Appreciating Buck Showalter: He turned a losing team into a winner (updated)

As the news came out this afternoon that Buck Showalter would not continue as the Orioles' manager, it was not unexpected. And, as of this writing, we still have not heard official word from the team.

But as reported here, Showalter met twice with ownership representatives in the last few days and this morning was told he would not be back as manager. He will not return in any role with the Orioles.

Showalter's legacy is simply this: He was a key person, maybe the key person, in turning a losing team into winners again. That was huge for the Orioles franchise. Fans suffered from 1998 through 2011, and all that losing could make one appreciate so much what it meant to be an Orioles fan again starting in 2012. They got back to the playoffs and in 2014 they beat everyone to win the American League East. They had a strong team, one that lost to a Kansas City club that could no wrong in the American League Championship Series that year.

Showalter changed the culture and, along with a core group of players, led the Orioles back to winning ways. We went from expecting something to go wrong, to thinking something would go right, on a nightly basis.

Fans could take pride again in their team and break out those orange shirts. Reporters could once again focus on the present and not always be looking to the future. Camden Yards rocked during playoff games. Showalter was at the center of that turnaround. This is the first thing that should come to mind when we remember his time here. Outside of Earl Weaver, no manager has had greater impact in Baltimore.

Showalter also had a way of speaking to the fans through press conferences, and many things he said resonated in a very positive way. For instance, remember when he said the team should never forget that when it's 1 a.m. in Baltimore and they are playing on the west coast, fans were at home still watching and living and dying with each pitch. That is one of many examples we could cite.

If you want to say the beginning of the end for Buck may have been at the 2016 wild card game in Toronto, I won't argue. He didn't use Zach Britton, and that was a huge mistake. I think he lost the confidence of some fans and players that night.

Did that carry over into the 2017 season? I don't know, but the club's collapse at the end of last year was shocking. They were three games over .500 with a month to go and were contending. Since then, almost everything has gone wrong. The losing reached a historic level this year.

One can legitimately question some of Showalter's decisions, large and small. Big for me was his constant defense of Chris Davis, the highest-paid player in team history, who failed the club miserably. Buck always seemed to have his back, which is fine, maybe even admirable for a manager. But he didn't need to put Davis in such a prominent spot in the order every night. Davis certainly didn't repay that loyalty at all with his performance. That is just a fact. Small things created questions too. Why did Chance Sisco and Austin Hays get called up last year and sit the bench so much initially? Why did DJ Stewart sit this year after his bat heated up?

The Orioles are in a bad place today, and today a major change happened. So now we wait to find out what comes next. Who is in and who is out? Who is running this team and what is the plan moving forward, so that a season like 2018 never happens again?

And now news on Duquette: Now comes word that executive vice president Dan Duquette will not continue with the Orioles either moving forward. His contract will not be renewed. The team could make today's news official with an announcement sometime soon. It could come as early as tonight. Perhaps an announcement would also explain and/or clarify if Brady Anderson will remain in a key postion among the club's top baseball operations staff.

Like with Showalter, I think fans should appreciate Duquette, too. Some will say any winning that happened on his watch was a result of moves earlier made by Andy MacPhail. MacPhail and Duquette should both get credit for turning the Orioles roster into one good enough to return to the playoffs.

Duquette's teams won in three different cities and his resume is solid. In Baltimore, he didn't have a blank check, even if the club's payrolls were among the highest in team history. And the club didn't pursue much international amateur talent, although his signing of pitcher Wei-Yin Chen proved to be a good one.

So with both Dan and Buck heading out, the rebuilding of the Orioles moves from the clubhouse to the warehouse and front office.