Brandon Hyde, who was part of the 2016 World Series coaching staff with the Cubs, has been fired by the Baltimore Orioles. The team relieved Hyde of his managerial duties on Saturday, following the Orioles’ fourth straight loss on Friday. Baltimore currently has a 15-28 record, which has the Orioles in last place in the AL East.
Hyde became the Orioles manager in 2019, and after a few rebuilding years he led the squad to three consecutive winning seasons, including back-to-back playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024. Hyde was voted as AL Manager of the Year in 2023, after the Orioles won their division and led the American League with 101 wins. Now, after a rough start to the 2025 season, Hyde has been replaced in the dugout.
There’s no doubt that the Orioles have failed to live up to expectations to begin the 2025 season and it appears as their decline started since last summer. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the Orioles, how they’ve played or the impact Hyde has made one way or another, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why things have gone south for Baltimore.
Unfortunately for managers and coaches, they’ll be the first on the chopping block when the team doesn’t produce on the field. However, the biggest failure for the Orioles during the past few years has been the front office and ownership’s unwillingness to go out and supplement a talented, young core with more help.
Everyone knew the Orioles needed to add quality starting pitching this past offseason and instead they went out and targeted aging pitchers, signing 41-year-old Charlie Morton, 35-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano and 37-year-old Kyle Gibson.
Entering Saturday the Orioles starting rotation ranked dead last in the American League with a combined 5.60 ERA and they’re the only group of starting pitchers to be worth negative fWAR at -0.1. Just how bad is that? The next worst rotation is the Miami Marlins, who are at 0.8 fWAR.
The Orioles rank 15th in payroll this season following their back-to-back postseason berths.
Hyde isn’t the only scapegoat. The Orioles also fired field coordinator and catching instructor Tim Cossins.
Third base coach Tony Mansolino has been named interim manager. Mansolino joined Hyde’s coaching staff in 2021.
