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Jonah Spiegelman
Following a 47-115 season in 2018, Houston Astros Assistant General Manager Mike Elias took over the Orioles’ front office. After losing their only all-star, Manny Machado, in a trade, having an aging and weak first baseman eating up over $20 million per year, a new manager in Brandon Hyde, and a bottom-five farm system in all of MLB, Elias had a huge mountain to climb when he took over.
In his first year in control, not much changed from the year before. The team finished with a 52-110 record while the former star Chris Davis hit under .170 and still had the biggest salary. The one bright side was rookie starting pitcher John Means finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting while making an all-star appearance. In 2020, during the shortened COVID season, Baltimore was just five games under .500, going 25-35 and finished second to last in the division. In 2021, the team returned to an abysmal status with a 52-110 record. Cedric Mullins finished sixth in MVP voting and won a Silver Slugger with a thirty-thirty season.
It was the 2022 season when Elias’s prestige in Baltimore started to climb. The team finished with a winning record by two games, and this season featured the long-awaited debut of former first overall pick Adley Rutschman. The starting catcher completed the season with a 5.4 WAR, a .254 batting average, and 13 home runs. Additionally, in the 2022 MLB Draft, the Orioles selected Jackson Holliday, the top-rated prospect, first overall. While the team didn’t make the playoffs, the winning record paired with Anthony Santander hitting over thirty home runs, fans had hope for the future, unlike in the last five years.
The following season was the Orioles’ best regular season in recent history. In Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman’s first full seasons with the team, front office members, along with fans, had extremely high expectations going into opening day. The team sent four members to the All Star Game, the first time more than one has received the invitation since 2016. With two position players finishing in the top ten in MVP voting and two pitchers in the top twelve in the Cy Young race, the team finished atop the American League with a 101-61 record. However, the top seed was swept in the ALDS by the Texas Rangers, ending the amazing season.
With the core of the 2023 lineup returning, the anticipation of the team calling up top prospects Jackson Holliday and Colton Cowser, and the acquisition of four-time consecutive All-Star Corbin Burnes on the mound, the league expected the Orioles to trounce competition throughout the season, even though top closer Felix Bautista was sidelined for the entire campaign after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. Statistically, the Orioles met expectations.
With five All-Stars, a Silver Slugger, the Rookie of the Year runner-up in Colton Cowser, and the debuts of six of their top ten prospects, an average person would have guessed that the team finished better than 91-71 with a wild card spot. But once again, the team got swept in two games by the Kansas City Royals in the first round of the playoffs. With the fifth-place finisher in all-star voting and a right fielder who hit forty homers, the general manager was in a good position to spend some of the new billionaire owner David Rubenstein’s money over the offseason.
With the eyes of the league watching him, Elias failed to bring either top free agent back to Baltimore with Santander leaving for a division rival and Burnes going to Arizona. Additionally, the team lost a key relief pitcher in Danny Coulombe after boasting a 2.12 ERA through almost thirty innings in 2024.
Instead of resigning proven stars, Elias went out over the offseason and picked up Tomoyuki Sugano, a 35-year-old starter from Japan, for $13 million, Charlie Morton, a former all-star but a rapidly declining 41-year-old veteran, for $15 million, and Andrew Kittredge, a solid veteran reliever who has an extensive injury history, for $10 million. Offensively, Elias signed Tyler O’Neill to a three-year $49.5 million contract with a player opt-out after 2025. Last season, O’Neill hit over thirty homers with a .241 batting average in Boston. Elias also picked up Ramon Laureano who hit just under .300 in 2024 and Dylan Carlson, a defensive-focused utility outfielder, for a combined $5 million.
Elias was confident that while no superstars, such as Max Fried, Pete Alonso, or Alex Bregman, were acquired, the team would have success. 2 months into the season, the Orioles rank 27th in MLB with a 23-36 record. Charlie Morton has posted a 6.20 ERA over 53.2 innings and Kyle Gibson has been traded. Tomoyuki Sugano is performing at all-star caliber levels with a 3.04 ERA over 71.0 innings, but not a single bullpen arm has a positive WAR this season. Offensively, the team is averaging just 3.85 runs per game as the mean batting average is .239. Several times this season, Elias has expressed his lack of concern with this team and is confident that we are still a contender.
With no willingness to spend money and the third-worst record in the league, fans around Baltimore are all on the same train of thought - Elias has got to go!
