In Their Latest Round Of Layoffs The Orioles Reportedly Have Laid Off The Oriole Bird
Icon Sports Wire. Getty Images.Sad day in Birdland yesterday as the Orioles announced a round of layoffs that impacted a lot of people on the business side of things. These kind of things are becoming all too common with these private equity firms dipping their toes into the team ownership waters, this shit sucks. Back in my day you had one rich ass owner who just wanted to win, my how times have changed. A lot of good people lost their jobs yesterday but the one that everyone is hung up on is…. the Oriole Bird. Not the actual mascot costume itself, but the man in the suit. The same character also played the famous Mr. Splash, although it seems like the role of Mr. Splash will be back (me thinks it's time to do away with it) in the splash zone, but letting go of the Oriole Bird after back-to-back disappointing years certainly is a move. Is it the Bird's fault the O's couldn't hit when they needed to? Is it the Oriole Bird's fault that guys didn't step up when they needed to? I've always said if you're underperforming and need to shake things up, firing the man in the mascot costume is the way to go. Why address a bullpen when you can let go a guy in a costume?
But in this "spreadsheet era" of baseball, if they can cut from the bottom line they will. Not too sure how much of a savings this is for the books though, optically it's just a horrendously bad look for the team. Like this could only be a move that the O's and Mets would make and people would find a way to poke fun at them for it, no other team really makes news like this. Kind of seems like this franchise is back to being the butt of jokes again after what was supposed to be about the on the field product. But in the end it was another failed year with massive disappointments all around, but at least they'll save on mascot costs. Just goes to show it's a tough world out there for everyone, no one is immune to getting the boot, even the Oriole Bird. Hope he lands back on his feet somewhere, he was a damn good bird.
