Orioles Gm

As the Major League Baseball playoffs carry on without them for a 14th straight fall, the Orioles are making moves to fill the void left in the front office by the departure of president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail. According to our Orioles ace Dan Connolly , Buck Showalter and Peter Angelos are meeting on Wednesday to narrow down their list of general manager candidates and will decide who will be conducting the interviews. Connolly floated several possibilities last week , including Scott Proefrock, J.P. Ricciardi and Tony LaCava.

Brady Anderson is carving a small block of time out of his packed training schedule to demonstrate the true purpose of the athletic life, which is not about money or women or fame or even fun. It's about beating you. The field of play - in this case - is a pingpong table in the middle of the Orioles' spring clubhouse at the Ed Smith Stadium Complex, where the team is preparing - with Anderson's help - for the 2012 baseball season. But it could just as well be a tennis court or a flag football field or the running track.

The search for a new Orioles general manager will extend at least into the early part of next week, when owner Peter Angelos is expected to announce that either former Detroit Tigers GM Joe Klein or ex-Montreal Expos GM Kevin Malone will take over the day-to-day operation of the team.That announcement was expected today, but Orioles sources indicated the decision had been delayed -- perhaps while final contract terms are being negotiated.Player development director Syd Thrift represented the club at the general managers meetings in Arizona earlier this week, but he is not considered a candidate for the job. Angelos has beenvery deliberate in the selection process -- interviewing a long list of candidates before narrowing the field -- but he cannot afford to wait much longer to put someone in place.

  The bar is open, but we are walking slowly and talking quietly in here today. I have a baseball winter meetings hangover. It's impossible to explain the event unless you have attended it -- or worse yet -- covered it. I literally didn't leave the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas from early Sunday evening to Thursday late afternoon; didn't ever step outside. But I feel like I walked a marathon per day, wearing out a path from the media room to the two lobbies and back in the gargantuan hotel.

The Orioles' parade of general manager candidates started again Thursday with former club executive Scott Proefrock and will continue Friday with former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos general manager Dan Duquette. It also is expected to include New York Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer — perhaps as early as Saturday — Minnesota Twins vice president Mike Radcliff and Boston Red Sox vice president and former Kansas City Royals GM Allard Baird, according to an industry source.

RUTH'S CHRIS Steak House on Water Street was the scene of a gala going-away party for former Orioles's GM Roland Hemond, who is heading to Phoenix, to help the Arizona Diamondbacks put a team together for 1998.The party was given by his friends, Steve de Castro, owner of Ruth's Chris; and attorney Dick Gordon and his wife, Gloria. Hemond, who came with his son and daughter-in-law, Jay and Sharon, was bid a fond farewell by Merleand Elrod Hendricks, O's bullpen coach; Syd Thrift, O's director of player development; Don Buford, assistant director player development; Curt Motton special scout; Matt Slater, scouting administrator; Fred and Pat Uhlman, special assistant to GM; Maria and Harold Baines, Orioles designated hitter; Richie and Carol Bancells, he's head trainer; Jamie and Jean Reed, he's an O's trainer; Lenny and Sue Gordon, he's a mortgage banker; Bernhard Kloppenburg, ARAMARK executive; Steve Geppi, Diamond Comics Distributors and part owner of the Orioles; Mike Whipple, GM Sheraton Inner Harbor; and Phil Itzoe, O's traveling secretary.

Brady Anderson is carving a small block of time out of his packed training schedule to demonstrate the true purpose of the athletic life, which is not about money or women or fame or even fun. It's about beating you. The field of play - in this case - is a pingpong table in the middle of the Orioles' spring clubhouse at the Ed Smith Stadium Complex, where the team is preparing - with Anderson's help - for the 2012 baseball season. But it could just as well be a tennis court or a flag football field or the running track.

The Orioles interviewed former New York Yankees general manager Gene Michael on Friday as a possible replacement for Roland Hemond as Orioles GM, and they will interview ex-Detroit Tigers GM Joe Klein today.Michael, 57, was the fourth GM candidate interviewed by the Orioles, following former San Diego Padres GM Randy Smith, who will take the Detroit GM job tomorrow; Kevin Malone, who resigned as Montreal Expos general manager the first week of October and appears to be a slight front-runner to replace Hemond; and Mike Port, the assistant general manager of the Boston Red Sox.Michael accepted a demotion last week to become the Yankees' director of major-league scouting, because he wouldn't accept a pay cut of $200,000 that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner insisted he take.

CLEVELAND -- The Orioles began the process yesterday of receiving permission to talk to other candidates as possible replacements for general manager Roland Hemond, who resigned Friday.Zcd,0 Former Montreal general manager Kevin Malone, 38, is the front-runner. He had a strong interview with the Orioles two weeks ago, and club officials initiated follow-up conversations last week, after Randy Smith accepted a GM job with the Detroit Tigers.But the Orioles are expected to talk to other candidates before making a final decision, including Boston Red Sox assistant GM Mike Port, Atlanta Braves scout and former Detroit GM Bill Lajoie and New York Mets assistant GM Gerry Hunsicker.

