The Buck Show

So many managers, so much losing, so what will make Buck Showalter any better than the rest?  My first and most obvious answer to that is that better players will make the team better...but Buck can make a difference, too.   Unlike the previous four Orioles managers, Showalter has a proven track record of making teams better.  So, when he addressed his new team in a clubhouse meeting for the first time today, he brought credentials that many players on the current Orioles roster have not encountered previously.  Lee Mazzilli, Sam Perlozzo, Dave Trembley and Juan Samuel were all first-time Major League managers when they took the job.  By my count, about half of the current O's roster has never before played for an experienced/proven big league manager.  When I asked Nick Markakis about that he told me, "It's different, and different is good."  Jeremy Guthrie conceded that Showalter's credentials do resonate with the team- he's proven his methods work in other places so there's reason to believe he can make a difference here, Guthrie told me.  I asked Showalter if it's important that the players know of his track record, and he downplayed the significance of that, but then added that with the internet they've probably looked up his record and whether that matters remains to be seen.  I mention the aspect of Showalter's experience because of something Eddie Murray once told me.   He was frustrated at the lack of interest players showed in his advice when he was hitting coach for the Indians.  "Some of them didn't even know that I played in the big leagues," the Hall of Famer lamented.  How hard is that to believe?  Maybe not so unbelievable given how out of touch some players can be.  Which makes me wonder about Showalter's credentials and the impact of them on his new team.  Buck has the advantage of having done a couple of years of TV commentating on ESPN- and all of the players have seen him on Baseball Tonight.  No doubt some of them at some point while watching TV have asked out loud: "what does he know?"  Hopefully there was someone nearby who had an answer to that question.  Now Buck Showalter is sitting in the Orioles dugout and we'll begin to find out if he still knows enough to make a bad situation better.