How long does your blank check for Elias last?

[atomic]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Good point on Lough.   He most often played as a defensive replacement, which is tough to do when you never have the lead (the O’s never lead after the 4th inning or later in that series, and had only one lead at any time).    

 Davis and Manny had no impact on the outfield defense, needless to say.    

 I was out of town and saw very little of that series, but had the impression it was more a matter of the Royals playing great defense than us playing poor defense.   

Yeah I don't remember any poor defense.  The Royals were just getting to balls we wouldn't be able to get to.

I wasn't mentioning Manny and Davis being out affecting outfield defense more that they might have provide more offense.  Davis not so much but perhaps Manny could have.  

[weams]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

BABIP.

Everything that KC hit dropped in, everything Baltimore hit was caught.

You were right here. They were insane plays that would never happen again were it to have been replayed. 

[interloper]

1 hour ago, atomic said:

That was because KC outfielders were super fast and the Orioles outfielders were all slow. 

Some of it was that, yeah. Some of those "hits" were 100% Grade A cheapies. 

[JR Oriole]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

Some of it was that, yeah. Some of those "hits" were 100% Grade A cheapies. 

Absolutely.  I feel like there were more than a handful of those cheapies.  I haven't watched the footage since then but I feel like we just got destroyed with dink and dunk hits.  I just felt we were snake-bitten that whole series, as those kinds of hits are really demoralizing.  Their defense and team speed were also pretty demoralizing.  Thank goodness for Bumgarner!

I think that series and the 97 ALCS just show you how absolutely critical it is to take advantage of your opportunities when you have them.  Look at the Philadelphia Eagles......a good but not great team last year that rode the performance of a mediocre back up QB to a title....and now they are back to stinking again.  But they had a window and they took advantage.  It isn't like the Patriots who get there every year.....when you have limited chances, you just can't blow it.   Hopefully the next time we get to the ALCS, we can avoid facing a hot, sub-90 win AL Central team.  

[Going Underground]

Did anyone else get an email from Mr Elias explaining the plan? Saying I will communicate with the fans and come out to the yard.He said I will communicate with the fans often to let you know what is going on.

[Going Underground]

5 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

Did anyone else get an email from Mr Elias explaining the plan? Saying I will communicate with the fans and come out to the yard.He said I will communicate with the fans often to let you know what is going on.

Dear Mr. 

I want to personally thank you, and all of Birdland's loyal fans, for the warm welcome you've given me this week. I know how much the Orioles mean to you. For many of you, this is a team you have cheered on for decades, and it is a devotion that is handed down across generations. I grew up in Northern Virginia, attended Camden Yards during the nineties, and saw firsthand what playoff caliber baseball looks like in Baltimore. It is electric. I am as hungry and determined as you are to return to that level of contention. 

Allow me to provide a bit of detail about our plan to get there. With ownership's support, we are embarking upon a massive, multi-front effort to build an elite talent pipeline that will furnish a steady stream of high-quality players for our Major League roster. Doing so will allow us not just to return to the playoffs, but to produce a long and sustained stretch of playoff-caliber teams. 

In order to do this, we are going to maximize every area of amateur talent acquisition - the draft and international markets - while investing in technological upgrades in areas like sports medicine and player development. To support and inform all of these efforts, we will simultaneously build out a first-rate analytics department that will improve our processes and decisions in all areas. 

This is a big job, but it's a necessary one. Having been a part of this process before, I can tell you that it can be a fun and rewarding journey for all of us. You will get to know our players intimately as you follow their careers from their earliest stages. You will see a lot of young talent on the field, watch exciting play, and see these guys grow and develop into Major League stars before your eyes. 

A lot of our future core is already here. Homegrown players like Trey Mancini, Dylan Bundy, Mychal Givens, and Cedric Mullins will soon be joined by others. And over the coming weeks, we will select our next field manager, who will be responsible for establishing the culture and style of play for the next era of Oriole baseball. 

Among the many things I have learned in my experience with this type of process is that the support of the fans will be critical to our success. We need you. I promise to communicate with you as openly and as often as I can, and we will rely on you to hold us accountable. 

I can't wait to see you at Camden Yards. Please, if you get the chance, say hello. We are all in this together. 