If there's any lesson in the exchange of criticisms between Orioles GM Frank Wren and manager Ray Miller that has made headlines, it's this:The general manager, and no one else, should be in charge of hiring and firing the manager.When you undermine that routine chain of command, as the Orioles have repeatedly, you end up with people on different pages.With different visions.Covering their rears.That's no way to build a winning foundation.And the Orioles' foundation is what's really wrong with them, more than any short-term problems involving the bullpen or a lack of speed.

The Orioles' parade of general manager candidates started again Thursday with former club executive Scott Proefrock and will continue Friday with former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos general manager Dan Duquette. It also is expected to include New York Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer — perhaps as early as Saturday — Minnesota Twins vice president Mike Radcliff and Boston Red Sox vice president and former Kansas City Royals GM Allard Baird, according to an industry source.

While the Orioles — once again — go through the process of trying to redefine themselves by reconstructing their front office, this is probably as good a time as any to hope that the top candidate to be head of baseball operations turns his first meeting with owner Peter Angelos into a "Jerry Maguire" moment. Of course, no one who actually wants the job is going to leap out of his seat and shout, "Show me the money!" at the critical juncture in the interview process, but it would be nice if whoever gets the job also gets an assurance that no expense will be spared to build baseball's best scouting and player-development operation.

As the Major League Baseball playoffs carry on without them for a 14th straight fall, the Orioles are making moves to fill the void left in the front office by the departure of president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail. According to our Orioles ace Dan Connolly , Buck Showalter and Peter Angelos are meeting on Wednesday to narrow down their list of general manager candidates and will decide who will be conducting the interviews. Connolly floated several possibilities last week , including Scott Proefrock, J.P. Ricciardi and Tony LaCava.

Three front-runners emerged in the Orioles' general manager search this weekend, and though one published report said the team is close to hiring former Chicago White Sox GM Ron Schueler, owner Peter Angelos said yesterday, "A decision has not been reached." Former Montreal Expos GM Jim Beattie and Orioles broadcaster Mike Flanagan remain in the running, club officials said yesterday. Though Angelos hasn't tipped his hand, speculation around the team indicates he is leaning toward hiring Schueler or Beattie to replace vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift, with Flanagan assuming another top position within the front office.

IT'S NO EASY thing, retirement, not when you're a legend. What to do? Where to go? What itch to scratch and how hard? It's not exactly as if Cal Ripken is alone. When Michael Jordan (allegedly) retired from the NBA, he played golf, whipped up designer cologne and maybe taxied the kids to school once or twice. Maybe. But he didn't like any of that stuff, so Jordan is back - blazing a trail, off the bench, on creaky knees. Wayne Gretzky never promised his wife he'd make peanut butter sandwiches for their kids.

The Orioles have quietly put together a list of potential replacements for vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift, and though former star Cal Ripken has expressed interest in the position, the club plans to look at several more-experienced candidates, high-ranking Orioles officials said yesterday. Orioles owner Peter Angelos still has not publicly addressed Thrift's status for next season, but there were indications yesterday that Angelos has done so privately. Angelos acknowledged Ripken's interest in the position and said former Orioles pitcher and current broadcaster Mike Flanagan is also a candidate.

With the identity of the next Orioles general manager undetermined, director of player development Syd Thrift likely will represent the team at the GM meetings that begin Monday in Arizona.Orioles owner Peter Angelos is mulling over a handful of GM candidates, after conducting interviews with seven men with a wide range of experience and qualifications. The three primary candidates appear to be former Montreal general manager Kevin Malone, former Detroit GM Joe Klein, and New York Mets scouting director John Barr.

CLEVELAND -- Davey Johnson said yesterday that his deal to become manager of the Orioles is "imminent," and guessed that former Montreal Expos general manager Kevin Malone will replace Roland Hemond as the team's GM.In an interview with the Cincinnati Post, Johnson said, "I think it's imminent, but you can never say for sure. I've talked to [Orioles owner Peter] Angelos . . . we have a good relationship."They're looking at a general manager, and they want to make sure the general manager likes me and stuff like that," said Johnson, who has been told he will not be retained as Cincinnati Reds manager next season.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Orioles won an arbitration case but may have lost a catcher yesterday. A three-man panel ruled in the team's favor by assigning Charles Johnson a $4.6 million salary rather than his $5.1 million request for this season. Reached last night at his Plantation, Fla., home, Johnson restated that the ordeal tells him the 2000 season will be his last with the club. "My feelings really haven't changed: Winning or losing wasn't as meaningful as me having to go to arbitration in the first place.

ATLANTA -- One week after being abruptly dismissed as Orioles general manager, Frank Wren was hired yesterday as the Atlanta Braves' vice president and assistant general manager.Braves general manager John Schuerholz, who first discussed the position with Wren last Thursday, called his new hire's credentials "absolutely perfect for this position.""Frank's the kind of guy who has excellent work habits, handles himself in a very professional fashion and is very well respected. And I think he feels the same way about our organization," Schuerholz said.