When Dave Trembley was dismissed as Orioles' manager last year, a good man lost his job. I think O's fans realize that Trembley is a good guy who put everything he had into a very difficult job.
I wish the guy nothing but the best in his new role with the Atlanta Braves and hope our paths cross at some point during the coming season.
Feel free to check out this long interview that David Laurila did with Trembley about his time managing the Orioles.
Here are some excerpts:
"The first three weeks after I got fired, my phone was ringing off the hook. I talked to everybody, but after that, nothing. I became a recluse for the better part of the next three months. I didn't really want to talk to anybody and I didn't really know what to do. I'd wake up at three o'clock in the morning and start checking scores. It's a big change to your lifestyle, but you get through it and begin to realize just how fortunate you are to have managed in the big leagues.
"To be honest with you, I'm not so sure that I resented being fired. I was hurt and disappointed more than anything. But I understand very clearly that a general manager will have to make a change for the sake of the team, and for the betterment of the organization and the players. In that regard, I think that Andy McPhail did what he thought was in the best interests of the players. The players, in the grand scheme of things, are the ones who benefited by it.
"The players came to realize, 'Hey, we're going to give a contract to Buck Showalter; we're going to get somebody who is going to be there long-term.' It wasn't going to be the same question every day: Is Dave Trembley going to be here tomorrow? The onus was no longer on that. It was now on the players, and from that perspective, Andy McPhail did what he had to do. I have no problem with that.
"But I was hurt and disappointed in the way that it evolved. We were flying home from New York and it came across the bottom of the screen, on SportsCenter. That's how I found out, and I think that everyone would agree that it probably could have been handled a little cleaner than that. We're flying on the plane, watching TV, and I see it on SportsCenter. You can only imagine how that feels."
By the way, you may have missed this story I wrote with Trembley back in December. In this interview, he confirmed that he almost took a job managing in the Orioles farm system during the 2011 season. I believe it would have been with the Bowie Baysox.
Anyway, best wishes this year and beyond to the former O's skipper.
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.masnsports.com/