The Orioles face a daunting task of returning to the realm of a contender in 2027, let alone a postseason participant.
Mike Elias , perpetual baseball operations failure, needs to do a heck of a lot more than hire a fake GM to reverse the fortunes of a franchise nearly 40 games off the pace in the AL East the last two years. . He needs to alter the way he attacks the trade market and how he evaluates players and a bevy of things related to the human side of the business, and also made fundamental alterations to how he pays for talent and builds rosters and constructs a rotation and bench.
He must utilize every option available in talent acquisition and also rethink what his MLB coaching staff is trying to accomplish developing young hitters especially if this seemingly endless rot is going to reverse in his ninth year on the job. The fact the Orioles are a bottom eight team in baseball since June 20, 2024 – no small sample size – speaks to how fruitless this all will likely turn out to be – especially with the same overmatched puppet still serving as manager.
But it’s worth a shot, at least, to propose a plan of attack.
Trades
Their best bet to land a highly-successful starting pitcher is to trade for him, like Elias once did for Corbin Burnes. It would probably be a one-year rental most likely again, and lefties Shane McClanahan and Eduardo Rodriquez would make a lot of sense to explore vigorously. To have bastardized a beautiful ballpark twice under Elias’s reign of futility to benefit lefties and never have a single starter who was even really league average over his tenure let alone truly special is part of why this guy should have been fired after butchering the 2023 trade deadline. Trevor Rogers seems pretty excited about free agency so a return to Baltimore might not be in the cards and they shouldn't be reaching on someone that erratic if he does have a decent market.
Elias also needs to be prepared to acquire a centerfielder and the options in free agency are limited. Trading Gunnar Henderson and something else if necessary for Twins centerfielder Byron Buxton would be a nice place to try to start. This team will not get close to where it needs to be just through free agency given how little this ownership group will extend itself and given how weak the market of players is.
If they don’t make two swaps of consequence this is going nowhere, and if they try to run it back with Henderson and Jackson Holliday and Colton Cowser all in the mix in prominent roles, this won’t work, either. Some need to go now.
Signings
This team is not going to sign a starting pitcher to a $200M deal. Not going to happen and Elias doesn’t believe in it philosophically and if his owners won’t be willing to send their way out of it if/when that starter gets hurt, then don’t get into those waters. If they were proactive for a change and made a few trades early in the offseason then taking a flier on someone like Brandon Woodruff coming off injury issues (but just added to the World Series roster) on the cheap might make sense. What they can’t do is flush another $20M on a broken and over-the-hill retread like Chris Bassitt or Charlie Morton or Zach Eflin.
Again, in this perfect scenario they trade for an affordable rental starter to front their rotation and trade for an everyday outfielder – ideally a CF – and they use free-agency to supplement. Perhaps new “GM” Jared Banner can use his Cubs ties to lure a corner outfielder lie Seiya Suzuki or Ian Happ on a deal that doesn’t break the bank.
Decisions
They better get the coaching staff around their silly manager right. These need to be some assistants who accomplished something in MLB as players themselves and who have a true specialty. They can’t hit in the clutch or get on base enough or do anything when they manager to reach base. A base-stealer expert would be nice!
The hitting approach cannot be as overwhelming and math/data based and it can’t be layered on this thick. More of the old school must apply here. The pendulum has swung entirely out of whack. The communication and people-skills part of this have been completely lost in this organization under Elias.
Promotions
In a perfect world none of the pitchers they acquired for Adley Rutschman see Camden Yards in 2027. If this team is truly competing they won’t need to. They certainly should not be counted on much from the minors. It’s not close.
Luis de Leon was very impressive last season, it’s an interesting left arm and he presented himself quite well once they stopped screwing around with his role in the bullpen. Ideally, they would be his spot as someone who could get six outs against righties and lefties and also get swing-and-miss against elite lefty bats in high-leverage situations. But is he’s going to be a starter and they do the right things adding proven arms, then have him ready to go in Norfolk.
Trey Gibson’s inability to command has me thinking he ends up in the pen, if in Baltimore at all for parts of next season.
And while Elias seems to have little interest in former first-round pick Enrique Bradfield Jr., if he ships Cowser out I would like to see him as a true extra outfielder who would provide Gold Glove defense in any OF spot off the bench or as a spot starter and who should be as close as you get to an automatic steal of second base as a pinch runner and just let him try to slap the ball in play like Chandler Simpson and try to work counts.
I don’t even really care about the bat if they build a real lineup and use him in a stylized role.
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