Orioles are now, which makes it more surprising Trembley made it past the middle of May.

It was difficult from the jump for Trembley to succeed with this team this season. 2B Brian Roberts, LF Felix Pie, P Mike Gonzalez, P Jim Johnson, and P Koji Uehara have all been injured this season and spent time on the disabled list. Gonzalez, Johnson, and Uehara are important relievers, which is why they have more blown saves than saves this season. Roberts is the leadoff hitter and the best player on the Orioles, and he hasn't played at all.

In baseball, it is real difficult to turn around a bad team by firing managers. The manager is only responsible for making pitching changes and putting out the best nine hitters on a daily basis. Clearly, the Orioles being last in every major statistical category is a result of how bad the pitchers and hitters are on this team. Injury has played a role, but I don't think with the injured guys in the lineup that they would be contending right now. The only thing anyone can tell Juan Samuel as he takes over the managing position is good luck. He's going to need it.