Deck chairs on the Titanic need re-arranging

As the Orioles are in the midst of a 4-game losing streak, rumors swirl about Perlozzo being on a "short leash" and that he could be fired if the Orioles don't play better in what could have been the easiest 9 consecutive games they'd play all season.

So far in that stretch of games, they're 0-2.

It's clear that Perlozzo has lost the clubhouse and deserves to be fired. Hell, he never should have been made the full-time manager after filling in for Lee Mazzilli after he was dismissed in the middle of the disasterous 2005 season. His bad decisions confuse even the most pedestrian of fans, and bewilder hard-core baseball fans who analyze every pitch.

But Perlozzo was a "yes man" and that's what Angelos wanted. Now he's getting what he deserves. And while I doubt that Angelos would fire one of his hand selected guys, the results are becoming harder and harder to ignore.

The problem is this though. Even though Perlozzo does need to be fired, it will accomplish little, if nothing at all. There are too many problems with this organization that firing one guy will fix. Sure, a better manager might be able to milk more out of this roster, but let's face it, this team was never built to contend, and that falls back on the front office.

For years, the front office has been stalling. "Wait until next year," they say. Reports come out about the team being in the mix for the best free agents the following offseason, but then that offseason arrives and the Orioles sit on their hands while the best free agents sign with other teams while Angelos pockets the leftover money and then raises ticket prices.

No, firing Perlozzo is only going to be another step in what seems like an endless cycle of incompetence that will always go back to Peter Angelos while he is the owner.

It's no coincidence that while Angelos has owned the team, the O's have only had 4 winning seasons in 15 years, and have suffered the greatest decline in the history of the organization. Angelos took a franchise that was coming off the glory days of the early 1980's and 1970's and crashed them into the ground with the force of a 747 jumbo jet.

You could say that the farm system was in shambles when Angelos took over, but it's been 15 years later and the farm system is still nowhere near where it needs to be to support Orioles with players capable of helping the O's win games.

The O's were also late to scout players in the Caribbean and are virtually non-existent in Japan. Angelos had the resources to fix the farm system and the scouting department, but he instead chose to ignore them by hiring poor decision makers at the minor league level and sunk what money he did spend into the Orioles, with poor results.

And after years of being near the top in payroll, Angelos pulled back the reigns to prove to the MLB that he couldn't survive with the Nationals in Washington. Ironically, with the Nats in Washington, the O's are back in the top half of payroll, but you wouldn't know it looking at the roster or the standings.

The managers have come and gone, the front office personnel have come and gone, the players have come and gone, and the fans have come and gone.

The only constant is Angelos.

Until Peter Angelos is gone for good, this organization will always be caught in a state of limbo where mediocrity is the goal. Angelos wants to "make it affordable for families to come to the games", winning be damned.

The problem is, if watching baseball, free of any importance of the outcome, is what families are doing, then those families will have a much cheaper and more fun time at minor league games. And by the look of it, these families are starting to learn.

So go ahead Pete, fire Perlozzo. Fire Crowley. Hell, fire Flanagan and Duquette too. But the outcome is always going to be the same because of you. You are the problem. And if firing one person is going to fix all the problems with this organization, then the person that needs to be fired is you.