Brandon Hyde Blasts Orioles Front Office Following Morton’s Meltdown
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde appears to have reached a breaking point just 21 games into the season, expressing clear frustration over how the front office handled the team’s pitching staff during the offseason.
Ordinarily, a lopsided 24-2 defeat—like Sunday’s blowout loss to the Reds—might be shrugged off as just one bad night in a 162-game season. But Hyde didn’t take it that way. His reaction suggests a deeper issue, and it points directly to decisions made by Baltimore’s front office.
Veteran pitcher Charlie Morton once again struggled, allowing seven earned runs on seven hits and four walks in just 2.1 innings. Hyde didn’t name names, but his comments after the game seemed aimed squarely at executive VP Mike Elias and his staff. After calling the loss “embarrassing,” Hyde pointed out that starting pitchers regularly failing to make it through five innings isn’t a recipe for winning in Major League Baseball.
The numbers back him up. The Orioles have just five quality starts through 21 games—three of which came from Zach Eflin. Only Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano have managed to keep their ERA under 6.00 so far this season. That leaves the rest of the rotation badly underperforming and forcing the offense to shoulder most of the burden.
Much of the frustration stems from offseason choices. The Orioles, despite a talented young core and new ownership that appeared ready to invest, failed to build a stronger rotation. Their attempt to retain ace Corbin Burnes reportedly fell flat with a lowball offer, and their biggest addition was Morton, who now holds an ugly 10.89 ERA after Sunday’s disaster.
Hyde has reason to be upset. What was supposed to be a contending team is looking more like a pretender as poor pitching continues to derail early-season hopes. With 141 games still ahead, there’s time to recover—but if things don’t change soon, Baltimore could find itself out of the playoff race before summer even begins.
