I think that Elias believed this was a World Series contender at the start of the season. He may have been willing to make a big splash at the deadline with one of the top prospects. Then Bradish, Means and Wells all went down, then Coulombe. Then Mateo. At that point I wonder if he came to believe that it was ok to just duct tape some roster holes to make the playoffs, hold on to all of the young talent, and go to battle in the offseason.
Just uninformed speculation on my part.