Ozzie Newsome’s reign as the only general manager in Baltimore Ravens history will come to an end after the 2018 season.

Newsome signed a five-year extension in 2014 with the understanding that he surrenders the post to assistant GM Eric DeCosta at the end of the contract http://www.ravensauthorizedshops.com/authe...-andrews-jersey , Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said Friday.

”Ozzie will step down as GM and has assured me that he’s not going anywhere,” Bisciotti said. ”He will work with me and work with Eric for a smooth transition and he’ll be the highest paid scout in America when Eric takes over next year.”

Newsome, 61, has been in charge of filling out the roster since the Ravens arrived in Baltimore in 1996. His first two draft picks were Jonathan Ogden – who became a Hall of Fame offensive lineman – and Ray Lewis, who is expected to enter the Hall this year.

Newsome is also a member of the Hall of Fame. Following his standout career as a tight end with the Cleveland Browns, Newsome made the transition to the front office under former Ravens owner Art Modell. With Newsome leading the way, Baltimore won two Super Bowls and reached the postseason five straight years from 2008-12.

DeCosta, 46, joined the Ravens at an entry-level position in 1996 and was schooled by Newsome. Since becoming assistant general manager in 2012, DeCosta spurned numerous job offers from other teams with the assumption, then assurance, that he would inherit Newsome’s job.

”I think he has learned from Ozzie. I think he’s a great leader of the scouts,” Bisciotti said of DeCosta. ”It’s Ozzie’s department Youth Bradley Chubb Jersey , but most of the interaction with all the scouts is with Eric. I’ve seen the way he goes about the business, I’ve seen the way he’s embraced technology and analytics, and I like working with him.”

Bisciotti said of the impending switch from Newsome to DeCosta: ”It’s time. There are people that are running other franchises that got the jobs because Eric wouldn’t take it. This year it was the Packers.”

Bisciotti spoke for nearly an hour in his annual postseason session with the media. He fielded questions on a wide variety of topics – beginning with his decision to retain coach John Harbaugh after Baltimore missed the playoffs for a third straight season.

Firing Harbaugh ”was certainly a consideration, but not one that I was inclined to make this year,” the owner said.

Asked if he would fire Harbaugh if the Ravens fail to reach the postseason in 2018, Bisciotti replied, ”I’m not going to give a `playoff or bust’ edict to you all or my coach. He’s under (more) pressure probably than he’s ever been in in his life, and I expect him to … make the most of this season. I may as well replace him now if I’m going to tell him, `Make the playoffs or you’re out of town next year.’ That’s not the way to run a business.”

Though the Ravens have gone 5-11, 8-8 and 9-7 over the last three years, Bisciotti noted that things would have been different were it not for a last-minute loss in Pittsburgh in 2016 and a stunning defeat at home in the finale against Cincinnati this season.

He also cited quarterback Joe Flacco’s slow recovery from an ailing back as a determining factor in 2017.

”We’re literally looking at a few moments of time that went against us,” Bisciotti said. ”We’re not talking about 4-12 seasons here. We’re talking about a franchise quarterback that had a herniated disk and was not healthy for the first half of the year. There’s a couple games that we should have won, that if we did Youth Frank Ragnow Jersey , we might have been resting our starters against Cincinnati. That’s our goal next year.”

Bisciotti hopes that an improved team will draw more fans to home games in 2018. The Ravens sold out every game, but often performed before thousands of empty seats.

”Am I disappointed in it? Yeah. Concerned? Yes,” he said. ”The no-shows are a way of telling us our fans aren’t pleased. We’ve got to win, and I hope that solves a majority of the problems.”

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Shin-Soo Choo changed up his swing going into this season with a modified leg kick. Maybe more significant was a return to some of the mental focus he had lost along the way.

”Every pitch, each pitch, is the last pitch of my baseball career … I think that way,” Choo said.

After a slow start to this season, Choo realized he had gotten away from what he refers to as the ”sniper focus” he wants to have every time he goes to the plate for the Texas Rangers.

Choo now has a 38-game on-base streak. It is the longest of his 14-year big league career, and the second-longest this season behind a 40-gamer by Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera.

”The physical side of it is a byproduct of him making a conscious effort to get back to who he is, what his foundation has been as a hitter, an on-base guy first,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. ”When he’s doing that and he’s seeing pitches, he’s focused in more on driving the ball Youth Jaire Alexander Jersey , that he gets to hit his pitch. He’s really good at it.”

With three singles on Monday night, including the tiebreaking RBI hit in a 7-4 win over San Diego, Choo has the longest on-base streak for Texas since Otis Nixon’s 44 games in a row in 1995. Julio Franco’s 46-gamer in 1993 is the franchise record.

Choo was hitting .239 after going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts May 12 at Houston, along with a .316 on-base percentage.

Since then, the outfielder and designated hitter has 48 hits and 37 walks in 38 games – reaching base an average of 2.2 times each game during his streak. That has raised his batting average to .285 and increased his on-base percentage 79 points.

”He sticks to his approach more than anything. He doesn’t really care who is on the mound,” said Delino DeShields, the young center fielder whose locker is next to Choo’s. ”He knows himself, he’s done it for a long time. He knows when he’s getting away from that and it’s an easy adjustment for him to make.”

DeShields said Choo keeps things ”really simple” and sticks to his routine.

For Choo, that includes almost always being the first player in the clubhouse – whether before sunrise at spring training or around lunchtime before night games during the season.

Banister remembers showing up at the team’s complex around 5 a.m. one day early during the manager’s first spring with the team in 2015. Choo was already there.

”Next few days we got there at the same time and then one day I got up earlier for some reason and beat him to the ballpark,” Banister said. ”I didn’t beat him to the ballpark the next day.”

Choo, in his fifth season with Texas after playing for Seattle, Cleveland and Cincinnati, is also tidy. The two stalls he occupies in the home clubhouse are organized Youth Josh Jackson Jersey , including the array of batting gloves stacked neatly and organized by color. He knows where everything is because it all has a specific spot – and says it’s the same at his house.

”He’s real particular,” DeShields said. ”He packs his own bag. … He always looks nice. It’s just how he is. He’s a professional. Whatever you define a professional to be, that’s him.”

Choo will turn 36 on July 13, four days before the All-Star Game. He has never been an All-Star before but is a strong candidate to represent the Rangers as a first-timer.

Banister said Choo certainly has played to a level to be considered for the American League squad in Washington next month.

”This is a great teammate. He really is. This is a guy who cares about every player in that locker room. He cares about the game. A lot,” Banister said. ”The respect for the game of baseball, how it’s played, the look of it, the players, the style of play, the way you should play the game.”

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