Yours, 


Mike Elias 
 

[Frobby]

That’s an outstanding statement.   He’s vastly superior at communication to Duquette, and frankly any GM we’ve had that I can recall.    If he asks the fans to buy in, they will do it, I believe.    

I was slightly surprised he mentioned the homegrown players by name.   I guess we won’t be trading them this winter.   

[Moose Milligan]

Great letter, still in the honeymoon stages though.  He certainly says all the right things so far.

[Frobby]

By the way, I notice Elias hasn’t come out and said he was an Orioles fan growing up.    All he’s said is that he attended games in Camden Yards and knows how electric it can be when they have a playoff-caliber team.   I get the feeling he had another team.   Not that it matters.   

[Going Underground]

Maybe he can buy Buck Showalte 's house.Listed a little under 1 5 million.

[BarclaySouthway]

Not sure what blank check means.  Surely, you've got to give him 5 years to get back to .500-ish respectability considering the hole we've dug ourselves and our competition.  In six years, if everything breaks just right, maybe we contend?

As far as judging him based on what the minor league system looks like, I think three drafts is fair.

Keep in mind how bad we are right now.

[Aglets]

First off, outstanding letter.  If I was a season ticket holder on the verge of giving them up........that might have been enough to persuade me to stay.    Maybe.

Like Frobby I am a little surprised he mentioned guys like Bundy, Givens, and Mancini by name.  Especially the first two. 

We have Bundy for 3 more years,  but he will be arbitration eligible for all of them, including this coming season.   Wonder if he will try to be proactive and lock him up sooner to try and save some money?     Givens is in the exact same situation, contractually speaking.

[Palmoripken]

12 hours ago, Frobby said:

By the way, I notice Elias hasn’t come out and said he was an Orioles fan growing up.    All he’s said is that he attended games in Camden Yards and knows how electric it can be when they have a playoff-caliber team.   I get the feeling he had another team.   Not that it matters.   

I noticed that too. Doesn't matter I agree. In fact, it might be a little better since a childhood O's fan may get overly sentimental than a non-one and NOVA is full of transplants. I noticed something interesting looking at his biography, he went to Thomas Jefferson high school, I'm not sure if you Marylanders especially closer to Baltimore are familiar with TJ but it's a very prestigious high school academically speaking. I really like Elias so far. He seems to have a plan about what he wants to do, he communicates it well, and I'm genuinely interested in seeing what he does.

[MemorialStadKid]

13 hours ago, BarclaySouthway said:

Not sure what blank check means.  Surely, you've got to give him 5 years to get back to .500-ish respectability considering the hole we've dug ourselves and our competition.  In six years, if everything breaks just right, maybe we contend?

As far as judging him based on what the minor league system looks like, I think three drafts is fair.

Keep in mind how bad we are right now.

This is the first real light at the end of the tunnel we've seen in a very long while. 

Even the awesome run of 2012-2016 felt like the team was living on borrowed time and it expired. 

Elias might be a truly talented GM, but no one can fix the Orioles' situation in a year or two or three. I'm not worried about Elias' skill, I'm concerned whether or not the ownership will allow him to make the necessary moves for long-term improvement. 

I believe Elias when he says he's serious about putting the team on the right track, I remain unconvinced if he'll be allowed to make those changes. 

Putting Elias on notice as if he's a team owner doesn't make a lick of sense. 

MSK 

 

[FanSince88]

3 hours ago, Aglets said:

First off, outstanding letter.  If I was a season ticket holder on the verge of giving them up........that might have been enough to persuade me to stay.    Maybe.

Like Frobby I am a little surprised he mentioned guys like Bundy, Givens, and Mancini by name.  Especially the first two. 

We have Bundy for 3 more years,  but he will be arbitration eligible for all of them, including this coming season.   Wonder if he will try to be proactive and lock him up sooner to try and save some money?     Givens is in the exact same situation, contractually speaking.

Yeah i'm not putting a lot of stock in the name dropping as it relates to holding on or extending players.  I think that was mostly just a hat tip, "vote of confidence" for those guys.  Fully expect Elias to deal them if he thinks their trade value is high enough and it's worth the return.