Poll: Grading Elias' Tenure Thus Far

[Greg Pappas]

Thus Far. Those are the keywords here.  How would you grade Elias' work thus far, on the simplest scale? Some may wish for an A+, A, or A- choice, but that would create too many choices. 

Naturally there are inner workings at play that we're not privy too, and that can skew the big picture. Has ownership interfered with Elias' vision in any way? If so, to what extent?  Hard to know, so I'd recommend grading Elias based on what you believe to be true.

To potentially help you come to a decision, here are two quality threads regarding Elias' tenure:

 

 

[SteveA]

Man, that's tough.   Because what he has been doing thus far is building infrastructure, which is hard to evaluate.   He APPEARS to have done the following:

   -- spent more than we have spent in years on international free agents

   -- had a pretty good first draft

   -- infused all the levels of the organization with people who use advanced metrics and state of the art tools to evaluate and instruct and develop players

   -- gotten rid of guys who don't appear to be "with the program" such as Brady Anderson, etc

   -- obviously been consistent in his philosophy of building talent in the organization from the bottom up (Bundy & Cashner & Villar for younger guys, etc)

But all of that is appearance.   Do I really KNOW that any of the international free agents we signed are any good?   Do I KNOW he drafted well?   Do I really  KNOW anything about all the people he has hired other than scant biographical information?   I THINK he is doing well in those areas, but that's just based on appearances.

But there does seem to be a bit of a disconnect with fans.  Cancelling Fanfest pissed some people off.   Those who are not "with the program" of the rebuild haven't been given much of anything to look forward to, the base assumption that the fans are sheep who will flock back when we win is probably true, but in an era where in person attendance at sporting events is down all over the place, even the fanatical world of college football, getting people out of the habit of coming to to games for some period of time is treading on dangerous ground, they just might find that they don't miss baseball that much.   Now that stuff might not necessarily be in Elias's wheelhouse, maybe someone on the business side might be more responsible, but at some point he's the point man for the franchise and everything that has happened falls back in his lap.   The buck has to stop somewhere.

I'm going B.

[Enjoy Terror]

B.

Love the foray into international scouting the most so far. I love the new consideration for an analytics based approach, and the hiring of Driveline gurus like Chris Holt to really figure out pitching mechanics. It showed in the minor leagues where many many pitchers took steps forward to contribute.

Im lukewarm about the handling of Villar and Davis, but I’ll admit that I don’t care about Villar like some other people do. I thought he was playing over his head, and new OAA metric exposes his defense in a way not previously considered. Davis may not be within his control.

still waiting for them to make up for FanFest.

i personally think this is the correct way forward to sustaining the long term health of the franchise, though admit it sucks watching bad baseball.

[Griffey]

C.

Count me in the "too early to tell" category.  

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Griffey said:

C.

Count me in the "too early to tell" category.  

On a similar front I'm giving him an incomplete.  Some things I like, some I don't but it's too early to tell.

[Greg Pappas]

17 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Man, that's tough.   Because what he has been doing thus far is building infrastructure, which is hard to evaluate.   He APPEARS to have done the following:

   -- spent more than we have spent in years on international free agents

   -- had a pretty good first draft

   -- infused all the levels of the organization with people who use advanced metrics and state of the art tools to evaluate and instruct and develop players

   -- gotten rid of guys who don't appear to be "with the program" such as Brady Anderson, etc

   -- obviously been consistent in his philosophy of building talent in the organization from the bottom up (Bundy & Cashner & Villar for younger guys, etc)

But all of that is appearance.   Do I really KNOW that any of the international free agents we signed are any good?   Do I KNOW he drafted well?   Do I really  KNOW anything about all the people he has hired other than scant biographical information?   I THINK he is doing well in those areas, but that's just based on appearances.

