Orioles’ managerial position will be coveted

When the Orioles’ season ends two weeks from now, president of baseball operations Mike Elias must make a decision on whether Tony Mansolino has done enough to earn the manager’s job for 2026.

Entering Sunday’s game, Mansolino has a 54-51 record after taking over from Brandon Hyde on May 17th. Hyde had a 15-28 record in 2025.

As interim manager, Mansolino’s team has done well, winning series against Seattle, the New York Mets, Toronto, Boston, San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers—all likely playoff teams.

The argument could be made that the Orioles haven’t been playing with expectations, and managing with expectations is much harder to do.

“I got some great advice as a minor league manager from Terry Francona a long time ago,” Mansolino said on Thursday. “He told me at the time: ‘Make Lynchburg your Cleveland.’ It’s wherever you’re at, make that your big leagues. In this scenario for me, in some ways right now we’re not in the playoff hunt, but there’s a lot of pressure in the building.

“You guys can probably understand why. Have I tried to make this feel like a pennant race for us? Absolutely, there’s no doubt. And are we running the games like that? Yeah. Are we doing some developmental stuff? Without a doubt. Did we do some developmental stuff before the trade deadline? Yes. As much? Probably not.

“I think it’s a mix of a lot of things. Are we trying to treat this as if this they are  most important game in the world that day? Without a doubt. Is there pressure involved in that? Yes. Do we want the pressure? Absolutely.”

The case for Mansolino is that he’s won the clubhouse. The players seem to like playing for him, and despite trading away key position players Ramón Laureano, Cedric Mullins, Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Urías, and veteran relievers Bryan Baker, Seranthony Domínguez, Andrew Kittredge and Gregory Soto, the team hasn’t fallen apart.

The bullpen, which also lost closer Félix Bautista to rotator cuff and labrum surgery, has been impressive, and infielder/outfielder Jeremiah Jackson, who never played in the major leagues before the deadline, has shown great promise.

Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers have made impressive transitions to the major leagues.

The guess here is that Elias and perhaps a new general manager will want to conduct a full managerial search.

When Elias was hired by the Orioles in November 2018, the other managerial openings had been filled, and while Hyde turned out to be a good choice, leading the Orioles to two postseason appearances, Elias hasn’t had a full offseason to consider managers.

Colorado, Pittsburgh and Washington all have openings, and the Los Angeles Angels have been operating with Ray Montgomery as interim manager with Ron Washington sidelined because of heart surgery.

It’s possible that longtime Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker steps aside, and there could be other openings.

The Orioles’ job is more attractive than that of the Rockies, Pirates and Nationals. With a number of young position players and the likelihood of the Orioles spending liberally this offseason, many qualified candidates should be drawn to Baltimore.

Among those who could be considered are former major league managers Brad Ausmus, Mike Matheny, Skip Schumacher and Scott Servais.

If Elias opts for another first-time manager, he could consider major league bench coaches Ryan Flaherty of the Chicago Cubs, Danny Lehman of the Los Angeles Dodgers and George Lombard of the Detroit Tigers.

Other candidates could come from teams that make a change at the end of the season. If the Yankees’ Aaron Boone or San Francisco Giants’ Bob Melvin become available, they could be hot commodities.

Some fans would like to see the return of Buck Showalter, but that’s not going to happen. Showalter and Elias would not be a good match.

One interesting long-shot candidate could be John Mabry, who was a hitting coach with St. Louis, Kansas City, and most recently Miami under Schumacher.

Mabry joined the Orioles in early June as a  senior adviser, and before games has been tutoring Coby Mayo at first base. During games, Mabry is perched halfway down the bench, standing and taking copious notes.

He’s not with Mansolino’s core group of coaches — Cody Asche (hitting) Buck Britton (third base), Robinson Chirinos (bench) and Drew French (pitching), who are standing near Mansolino.

Mansolino said that Mabry reminds him of his father, longtime major league coach Doug Mansolino.

“In a lot of ways, I thought about my dad, what my dad’s doing in the game now,” Mansolino said. “He operates in different ways in Atlanta, and helps out different people. Coaches that coach the coaches is a really good thing; experienced guys that can help the coaches, not just the players, but the coaches as well. That’s a really important thing to have in an organization.

“Our players flock to him. I watch the hitters, and they love the experience. They love the knowledge. Four decades of being in the big leagues in different capacities. Also, the coaches flock to him. He talks to Buck a lot, [first base coach Anthony] Sanders, [assistant pitching coach] Ryan Klimek about game calling, pitch calling.

“He’s talking to Frenchy about our pitchers. He spends a lot of time with Asche and our hitters. Our hitters have been incredibly receptive to him, and they’ve sought him out for information, He has really impressed me in a lot of ways, but that was his reputation. There’s a lot of people I’ve come across in the game, when they talk about him, they speak incredibly highly about him. It’s been a great experience with him.”

It’s likely to be a lengthy search, and it’s still possible that Mansolino, who’s also popular with the media, ends up with the job.

This week’s news that Elias was promoted last offseason and will look for a new general manager seemingly complicates the search, but the guess here is Elias will take his time and that a new manager won’t be named until the World Series is over.

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.