Ok, it’s not that Flanagan, but the headline at ESPN did catch my eye:
BALTIMORE – Mike Flanagan was a one-time staff ace for the Baltimore Orioles. On Tuesday, he moved to the top of the baseball operations department.
The Orioles fired executive vice president Jim Beattie and promoted Flanagan to executive vice president of baseball operations.
Flanagan, who won a Cy Young Award as a member of the Orioles in 1979, previously had shared departmental duties with Beattie. He and Beattie teamed to oversee all aspects of Baltimore’s major league, scouting and development areas the last three years.
With Beattie gone, Flanagan will take over full control of the day-to-day business of the department as the team attempts to rebound from a disastrous 2005 campaign.
The Orioles were atop the American League East Division standings for more than two months before enduring a midseason collapse that cost manager Lee Mazzilli his job in early August. Sam Perlozzo took over as interim manager on August 4 and went 23-32, including just 10-18 in September.
Baltimore finished the 2005 campaign fourth in the AL East at 74-88 for its eighth straight losing season.
The 53-year-old Flanagan, who was a member of Baltimore’s last World Series-winning team in 1983 and went 141-116 in 15 seasons with the team, is a member of the Orioles’ Hall of Fame. He served as pitching coach on two occasions and was a TV analyst prior to joining the team’s front office in December 2002.