The most intriguing aspect of yesterday's Orioles shake-up wasn't the most obvious. Everybody knew Sam Perlozzo was managing on borrowed time. Nobody knew that owner Peter Angelos actually could see the bigger picture.
If it is true that he is hammering out a deal to make former Twins and Cubs executive Andy MacPhail the highest-ranking nonfamily member in the Orioles organization, it might be a sign that he finally has figured out that traditional management principles are traditional for a reason.
Remember, this is the owner who insisted nearly a decade ago that the conventional baseball operations hierarchy was obsolete and created a new paradigm that turned out to be worth less than a pair of dimes. He renamed and redefined the general manager position, then split it into a two-headed hybrid that only magnified the widely held impression that no one in his front office had any real authority.
No disrespect to Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette, who have developed a pretty good working relationship over the past couple of years, but the pursuit of MacPhail might be an indication that Angelos finally recognizes the organizational credibility problem that he created. Even if the current front office is moving the team in the right direction, the fans have become too jaded to stay onboard.
Enter MacPhail, who won two world titles as general manager of the Twins and came within a deflected foul ball of the World Series a few years ago as president of a long-suffering Cubs organization that hasn't been to the Fall Classic since 1945.
He is expected to be named chief operating officer of the franchise, which in itself would be a striking change in organizational hierarchy. The closest thing to a COO previously was the recently departed Joe Foss, but he was largely a business-side guy. MacPhail presumably would oversee the entire front office and have sweeping authority to revitalize the baseball operation.
His record - and a legendary baseball lineage that includes two Hall of Fame executives - says he will do that if Angelos really has had an epiphany and gives MacPhail the autonomy to act dynamically to change the direction of the team.
Of course, Angelos' record would argue against his giving up so much authority, but we can dream. Perhaps it has finally dawned on him that 2 million empty seats a year can't be wrong. That's the difference between the team's record attendance in 1997 (3.7 million) and the 1.7 million or so the Orioles figure to draw this year.
