It's Not an Ownership Issue

We've learned this much:  it's bad timing to have a losing streak at the start of a season (a harsh refresher on the Oriole lesson learned in 1988).  What's most damaging about the O's early struggles in 2010 is that it'll be difficult for the team to turn things around with injuries already adding up.   

With Brian Roberts and Felix Pie both out and the team devoid of its scheduled closer (Mike Gonzalez), the team seems to have used up what little margin of error it had.   So here it lies:  a beaten and battered team with hope fading fast and a fan base frustrated.  Fire the manager?   Sure, that'll happen if the losing continues they all get fired eventually whether they're truly the root of the losing or not (and rarely, if ever, are they the real problem).  And already some fans have directed their finger point from the dugout to the owner's box:  Peter Angelos needs to sell the team.  As a TV sports director and radio talk show host, I've grown accustomed to fielding the varying levels of fan frustration that can boil over in difficult times.  I know the drum beat of "fire the owner" will only grow as the struggles continue.  I can't blame fans for being frustrated (it's been 12 losing seasons) but I can point out that the ugly April of the 2010 O's is NOT an ownership issue.  Peter Angelos became a better owner in June 2007 when he hired Andy MacPhail as team president in charge of baseball operations.  The Orioles had never had someone in that position under the Angelos ownership.  Peter essentially said:  it's your team Andy, you run it.  And MacPhail has taken over what is a painfully slow turn-around process (and fans are feeling that pain).  Blame the owner?  For what- hiring MacPhail?  Andy's a bona fide baseball man and his hiring by Angelos was applauded around Major League Baseball as a huge step forward for the club (and the league).  Rebuilding a broken baseball franchise takes years.  The Oriole fan "calendar" says 12 years, but the MacPhail calendar says it's not yet 3 years.  What's a fair time period to rebuild a broken team?  5 years, maybe more?  Re-set your calendar or your clock, O's fans.  If you trust Andy MacPhail- notice that he's still working and far from finished doing what is a massive job.  Fire the owner?  Quite the contrary: you might want to applaud him for doing what fans clamored he do for years: he put someone else in charge.

UPDATE:  Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports Angelos would not approve of having Cal Ripken join Andy MacPhail  for an unspecified role with the team.  

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Sources-say-Orioles-turned-down-Cal-Ripken-for-job-041610

This subject brings up some additional conversation!