'There was pain:' Brandon Hyde turned Orioles from a laughingstock to a juggernaut
There were nights he wanted to scream to the heavens, nights where he didn’t feel like leaving his office, nights where he wondered why in the world did he ever subject himself to this misery.
“There was pain, a lot of pain," Brandon Hyde softly tells USA TODAY Sports. “There were a lot of nights I didn’t how I could do it. I felt good about the way I was going about doing things, but when you lose so much, you take it personally.’’
It was life as manager of the Baltimore Orioles before turning it into one of the most enviable jobs in all of baseball.
But for those first three years, managing the Orioles was like taking blows from Mike Tyson.
Night. After night. After every night.
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Hyde, 49, of course, knew what he was getting into when he accepted the job after the 2018 season.
There was no amount of Clive Christian, Chanel or Baccarat colognes in the world to camouflage the stench of the job.
Six managerial openings had emerged in the winter of 2018, and this one was the worst.
The Orioles had just lost 115 games, finishing 61 games out of first place in the AL East, and no longer had superstar infielder Manny Machado.
They had just fired GM Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter, and stripped their player payroll to major-league depths.
It was so bad that even when the Orioles called him to interview, after failing to land four other jobs during the winter, Hyde wondered whether he should even bother. Should he even pursue the job, or simply return back to the Chicago Cubs where he was their bench coach?
“He wondered if he should even take the job,’’ said former manager Joe Maddon, who had Hyde on his Cubs’ coaching staff. “I told him, 'Hell yeah, never turn that down. You got to take it.’
“I said, 'Brother, it’s going to be crappy. It’s going to stink. You’re going to hate it. You’re going to wonder why.’
“But, it’s also the perfect spot. Just be patient. You’ll turn it around eventually. You’ll have a chance to implement your style, your methods. What do you want the narrative of this to be?"
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The Orioles, just as expected, did stink. They went 54-108 in Hyde’s first year, finishing 49 games out of first place.
Then came the COVID-19 2020 season and a 25-35 record.
The downward spiral continued in 2021, going 52-110, finishing 48 games out of first place.
“I leaned on Joe, I talked to Joe quite a bit,’’ Hyde said. “Joe was extremely supportive. He was a great sounding board for me through the tough times.
“He would always say, 'Don’t forget who you are. Be yourself.’ There were a lot of tough nights, and it’ easy to get away from who you are.’’
Well, nearly five years after taking the job, look who has the best record in the American League and sitting atop the AL East. The O's are on the verge of clinching a postseason berth, vying to go where no Orioles team has gone since 1983 − the World Series.
Say hello to your American League Manager of the Year winner.
“I couldn’t be happier for anyone in the world than him,’’ said Philadelphia Phillies executive Charley Kerfeld, who managed Hyde in 2001 for the independent league Chico Heat. “He got his ass kicked for three years, but survived. He always stood up for his team and his players, where a lot of guys would lay down.
“Now, after all of the (expletive) sandwiches he had to eat, I’m glad he’s eating lobster now.’’
Hyde laughs, and reminds you that he’s still a cheeseburger-and-fries type of guy. When the Orioles clinch their first postseason berth, he’ll be chugging beers, not sipping on champagne.
“He’s a renaissance man,’’ says Tim Cossins, Orioles major-league field coordinator and Hyde’s best friend from Santa Rosa, California. “He can adapt to anything. He’s smart. He’s funny. He’s witty. He’s an outstanding communicator. He’s a fiery competitor. He has compassion for the game.
“And he is so honest. No fluff. No fake. He has this unique combination of things that connects him to people and makes him so successful.’’
And, never, ever, is he satisfied.
You would think he’d sit back and bask a bit in the Orioles’ success, but instead, takes the losses harder now than when the Orioles were a laughingstock.
“Back in those days,’’ Hyde says, “if we played well, and lost to like Gerrit Cole and the Yankees, I’d still be upset we lost, but proud of how our team performed. The difference now is that myself and our team expect to win every single night. So the losses are much harder.
“Even with the wins, I want our players and coaching staff to celebrate, but for me personally, it’s more of a relief than anything else.’’
