Elias discusses coaching staff, payroll, future in end-of-season chat

BALTIMORE -- Last year, Orioles general manager Mike Elias held his end-of-season press conference with the media on Oct. 12, 2023 -- two days after his club had been swept out of the postseason by the Rangers in the American League Division Series.

Elias wasn’t envisioning having to sit in the same room at Camden Yards to answer some of the same questions on an even earlier date in 2024. Yet, there he was late Thursday morning, a little fewer than 16 hours after another disappointing end to a season for Baltimore.

The O’s were again quickly swept upon their entrance to October. This time, they lost a pair of AL Wild Card Series home games to the Royals, who celebrated on the field Wednesday night and advanced to face the Yankees in the ALDS.

“We got punched in the stomach again in the playoffs. I want to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen [in 2025],” Elias said. “It’s not an easy thing to control, baseball games. That’s why they’re such long seasons, because one or two games, it’s not easy to control what happens. But we’re going to pretend -- at least pretend -- that we can control all this, and we’re going to do our damndest to adjust, course correct. We’re in a good position for that, but we need to get to a better position next year, and that’s going to be my responsibility.”

During a 36-minute session, Elias addressed a variety of topics regarding this year’s Orioles and the organization’s future. Here are three of the key takeaways.

Hyde will continue to be the manager heading into 2025
Although Baltimore might be 0-5 in postseason games during Brandon Hyde’s managerial tenure, Elias and the front office continue to have faith in the 51-year-old skipper, who has helped guide the O’s back to prominence since he was hired prior to the 2019 season at the start of a rebuild.

No rash decision-making here -- Elias confirmed Hyde will be the manager in 2025.

“I love this organization. I love working with Mike. I love our players,” Hyde said. “It was heartbreaking last night to say goodbye to a lot of guys. I’m going to have a cup of coffee and relax for a little bit, and then, I’m looking forward to next year.”

Elias would not discuss the future of the rest of the coaching staff
The Orioles had their issues during a 91-71 campaign. Some of those were due to health, as they couldn’t seem to catch many breaks on the injury front. But they also underperformed in various areas, especially during a 33-33 second half.

Baltimore’s August OPS of .691 was its lowest of the season. It only raised that mark to .714 in September -- its second lowest of the season. The offensive struggles were magnified in October, when the O’s scored one run over two postseason games, with young core players such as Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman unable to step up and break through.

However, Elias did not want to discuss any potential changes coming to the coaching staff, a group that includes co-hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller.

“As I try to look this offseason about what we can adjust in many different ways -- whether that’s staffing, all the stuff I just mentioned, processes, information, all the things that we do around here -- I need to find the appropriate balance with all the positivity that we’ve achieved with this bad taste in our mouths and bad outcome in the playoffs and a disappointing sort of second half overall,” Elias said. “I need some time to examine striking the right balance between analoging the positives of what’s going on here with our apparent shortcomings.”

The Orioles’ payroll should be higher next year with support of ownership group
There are some significant holes to be filled on Baltimore’s roster this offseason. Right-hander Corbin Burnes (2.92 ERA in 32 starts) and slugging outfielder Anthony Santander (career-high 44 home runs) are both hitting free agency and have uncertain futures.

The O’s benefited from having a true ace atop their rotation. They could use a veteran presence in their lineup to provide an offensive boost.

Whether Burnes and/or Santander are re-signed, the Orioles have the potential to be more aggressive on the free-agent market this offseason -- their first under a David Rubenstein-led ownership, as the private equity billionaire’s purchase of the team was finalized on March 27.

Elias has stated numerous times that the owners are “well-equipped” to back the front office, which has been receiving full support to make moves. So Elias is expecting the O’s payroll to increase in 2025, and he’ll spend the winter trying to make the right decisions to push the club over its October hump and into World Series contention.

“I would be pretty confident that we’re going to keep investing in the Major League payroll, given what we’ve got here and the upward slope that we hope to get back on,” Elias said. “We’ll see what happens. We’re going to be smart about it. And if it doesn’t happen for some reason, it’s not going to be because the financial support wasn’t there. It’s going to be because the people running this team thought it was the right thing to do from a number of levels on a case-by-case basis. But I want to reiterate that I don’t expect that to be the case.”