In case nobody has heard, Mike Elias was named the new General Manager and executive vice president of the Baltimore Orioles. To give you all background, Mike Elias worked oversaw all of amateur scouting for the Houston Astros since 2012 and was the Assistant GM in Houston starting in 2016. He was also worked in scouting for the St. Louis Cardinals before the Houston Astros. He is now replacing the DREADFUL Dan Duquette and is looking to lead the Orioles in the future.
My Thoughts on Mike Elias
My thoughts on his hiring is mixed, but overall I like the signing a lot. I love that he is the new GM because he is far younger than Duquette and has a much different look at the game than I think Duquette did. He wants to rebuild the Orioles “as quickly as we can”, which is music to my ears. The Orioles were the WORST team in baseball last year, and possibly all time. The only place to go is up, but this is Baltimore, anything can happen. He was obviously successful in Houston since they had one of the best farm systems in all of baseball from 2012-2017.
However, the Orioles have the 3rd worst farm system in all of baseball, with no signs of improvement in the near future. I appreciate that Elias wants to build an elite farm system in the MLB, but this is Baltimore. We don’t really have anyone to give away that interests teams. We already gave away Machado, School, Gausman, O’Day, and Brach. The only people left that I could see teams wanting is Adam Jones, Trey Mancini, and MAYBE Michael Givens. There is NOONE to give away. It is going to be a complete shake down in Baltimore, and Elias seems to be ready for it.
The Elias hire overall, is probably one of the better hires in Baltimore. He obviously was very good in Houston and already has a set plan for what he wants to do in Baltimore, which is promising. He’s been in Baltimore for half a week and already is working on improving the Orioles. His knowledge about scouting and baseball in general I believe will help the Orioles become one of the best farm systems in baseball, and soon become World Series contenders again.
The New O’s GM
The O’s have the #1 Draft Pick this year and I expect that Elias will take Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop to possibly replace Manny Machado. I also expect Elias to trade some current assets on the Orioles for some more top draft picks. If he is the player development guy that we’ve all heard about, He’s going to shake things up in Baltimore. And from the way the Angelos brothers sounded, they are ready for the change to come to Baltimore. I mean they did just hire some former NASA analyst as the assistant GM to improve the team and bring the modern analytics to the Orioles team that is as old as my dad’s Redskins NFC Championship hat from like the early 90’s that is sitting in my closet.
With all of this being said, I approve HEAVILY of this hiring of Mike Elias. He is young (36), he approaches the game from a more modern and analytical stand point that the whole MLB is going to, and he has a fantastic resume. He was the guy who drafted Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman. Know those guys? He’s gonna change baseball in Baltimore and lead the Orioles back to prominence again. Am I saying that they are going to be the Red Sox and Yankees? No. We don’t have the money. But Elias is going to have some home-grown talent like the Astros have, and make the Orioles great. And there’s potential, with guys like Ryan Mountcastle, Yusniel Diaz, Austin Hays, Chance Sisco, Cedric Mullins, DL Hall, Keegan Akin, Dillon Tate, the names go on of solid prospects. The future looks bright and with Elias leading the way, I’m excited for the Orioles future.
But, all great things must wait. This probably won’t happen for another 2-3 years, which means we are plagued with subpar baseball for 2-3 years until these guys develop into everyday starters. So, that sucks, but I’m an optimist. Only way to go from 47-115 is up! World Series 2023 Bound!