The journey: 'This is just what we need'
Jason McLeod, the Arizona Diamondbacks special assistant, saw that determination, drive and desire a decade ago when he hired him to be the Cubs’ minor-league field coordinator in 2012. McLeod didn’t know Hyde at all, but remembers reaching out to Kerfeld and others for insight into him. Kerfeld called him a “man’s man.’’ Former Miami Marlins longtime executive Orrin Freeman called Hyde “a future major league manager.’’ Jaron Madison, Hyde’s former teammate at Long Beach State who was the St. Louis Cardinals assistant scouting director at the time, thought he would be the ideal fit.
McLeod, the senior vice president under Theo Epstein with the Cubs, listened to the glowing recommendations and hired him. He was promoted to be their farm director a year later. In two years, he was the Cubs’ bench coach. Today, they are best of friends.
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“I remember interviewing him, and thinking, 'This guy is a lock. This is just what we need,’’’ McLeod said. “His first spring, he doesn’t know our staff, doesn’t know our players, but commanded the meetings. He’s such a presence in the room. He’s out on the field, getting in guys’ faces, saying, 'This isn’t good enough. This isn’t what we’re about. Let’s get it together.'
“Then, the first month of the season, he’s down in Tennessee, he shuts the clubhouse door, he goes on a rant, and they get their ears blown back. I’m thinking, “Holy [smokes]. Things are going to be different around here.’’’
Hyde rose to become Cubs manager Rick Renteria’s bench coach, Maddon’s first-base coach, then his bench coach, and in the off-season of 2018, interviewed for four different vacancies: the Los Angeles Angels (which went to Brad Ausmus), Texas Rangers (Chris Woodward), Toronto Blue Jays (Charlie Montoyo), Minnesota Twins (Rocco Baldelli) and came up empty. The Cincinnati Reds also had an opening, filled by David Bell.
The Orioles, meanwhile, hired Mike Elias to be their GM on Nov. 16, after all of the managerial vacancies were already filled. Elias telephoned all of the clubs who just filled their vacancies, trying to gain as much intelligence and as quickly as possible.
“I talked to five teams, and Brandon was kind of a finalist in all of them,’’ Elias said. “His name was very favorable.’’
They brought in six candidates, including three former major-league managers in Mike Redmond, Manny Acta and Chip Hale, and picked Hyde. They admired his expansive background, including four years as a minor-league player, and loved how his baseball mind worked.
They knew they were in the beginnings of a massive rebuild, but believed Hyde would develop a powerful clubhouse culture, play strong fundamental baseball, and when the time was right, they would win.
While it’s so easy, and grossly unfair for teams to have their managers go through a rebuild, and then replace them with someone when it’s time to win, Elias stuck with Hyde. Elias, who was the Astros’ assistant GM during their rebuild that turned into a dynasty, certainly understood the agonizing process.
“We weren’t judging performance of him or the major-league coaching staff by wins and losses,’’ Elias said, “and always retained perspective on what we were doing and how to get there. And Brandon never talked publicly about a rebuild, or the fact we were in that mode, but just about getting to where we wanted to go. The emphasis was on the big picture.
“Having gone through the experience of it with the Astros, I’ve seen some of the strain that can take place between the front office and the dugout. We were careful to avoid that strain, and I’m so proud of the way Brandon and this coaching staff handled everything.
“We weren’t lying when we said it was our goal to have this group stay together when we got to the other side.’’
The reward: 'Look at us now'
Well, they’re definitely on the other side now, building a super-power that could dominate the AL East for years. They have the best record in the American League, the best farm system in baseball. And they’re doing it with the game’s third-lowest player payroll.
“We went through the meat-grinder and came out the other side,’’ says Hyde. “It’s tough to turn things around. But during those times, no matter how tough it got, it mattered to me how hard they played. It mattered to me that we had a real positive atmosphere in our clubhouse. I give our coaches a lot of credit for being so positive and even-keel.’’
Now, after being so unbelievably bad, after being so ridiculed and scorned, after wondering if they would ever play in October again, Hyde and the Orioles are about to have the last laugh.
