Elias on Orioles’ postseason: ‘A very disappointing, bitter ending’
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Mike Elias’ end of season press availability had a much different tone than in the past. In his first three seasons, little was expected from the team, and the Orioles’ executive vice president/general manager was looking to a hopeful future.
In 2022, the Orioles were a surprise contender that fell short of the postseason, and last year, the Orioles exceeded expectations, winning the American League East and 101 games before a surprising sweep by the Texas Rangers.
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This year, the Orioles won 91 games, but again were swept out of the playoffs by the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. Elias decided to hold his meeting with the media less than 24 hours after the final out. Here are some questions from that 35-minute press conference.
Was Elias hard on himself? Elias is usually supremely confident, but instead of putting an optimistic spin and pointing out that this was the first Orioles team since 1996 and 1997 to make consecutive playoff appearances, he was hard on himself.
“Clearly, a very disappointing, bitter ending, whatever word you want to use. I think a lot of those words were used last night by the players and those of us in the organization that spoke publicly last night,” Elias said.
“I don’t have much more to add from the emotions that we all feel after the disappointing end to the season. All that I want to say and can say right now is that I am going to work tirelessly to make adjustments and improve and put us in the position to have a better outcome than we just had. My staff and I will not rest this winter, and we will put ourselves in that position.
Did Elias promise any specific solutions? He didn’t, but he never does.
“There is a lot to be confident about with this team’s positioning going forward into 2025,” Elias said. “I don’t want to discard that and all of the optimism that I think this group of players deserves with their accomplishments despite the difficult second half, despite another early playoff exit, which makes this press conference that I’m doing a lot more difficult the second time with that being the case.
“There’s a lot that goes into that, but it is my responsibility to have that not be the case and make it better, and I’d going to be laser-focused over the next few weeks in preparing for the offseason and then throughout the offseason in doing whatever we can to get over this hump and the rest of it.”
Did Elias speak about the failure to hit well situationally? Yes, he spoke about it at length.
“Getting hits and getting RBI with runners in scoring position, there’s a lot of evidence that that can be difficult to control on a year-over-year, month-to-month basis,” he said.
“It’s a tricky thing, hitting. That said, I am going to behave as though it is under our control, and we are going to examine everything about our offensive approach, teachings, the mix of personnel, the kinds of things you mentioned and put ourselves in position to where we feel like we’ve addressed any potential shortcomings there. I don’t believe it’s necessarily all chance. I do think there are things that our organization and ultimately our players will be able to do to improve our odds on that front.”
Did Elias promise that Brandon Hyde would be back? He did and spoke about their working together since 2018 and into 2025. Elias, as expected didn’t address possible coaching changes.
“We have been working extraordinarily closely and successfully to bring this organization out of a very dreary spot and have produced a team that won 100 games, won the East, won 91 this year,” Elias said.,
“Kind of a rare back-to-back Oriole playoff team and one that I believe is positioned for continued success the next several years going forward. That is going to continue to be the case, and we’re going to sit down immediately. I mean, we’ve been talking a lot lately, but we’ve been focused on, ‘How do we win these next games coming up?’ And that’s been the case for weeks and weeks and weeks.
“Now that we’re done, we’re going to spend a lot of time together self-assessing, readjusting, coming up with a plan for the offseason. He and I are going to be in on that together in the next season.”
What did Elias say about Adley Rutschman’s season? He acknowledged that Rutschman’s season, especially his second half fell far short of expectation and later said there was no injury troubling him.
“Physically, he’s a catcher, he gives his all to this team and this position when he’s out there, and he’s naturally tired,” Elias said. “A lot of these guys are tired. I think we’re all tired. But so are other teams in the league, that’s not an excuse. I think he’s said as much. He has done so much here, kind of turned our organization around — or a big part of it.
“Turned around cultures, both in the minor leagues and the major leagues. Has been such a key to our ascent that it’s been very frustrating for him, and for us, to see him experience the degree of struggles that he did in the second half, really for the first time since we’ve had him. But he is an elite competitor, an athlete, and he’s our guy. I have nothing but confidence that he’s going to be back to Adley Rutschman in 2025.”
Elias said he expected closer Félix Bautista, starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez and infielder Jorge Mateo to be ready for spring training 2025.
What about working with David Rubenstein and the new owners? Elias has raved about working with Rubenstein and Michael Arougheti
“I mean, these guys are great. This is what, I think, Baltimore’s been waiting for,” he said. “They’re smart, they’re business savvy, they’re well-equipped for this. They’re going to be all in to win. This is major league Baseball, and the situations are uneven between franchises and there are economics involved that are tricky.
“But this is a phenomenal ownership group. We’re all very excited about it. And yeah, this has not been an easy task rebuilding this franchise with the backdrop of everything, franchise level, that we’ve been dealing with. I think we’ve brought it to a very impressive point, but it’s time to get over a new hump.”
Will the owners encourage Elias to be more aggressive in the free agent market? Elias believes that they will be supportive of his goals and that the team’s payroll for 2025 will be higher than it was in 2024.
“I think it’s early for that discussion. We just got done. We’ve been focusing on these playoff games, and we’ve got some planning weeks ahead of us,” he said.
“I believe that they are well-equipped to put us and the front office and everyone in a position where people have the resources to do their jobs well but in a position to run this franchise optimally. That comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes. The desire and the wherewithal and the expertise is there to do that.”
What does Elias think of the futures of Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo?
“Coby had an excellent season, Jackson wasn’t in Triple-A as much as Coby but he had an excellent season in Triple-A and it was really both of their first long term exposure to Triple-A,” Elias said.
“Like a lot of young players, struggled immediately in the major leagues. I think we saw some really good splashes from Jackson. Totally 100 percent incredibly bullish on both of those guys. As I said earlier this season, a lot during the season, it was a tough decision how to handle his debut out of spring training and it didn’t go the way that we wanted or hoped or expected and that’s on me.”
Elias said that Mayo is most accomplished as a first baseman though he’s played creditably at third. He didn’t dismiss Mayo playing in the outfield but says it would be “a pretty significant move.”