Connolly: Elias does not have approval to take on salary to add prospects in a trade

[Sydnor]

In his latest article, Connolly looks at the Cozart trade and reports that multiple sources confirm that Elias gave his talent evaluators the directive to looks at players on bad contracts because he believes that he could take on salary in mid-2019 or 2020 to acquire prospects. Based on the Cozart deal and Elias’ response to questions about taking on salary, he believes that Elias does not have the authority to do so. Specifically, he theorizes that because they completed the Bundy trade with the Angels, the O’s could’ve added Cozart to the deal and gotten Wilson or a similar more highly touted prospect. It’s an interesting theory and I think a lot of people would like to see the Orioles use this tactic to acquire talent, but it sounds like Connolly doesn’t believe the Orioles will do so because of budgetary issues. This, he questions how much control Elias actually has to implement his vision

https://theathletic.com/1451254/2019/12/11/connolly-a-trade-not-made-makes-you-wonder-how-much-mike-elias-hands-are-tied-by-orioles-financial-constraints/

Here’s a few things Connolly mentions:

“When Elias joined the Orioles last November, John and Louis Angelos, who have taken over club decisions from their father, publicly stated that Elias would have the financial resources to do what was necessary to turn the ship around.

...

But when asked Tuesday night if he had the rubber-stamp approval to take on a bad contract/prospect combo, Elias said that would be approached on a case-by-case basis.

‘It would have to be something that we would take to (ownership),’ Elias said. ‘But it’s not something that I would say we’re actively out there chasing down.’

You can read that two ways. Ownership has not given Elias the OK to absorb hefty contracts, no matter the reasoning, and probably wouldn’t. Or Elias isn’t particularly interested in conducting that type of business.

I’m not buying the latter. Elias has been too consistent in his message about leaving no talented stone unturned to ignore that boulder.”
 

 

[Pickles]

Eh.  Sounds like a nothingburger.

Of course any decision of that kind would have to go to ownership.

And of course they aren't actively pursuing those kinds of trades.

[sportsfan8703]

7 minutes ago, Sydnor said:

This, he questions how much control Elias actually has to implement his vision

And this is the problem that should worry O's fans.  We're doing this complete tear down, but yet our GM still has constraints, and can't do things his way.  Within reason, of course. 

 

[interloper]

 

One of the more interesting things about the rebuild is certainly the lack of budget and the reasoning behind it. I'm hesitant to just call it ownership greed, as I doubt it's that simple. I'd love to know what ownership and Elias have talked about, what the budget plan calls for, if funds are indeed being redirected heavily into infrastructure, if a sale is in the works, if there are significant stadium upgrades in the works, how much the Davis contract is a factor, etc. We just don't really know. So I hesitate to kill them on it right now. 

We do know keeping the budget low was part of the Astros rebuild, and that they had no problems spending when it counted. The Orioles have had a tendency to spend unwisely in the past, so I'm fine with keeping the budget low while Elias gets the foundation built. Then I do expect them to spend again. 

[weams]

5 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

And this is the problem that should worry O's fans.  We're doing this complete tear down, but yet our GM still has constraints, and can't do things his way.  Within reason, of course. 

 

This does not say that. It does not. 

[oriolesacox]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

One of the more interesting things about the rebuild is certainly the lack of budget and the reasoning behind it. I'm hesitant to just call it ownership greed, as I doubt it's that simple. I'd love to know what ownership and Elias have talked about, what the budget plan calls for, if funds are indeed being redirected heavily into infrastructure, if a sale is in the works, if there are significant stadium upgrades in the works, how much the Davis contract is a factor, etc. We just don't really know. So I hesitate to kill them on it right now. 

We do know keeping the budget low was part of the Astros rebuild, and that they had no problems spending when it counted. The Orioles have had a tendency to spend unwisely in the past, so I'm fine with keeping the budget low while Elias gets the foundation built. Then I do expect them to spend again. 

^ Pretty much this.  If I hadn’t seen Houston do pretty much the same exact thing, I would be a little more skeptical.  

[sportsfan8703]

Elias would have looked like a really slick GM if he replaced Villar with Cozart in 2020, while also adding Easton and Wilson to the system.  Plus, the ability to trade Cozart at the deadline.  If everything worked out, Elias could have essentially bought a first round pick for Cozart's pre trade deadline salary($6 million).  

[Pickles]

Just now, weams said:

This does not say that. It does not. 

Correct.

Let's put it this way: If the O's were in a financial position to be making these kinds of trades, they just wouldn't have traded Villar for a lottery ticket.

[Moose Milligan]

People are going to use this article to either prop up any of their preconceived notions or brush things they don't like to the side.

I'm not sure what the reality is, nor do I really care.  The offseason is just beginning, I'm more interested in seeing who's on the roster come spring training rather than hand wringing about taking on Zack Cozart's contract because there was a shiny prospect attached. 

[DrungoHazewood]

Why is it notable that Elias has to check with ownership before taking on a poor contract with a prospect attached?

[interloper]

Connolly is such an obvious Elias hater, too.

What I find funny that no one is talking about is how bad this makes the Angels look. Imagine if the Orioles traded Cobb in the last year of his deal and attached their first round draft pick just to get rid of $12 million or whatever. We would be MURDERING the Orioles on here for that and the Warehouse would be in flames. 

[Sydnor]

12 minutes ago, weams said:

This does not say that. It does not. 

Correct. It doesn’t. I tried to write this in a way that made clear that Connolly is hypothesizing. For example he also wrote:

“The best guess here is that Orioles’ ownership has tied Elias’ hands on boosting payroll even if the move ultimately helps replenish a farm system that is desperately trying to improve.“

3 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Why is it notable that Elias has to check with ownership before taking on a poor contract with a prospect attached?

I only posted the article because it appears that some posters have theorized about such trades and/or signing free agents for more than Karns received last year. I do not think this will happen and this article tends to support that (while acknowledging that much of it is Connolly’s opinion and conjecture). I thought that it was at least relevant, but perhaps not.

[interloper]

The fact that anyone thinks Elias "can't do things his way" when he literally created the international scouting and analytics departments out of thin air, hired a ton of his own people, traded for prospects he himself hand-picked, and handled the 2019 draft almost completely by himself because he wanted to is really stretching. 

Would he like to cut Davis? Yeah probably! But you can't just ignore the mountain of other stuff he has accomplished as he himself designed it to be accomplished. 

EDIT: Fixed to say 2019 draft not 2018

[weams]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

One of the more interesting things about the rebuild is certainly the lack of budget and the reasoning behind it. I'm hesitant to just call it ownership greed, as I doubt it's that simple. I'd love to know what ownership and Elias have talked about, what the budget plan calls for, if funds are indeed being redirected heavily into infrastructure, if a sale is in the works, if there are significant stadium upgrades in the works, how much the Davis contract is a factor, etc. We just don't really know. So I hesitate to kill them on it right now. 

We do know keeping the budget low was part of the Astros rebuild, and that they had no problems spending when it counted. The Orioles have had a tendency to spend unwisely in the past, so I'm fine with keeping the budget low while Elias gets the foundation built. Then I do expect them to spend again. 

There may well be a budget. You just are not privy to it. 

[sportsfan8703]

37 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Why is it notable that Elias has to check with ownership before taking on a poor contract with a prospect attached?

Because trading away Villar and Bundy were good baseball moves for the future.  So we could have used that savings to make another good baseball move for the future.