“It’s so great to see what’s done, how he built the culture, and how the front office stood by him,’’ says Orioles bench coach Fredi Gonzalez. “You’ve seen the playbook before. You lose 100 games a couple of times, and when it’s time to start winning, they get somebody else.
“I give kudos and respect to our front office and ownership for saying, 'This is our guy. This is the guy we’re going to win with.’ And he kept telling the players to believe. He kept telling them not to lose hope. He kept telling them, 'We’re coming.’
“My God, look at us now.’’
Around the basepaths
≻ Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell may not be stepping down as manager, after all.
Counsell, perhaps the leading candidate to win the NL Manager of the Year, is still trying to decide whether he wants to continue managing or take a break.
If Counsell decides to continue, he’ll certainly be the hottest commodity on the market.
He could remain in Milwaukee, where he surely would get a substantial raise. Or he could have a half-dozen teams − perhaps the New York Mets where his former boss, David Stearns, was hired to be president of baseball operations − bidding for his services.
≻ Future Hall of Fame executive Theo Epstein, a consultant for MLB, loves his part-time role and has no interest in returning to the Boston Red Sox.
He still hopes to be involved in club ownership with his next move.
≻ MLB will officially approve the Oakland A’s relocation to Las Vegas at their next owners’ meetings in November. Everything appears to be in place.
≻ The Red Sox will have plenty of fabulous candidates applying for Chaim Bloom’s vacancy after being fired Thursday, but whoever becomes their new president of baseball operations are better off to rent than buy.
Since the days of Theo Epstein, take a look at how long his successors have lasted:
- Ben Cherington: 1,393 days.
- Dave Dombrowski: 1,493 days.
- Chaim Bloom: 1,417 days.
It adds up to about 3.8 years. The difference is that Cherington was fired two years after winning the 2013 World Series, Dombrowski was fired 11 months after winning the 2018 World Series, and Bloom had just a 267-262 record (.505 winning percentage), and threatening to finish last for the third time in four years.
The Red Sox certainly paid notice that the combined opening-day payroll was $697 million since 2020, while Atlanta’s was $633 million the last four years.
≻ Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg says he’s willing to pay more than half of the proposed $1.2 billion new stadium in St. Petersburg that could be finalized by the end of the year.
≻ St. Louis Cardinals manager Oli Marmol is returning in 2024, as president John Mozeliak has reiterated.
≻ While Atlanta is a heavy favorite to win their second World Series in three years, the team that could turn their postseason upside down is the Milwaukee Brewers.
They have the best starting trio of any postseason rotation with All-Star closer Devin Williams.
In the second half, Brandon Woodruff has a 2.22 ERA (second-best in the NL), Freddy Peralta (2.51, 5th-best) and Corbin Burnes (2.76, 7th-best).
While Atlanta will have five players with at least 30 homers with Ozzie Albies’ next homer, and two with at least 40 homers once MVP favorite Ronald Acuna hits three more homers, becoming the first 40-70 man in baseball history, their pitching is a bit of a concern. Their starting rotation is yielding a 4.81 ERA since the All-Star break, just 19th in MLB.
≻ While the San Diego Padres are the most underachieving team in baseball history, and the Mets, Yankees and Cardinals, have been bitter disappointments, not far behind are the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays are playing their way out of wild-card contention after being humiliated in a four-game series against the Texas Rangers in Toronto, and outscored 35-9. The Jays have taken a page out of the Padres’ playbook with little fight after being down in games. They are 0-19 in games trailing by three or more runs this season.
≻ Miami Marlins GM Kim Ng’s contract expires after the year but is fully expected to receive an extension in the off-season.
≻ Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations, and manager Gabe Kapler are each returning for the 2024 season, owner Greg Johnson told the San Francisco Chronicle.
≻ Shohei Ohtani’s season is officially over. He wound up hitting .304 with 44 home runs and an 1.066 OPS, and was 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA. He’ll be the unanimous AL MVP winner in November − and receive the largest contract in baseball history this winter.
