Here's the word direct from O's Elias at GM Meetings
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This story was excerpted from Jake Rill's Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SAN ANTONIO -- Every November, MLB general managers and front-office executives gather in one location for the GM Meetings. Although moves are rarely made at the event, it¡¯s a good opportunity for them to lay the framework for future trades and to meet with agents of free-agent players.
This week, Orioles general manager Mike Elias and his big league counterparts have gathered at the JW Marriott in San Antonio. Elias and other members of Baltimore¡¯s front office arrived on Monday, and they¡¯ll depart on Thursday. The baseball world will then reconvene at the Winter Meetings, which are set for Dec. 9-12 in Dallas.
On Tuesday, I talked with Elias about tough roster decisions, his first offseason working with a new ownership group and more as the 41-year-old heads into his seventh winter as GM.
MLB.com: First off, you declined a $4 million team option for 2025 on left-hander Danny Coulombe¡¯s contract on Monday. How difficult can those decisions be, especially when it¡¯s a well-liked player who has contributed so much?
Elias: I think that¡¯s being a GM. It¡¯s really hard, whether it¡¯s players or just taking care of the organization as a whole. The nature of baseball is that everything¡¯s constantly changing and there are only so many spots. And you have to balance who you have and what their role is and where they go. You develop tremendous affection working with people, and they do great things for you. But you make decisions about the future while respecting what people did.
MLB.com: This offseason will be your first working with the David Rubenstein-led ownership group. What will your communication with them be like as the team navigates the winter?
Elias: I think the way that I like to do it, and I think it¡¯s been going well, is I will keep them kind of continually briefed on a regular basis so they have an understanding of what¡¯s going on. And then, when I need them for something time-pressurized, reach out on the cell phones. So far, they¡¯re really engaged, and [it] seems like it¡¯s a big positive.
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MLB.com: Has it helped knowing how badly they want to see the Orioles succeed, especially having Rubenstein (a Baltimore native) and Cal Ripken Jr. in the group?
Elias: I think it¡¯s enormously helpful. I think there¡¯s a stated desire to elevate the franchise and do it for the benefit of the city. Obviously, the region, too. But with Baltimore and with the dynamics around Camden Yards, it¡¯s a big thing for the city. They¡¯re very well-funded, and there¡¯s work to do at the stadium, so that presents a huge opportunity. And then, we¡¯ve got this young core that they¡¯re going to be able to give us whatever, I think, support we deem appropriate for continuing to build and augment this roster. We¡¯re all very excited about it.
MLB.com: This team has won 192 regular-season games in two years, but it has gone 0-5 in the postseason during that span. Does that make it more challenging to call this run a success?
Elias: I mean, it puts a damper on it. It would otherwise be an enormous success. We have the most wins across the American League from ¡®23 and ¡®24, regular season. So that¡¯s an enormous success. But then to get zapped out of the playoffs ... [without] winning a game two years in a row really puts a bad taste [in your mouth].
I¡¯ve decided to kind of emphasize the failure aspect a little bit this offseason as we try to improve ourselves and make sure we¡¯re not in a place of stagnating as an organization. But we can¡¯t throw away a body of work that by and large demonstrates that we have a lot of really great things going on in the org. I think we¡¯re using the playoff failure to motivate ourselves to introspect, make hard changes, look for things that we haven¡¯t been doing that we can do better. And I think that¡¯s harder to do when you¡¯re coming off of a fresh taste of success and it¡¯s a little easier to push yourself in those areas when you have a bad taste in your mouth. I¡¯m making use of that bad taste.
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MLB.com: You mentioned this team¡¯s young core before. Is your confidence still high that this core will be the one to at some point bring Baltimore its first World Series title since 1983?
Elias: I think I wouldn¡¯t trade it for anyone else¡¯s young nucleus, and I think that says it all right there. I think if you say, ¡°Hey, you can pick a young nucleus,¡± I¡¯m taking the Orioles.
MLB.com: Last thing, and it¡¯s about free agency, which just got underway Monday. Since you became GM, the O¡¯s haven¡¯t signed any free agent to a multiyear deal. Does that finally change this winter?
Elias: I think they¡¯re definitely on the menu. They¡¯ve been on the menu in past years, and we¡¯ve offered them in some cases and it just hasn¡¯t happened. But, certainly, with the sale of the team behind us, we¡¯re in a position where, I think, those dictates will be made by the recommendation of the baseball ops department, and the financial support for things that my group wants or needs is definitely going to be there. And if that¡¯s longer contracts, great, and I think this is a good time for it.
But we¡¯ll just have to see here. I¡¯m kind of in the first couple days of the offseason, haven¡¯t really sat down with agents yet. Free agency¡¯s just opening. That¡¯s what the GM Meetings are for. And I don¡¯t have a good sense yet of what our preferred opportunities out there are quite yet on the free-agent front.