BALTIMORE—The trade deadline is July 30th, and executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said that he’s looking forward to what might happen.
“The deadline is coming up,” Elias said on Saturday. “My impression of the strengths and weaknesses of our roster are probably not different from any of yours or anyone who’s been following the team, so we understand where maybe the easiest areas to bolster the team would be if we’re able to add.
“There’s a whole market forming. It’s going to be very competitive. It’s probably going to be tough to line up on things and we’re as busy as we’ve ever been between the draft and the trade deadline.
“Our whole front office group is working around the clock. I’m really confident that we’ll be really well prepared and that we’re going to have the tools and the chips necessary and the ownership support necessary at our disposal to explore this deadline to the fullest with the intention of bringing in help for the team, for the 2024 team.”
Elias knows that the market for pitching, both starting and relief, is just starting to develop.
“This is also a negotiation, and I’m not going to sit here and say exactly what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’ve got to work on it. We’ll see what happens, but we’re prepared. The new owners are very supportive of the efforts that we’re going to put forth, and I think we’re going to be well equipped to go in and look, but the market just hasn’t revealed itself yet, and the distraction of the draft is still here and maybe things will pick up right after the All-Star break.
“Everything is supply and demand, and a big part of that is how many buyers and how many sellers. There’s no question that that extra wild-card spot has pushed more people either to the buyer column or at least not into the seller column, and we may see some teams just stand pat, and that’s harmful, too, for supply and demand.”
Elias said that new owners David Rubenstein and Michael Arougheti are ready to increase payroll at the deadline.
“They’re prepared to support our pursuits in that area,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that it’s 100 percent going to happen. I view our ownership situation as being a positive for this deadline. We’ve seen they’re very passionate, a very robust group, and they see the talent on the team.
“They want to support that, but they also understand there’s [disappointment] involved and we don’t want to be emotional actors. The type of support we’re going to get from them, both from this deadline and going forward, is going to be the right kind of support.”