ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Orioles are standing behind Brandon Hyde.
Baltimore (14-23) has performed well below expectations so far this season, but the manager said Saturday that he has received assurances, both public and private, from executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias that he has the front office’s support.
“Mike has been incredibly respectful for me,” Hyde said. “He’s been incredibly supportive as well as everyone else in the front office, ownership. So, I am really focused on this team, trying to figure out how to win games with the roster we have right now and play better baseball. I haven’t been happy with how we’ve played. It’s not been how we’ve played the last couple years and that’s bothered all of us in the coaching staff. We’re a better team than that.”
Elias, who hired Hyde the first year he took over the franchise in 2018, has made several public statements in favor of the veteran skipper, who helped lead the club to back-to-back postseason appearances the past two years — though the Orioles were swept in their opening series both times.
Rather than leave doubt over Hyde’s status with the organization, he’s instead pointed to injuries and poor results from the rotation as the primary factors for their poor start while taking responsibility for his share of the blame.
“This is not something that the manager is impacting on the team,” Elias said Wednesday on 105.7’s Big Bad Morning Show, one of several media appearances he made this week after holding a news conference at home May 2.
“I think we’ve got a rotation that is ranking towards the bottom of MLB right now. I don’t think that’s going to be the case forever but we’ve started off with really bad starting pitching. We’ve got guys on the IL. We do have hitters that are frustratingly underperforming right now. The lineup is not clicking the way it’s got to be right now. I think that’s something we’ve got to figure out internally and we’re doing that. But right now this is an issue of not pitching well night to night and not being healthy enough.”
Hyde was the Orioles’ manager through the entirety of their four-year rebuild, manning the dugout through two 100-loss seasons, the coronavirus-pandemic shortened 2020 campaign and an 83-79 season in 2022 in which they finished with a winning record despite selling at the trade deadline. Baltimore then won more regular-season games over the next two years than any other team in the American League with a young roster of top prospects and draft picks.
The Pittsburgh Pirates became the first team this season to fire its manager Thursday when the club relieved sixth-year skipper Derek Shelton off his duties on the heels of a 13-26 start, opening the door for other underperforming teams to follow suit. However, Hyde said that he’s talked with Elias about his status with the organization and left those conversations feeling secure in his position.
“Me and Mike work closely,” Hyde said. “This has worked together for quite a while now and we have a great relationship and communicate really well. A lot of conversations throughout the day every day, and for him to be able to do that for me and to understand also kind of what we’re going through and kind of big picture and he was very patient in my first few years when we were not good, but then we got pretty good and for him to show the patience this year too and the understanding of where we are roster wise, I appreciate that very much.”
The lack of playoff success and the underperformance through the first six weeks of the year has stirred wavering confidence among the fan base, but Hyde said that he hasn’t let his future, uncertain or not, be a distraction.
“This is really hard,” Hyde said. “Losing is hard. Watching guys that you feel like are — that you’ve been grinding with for years — not having the success that you think they should have. The development part of this team still, and to not play the way that we should be playing. It’s tough on a nightly basis but I feel like we can turn this thing around.”
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