All right, Orioles, enough with the stalling.
Enough with dragging out the search for the Chosen One who will lead the orange and black back to prominence after 12 consecutive losing seasons and a 13th all but certain.
Time to announce the new manager. And I mean soon. Real soon.
As in the next few days.
In fact, if I ran the show, I'd make the announcement Friday.
That's the day the team returns from the All-Star break to begin a 10-game homestand at Camden Yards with three against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The new manager could be trotted out in front of the local media that afternoon. He could be introduced that night to the fans at the ballpark, where he would no doubt get a thunderous ovation. And there would be post-game fireworks.
What's the point of putting it off any longer?
Get the new manager in place and let him spend the second half of the season learning about his team and evaluating its talent.
Let the players know who's going to be in charge and what he expects from each of them. Let them know that starting right now, this team moves in a new direction.
No more excuses. No more whining. No more negativity.
Plus, by announcing the new manager now, the Orioles also would give their long-suffering fans something to look forward to in the second half of this lost season.
At the very least, they would give the fans hope that this long nightmare of losing might be coming to an end.
So it's time to get it done, Orioles. Time to shake things up. Time to make some news.
In fact, if the Orioles really want to make a splash, they could make the manager announcement part of some over-the-top spectacle like the recent LeBron James "Decision" show.
OK, I know it sounds crazy. But hear me out on this one.
They buy airtime on one of the local stations, OK? Then they get someone like MASN's Gary Thorne to be the host.
I see the show opening with the usual clips giving you the back story behind the announcement.
We see many of the great moments in this proud franchise's history: Winning the World Series in 1966 and 1970; the start of "Orioles Magic" and "Wild" Bill Hagy dancing drunk as a skunk on the dugout; a third World Series title in 1983; the playoff seasons of 1996 and 1997 in the new Taj Mahal of baseball, Camden Yards.
Then we see clips of the Dark Years from 1998 on, a montage of Orioles hitters striking out, pitchers getting shelled, fielders booting grounders and losing fly balls in the sun while fans in the stands wear paper bags over their heads.
Then the next thing you see is Andy MacPhail and Thorne sitting in director's chairs across from each other in front of a studio audience.
After a few minutes of banter, with Thorne lobbing softball questions ("How long did it take to make your decision?") and the Orioles president of baseball operations answering coyly ("When I woke up this morning, I knew we had the right guy"), we come to the big moment.
"OK, Andy," Thorne says finally. "Are you ready to announce who'll be the next Orioles manager?"
At this, MacPhail smiles and nods. He clears his throat and pauses dramatically.
And finally, with LeBron-like phraseology, he says: "We're bringing in the talents of ÃÂÃÂ Buck Showalter to turn this thing around and get back to winning."
Or maybe he says Eric Wedge or Rick Dempsey is the new manager.
Or he shocks Orioles Village by naming interim manager Juan Samuel.
Whatever. The point is, he makes the announcement, OK? And then the new manager steps out from behind a curtain to a standing ovation from the studio audience.
(I toyed with the idea of a fog machine and the new manager low-fiving the studio audience as he makes his way to the microphone. But that might be a bit much.)
Then the new manager joins MacPhail and Thorne in his very own director's chair. And the three of them talk about what led up to the decision, perhaps with the new manager lapsing into the third person the way LeBron did: "I wanted to do what was best, you know, for Buck Showalter, what Buck Showalter was going to do to make him happy."
Tell me that wouldn't kill in Baltimore.
Tell me that wouldn't be a ratings home run.
Time to get it done, Orioles. Even if you go with a more, um, low-key announcement.
I guess we could live with that, too.
Listen to Kevin Cowherd from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays with Jerry Coleman on Fox 1370 AM Sports.