But there does seem to be a bit of a disconnect with fans.  Cancelling Fanfest pissed some people off.   Those who are not "with the program" of the rebuild haven't been given much of anything to look forward to, the base assumption that the fans are sheep who will flock back when we win is probably true, but in an era where in person attendance at sporting events is down all over the place, even the fanatical world of college football, getting people out of the habit of coming to to games for some period of time is treading on dangerous ground, they just might find that they don't miss baseball that much.   Now that stuff might not necessarily be in Elias's wheelhouse, maybe someone on the business side might be more responsible, but at some point he's the point man for the franchise and everything that has happened falls back in his lap.   The buck has to stop somewhere.

I'm going B.

 

4 minutes ago, Griffey said:

C.

Count me in the "too early to tell" category.  

I also was going with B, but changed my mind at the last second, as I was thinking "A minus" (not a choice). A minus or B plus seems about right to me.  Overall I'm happy with him and expect to continue feeling that way for the foreseeable future.

[Griffey]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

On a similar front I'm giving him an incomplete.  Some things I like, some I don't but it's too early to tell.

That would have been my choice as well if it was available.

[Greg Pappas]

For those offering a 'too early to tell' reply, I tried to express that this grading is based on what you believe or feel about how he's done thus far. It's still early in his tenure,  however, I'm looking to gauge how folks feel about the work he's done up to this point, conceding that there is much still to do.

[Frobby]

I gave him an A, but truthfully I don’t really know and I adopt almost everything SteveA said.    The only point I disagree about is pinning the cancellation of Fanfest on Elias.    I doubt that was his call.

[wildcard]

I would give Elias a "cautious A".    If the improvement in the player development for pitchers in any indication of what is to come then he has made a major leap in building a minor league system.    Four minor league clubs led their league  in ERA.  And he appears to have developed two waves of prospects at AA and in the Sally league.

The O's have drafted pretty well in the passed when they did not trade away their high picks.  But player development under Dan Duquette was for the most part a disaster.   If Elias is turning that around he deserves an A but I am cautious because its only been one season. 

Add to that that he is adding more coaching as each level in his second season and he might be ready for another jump in helping players achieve their potential. 

[maybenxtyr]

I gave him a "C", as that is as close to an incomplete as possible.

He really hasn't brought in any talent that is poised to be an under the radar trade or signing. Obviously our #1 pick was a no brainier...too early to tell on any other selections.

None of the trades have brought in any answers... maybe time will prove me wrong on that one. 

He certainly is saying all of the right things, but if I were a fan of another team and someone laid out the moves that have been made so far I would say he's been brought in to prep the team for selling.

There's not any moves so far this off season that indicates that they will be moving forward with trying to get better and win at the ML level.

[Can_of_corn]

37 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I gave him an A, but truthfully I don’t really know and I adopt almost everything SteveA said.    The only point I disagree about is pinning the cancellation of Fanfest on Elias.    I doubt that was his call.

You think ownership killed fanfest over his objections?

[atomic]

1 hour ago, maybenxtyr said:

I gave him a "C", as that is as close to an incomplete as possible.

He really hasn't brought in any talent that is poised to be an under the radar trade or signing. Obviously our #1 pick was a no brainier...too early to tell on any other selections.

None of the trades have brought in any answers... maybe time will prove me wrong on that one. 

He certainly is saying all of the right things, but if I were a fan of another team and someone laid out the moves that have been made so far I would say he's been brought in to prep the team for selling.

There's not any moves so far this off season that indicates that they will be moving forward with trying to get better and win at the ML level.

Yeah you can’t evaluate the draft at this point.  Ashley was a no brainer and the other guys you can’t evaluate yet. 
 

I think his trades have been pretty awful and other than the shortstop he brought in this year he really hasn’t signed anyone. 
 

[TheOtherRipken]

B but if this season the farm system doesn’t look much better I would skip down to a D. With all of the investments in infrastructure I would expect a major step forward this year.

[tntoriole]

A

It has been exactly what I both expected and hoped for. 

His hires have been very good, particularly Sig and Kobe Perez and Chris Holt and Brandon Hyde. 

He has been aggressive in restructuring and rebuilding international and scouting and development analytics where we have been woeful.

His communication has been better than any GM- open, realistic and focused. 

He appears to have an excellent relationship and understanding with ownership

His first draft was very good to excellent. 

He hired Luke. 

Man, how could it not be an A?