It’s very possible that Elias already has POBO power & pay without the POBO title, and he may be fine with that. Regardless, he is the clear leader of the O’s Baseball Operations department, so unless another team comes calling and offering him a POBO title and much better salary than he’s making now, I don’t see John Angelos letting him go without doing everything necessary to match whatever is on the table from another team. JA might be viewed as cheap, but that seems to be more associated with spending on top free agents, not with front office personnel, scouting, player development, analytics, etc.
Mike Elias knows what he’s building in Baltimore, and I think he wants to see it through, plus he grew up in the region, so this is probably a dream job for him.