≻ Cardinals veteran Adam Wainwright has a chance to win his 200th career game Wednesday, the 122nd pitcher to accomplish the feat. The next most victories by an active pitcher? Miami Marlins veteran Johnny Cueto with 144. New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, with 143 victories, has the best shot of becoming the next 200-game winner.
≻ There were 29 major-league scouts watching Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto throw the second no-hitter of his career last week. He should top $160 million on the free-agent market when he’s posted this winter.
≻ Cool Netflix documentary coming to the screen Tuesday on Mike Veeck, the baseball marketing genius, called “The Saint of Second Chances.”
Veeck the son of Hall of Famer Bill Veeck, who integrated the American League with Larry Doby and Satchel Paige, talked about everything from the ill-fated Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979, to exploding scoreboards to owning the independent league St. Louis Saints, to signing Darryl Strawberry and Ila Borders, the first female professional player, play for the Saints.
≻ This may be Dave Roberts’ finest season yet as the Dodgers’ manager.
They opened the season with Julio Urias, Dustin May, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard and Michael Grove in their rotation with Tony Gonsolin coming off the IL and Walker Buehler expected to return late in the season.
Urias, who’s on paid administrative leave, is done for the season after his arrest on suspicion of a felony charge of corporal injury on a spouse. May underwent flexor-tendon surgery in July. Gonsolin had Tommy John surgery in September. Syndergaard was dumped in July. Buehler has been shut down for the year. Kershaw was sidelined six weeks and has been dealing with an inflamed shoulder.
And, here they are, clinching their 10th division title in 11 years on Saturday.
≻ Now that David Stearns is officially running the Mets, it’s hard to believe that popular first baseman Pete Alonso won’t go on the trade block this winter if they’re unable to sign him to a contract extension.
The largest contract Stearns ever gave to a player in Milwaukee was Christian Yelich with a seven-year, $188.5 million contract that was heavily deferred.
≻ It’s absolutely surreal that Minnesota Twins’ infielder Royce Lewis has hit four grand slams in the past three weeks, already setting a franchise record in just 54 games.
≻ While Cincinnati Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz was the talk of baseball when he burst onto the scene, he has been a disappointment in his 56 games since the All-Star break.
His slash line is an ugly .181/.267/.340 with 88 strikeouts in 215 at-bats.
≻ Can you imagine if the Phillies’ fans had given Trea Turner a standing ovation on opening day instead of waiting until Aug. 4?
Why, ever since they gave him an ovation to help lead him out of his season-long slump, the Phillies are hitting the best they have in franchise history. They lead MLB with 79 homers, 157 extra-base hits and an .894 OPS, their best since at least 1900.
Turner, meanwhile, was hitting .235 on Aug. 4 and now has raised his batting average to .272 with 26 homers and 27 stolen bases.
≻ Padres ace Blake Snell, who won the American League Cy Young award in 2018 with the Rays, is on verge of becoming only seventh pitcher to win the award in both leagues.
Snell has been nothing short of sensational in his last 20 starts, yielding a 1.31 ERA, and has pitched at least six shutout innings in a league-leading 21 starts this year. He has not permitted more than three runs in any of his last 21 starts, going 13-3 with a 1.33 ERA.
≻ The Houston Astros, who have struggled at home all season, are extending their batter’s eye at Minute Maid Park after listening to complaints by their players. The Astros are just 38-37 at home this season with a .732 OPS, with only 11 teams having a lower OPS at home. It’s their lowest home winning percentage since 2016, the last season they failed to reach the postseason.
≻ While stolen bases are the rage in baseball, the Giants have taken the other extreme.
When Blake Sabol stole a base this past week for the Giants, it was their first stolen base by a Giants’ player other than Thairo Estrada since July 22 − 45 games and seven weeks ago.
The Giants went 27 consecutive games without even a stolen base attempt when Estrada was injured.
≻ The Diamondbacks are lining up their rotation to have starters Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly pitch in six of their last 11 games in hopes of reaching the postseason.
≻ What in the world ever happened to complete games? There have been only 30 complete games all season, which is six shy of the fewest in a full season in history. The average start this season has lasted just 5.18 innings.
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