Orioles Can Brandon Hyde, Continue Being Terrible

On Saturday morning, I was sitting in traffic just this side of the Route 50 bridge into Ocean City (Boardwalk Rock anyone else?) when I got the text notification I’ve been awaiting for years: Brandon Hyde was out as manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

This was a long time coming in many of our minds, and that 2023 “Manager of the Year” nonsense only sentenced us to another season-plus of his dart-throw lineups and routine bullpen mismanagement. I, for one, am just glad that someone is finally being held accountable, though as I said last week, I of course realize that this dreadful start isn’t on Hyde alone, or even in large part.

The Orioles Are Unfathomably Bad

With Hyde being let go, the team named third base coach Tony Mansolino interim head coach. While he certainly wouldn’t have been my choice, with so little experience on the staff, there weren’t many good options. Former bench coach Fredi Gonzalez, who would have been the easy pick to take over in the interim had he not been let go over the winter, was on MLB Radio talking about just that situation:

"I don't know if [new interim manager Tony Mansolino] is going to come in and put pixie dust on the roster."

Our own Fredi González reacts to the #Orioles decision to move on from Brandon Hyde. #Birdland
🔗https://t.co/fGPbvbj8w4 pic.twitter.com/rrsBc2yLsT

— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) May 17, 2025

“It’s a coaching staff that if you look around it’s – and this is what they wanted to do, from the very beginning of last year in getting rid of myself and a couple other veteran coaches – it’s a young staff…it’s a young, inexperienced major league coaching staff.”

Gee, why does Mike Elias prefer to staff his team with so much inexperience? A bunch of yes-men without the clout to challenge him? The only guy with experience was Hyde, who was brought on to be Elias’ “yes man” from the start.

Whatever the reason for these staffing decisions, the spotlight is now squarely on Elias.

In the immediate aftermath of Hyde’s firing, things continued to be awful for the 2025 O’s, as another of Elias’ genius starting pitching signings, Kyle Gibson, allowed six runs in the first inning while recording only two outs. It went like this:

Double

Wild Pitch

Single

Walk

Double

Single

Single

Strikeout

Sac Fly

Triple

So the O’s were down 6-0 in the first inning (and 7-0 in the second) to start the Mansolino era.

In signaling what we all hope is more decisive era in Birdland, with underperformers being shown the door more quickly, Gibson was DFA’d on Sunday morning.

So with Gibson gone, and the shock of losing the only manager most of them had ever had a couple hours before a game, and with Zach Eflin on the bump, the O’s would surely be able to avoid being swept by the Gnats and losing their sixth straight game, right?

:maniacal insane laughter:

The literal first pitch of the game from Eflin sailed over the scoreboard in right field, c/o C.J. Abrams. A one-run deficit? That’s an improvement in these parts.

Not to let Gibson outdo him though, Eflin proceeded to cough up not one, not two, but THREE more home runs. In the game? No, silly. In the second inning! 7-0 for the second straight game!

There is seemingly no end to this tire fire, friends.

At least I was on the beach rocking all weekend. I hope you, likewise, found something better to do with your time than to watch this baseball team, which has quickly become the most disappointing in franchise history.