Poll: Grading Elias' Tenure Thus Far

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It seems like the development of the minor league guys already here has been strong. His regime gets a good deal of credit for teaching John Means a new trick, too.  

We’ll have a better basis for judgment at the end of this year.   I’m not expecting many more wins, but we’ll get some good info on how the development of the young pitchers is going.     
 

Yes.  And I'm curious to see if any of the international signings (I know they're a long, long way off) appear on anyone's radar next summer.  

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

Yes.  And I'm curious to see if any of the international signings (I know they're a long, long way off) appear on anyone's radar next summer.  

I'm expecting an Oriole prospect penalty.  Maybe 10 spot deduction.

[Frobby]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

Yes.  And I'm curious to see if any of the international signings (I know they're a long, long way off) appear on anyone's radar next summer.  

You figure that eventually, a team’s top 30 prospects should include 7-9 international guys.    Right now our list has two, one of whom was acquired from the Dodgers in the Manny trade.   The other is Leonardo Rodriguez at #24.     It might be a stretch for anyone new to join the list at the end of 2020, but hopefully someone emerges.  

[Roll Tide]

11 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

What were your expectations?

Honestly, I’m surprised that you or anyone else can’t answer this question.

My expectations were dealing the players that won’t matter when the Orioles are relevant again. The return for Cashner was fine I suppose. The return for Villar paired with the inability to move the pieces we do have is well poor.

The draft is a big question mark beyond Adley and anyone could’ve drafted him. The international signings have all been second tier guys. Some might turn out to be wins but we are years from knowing.

So fixing the front office ....... A

Fixing International presence ....... B

Trading Assets ...................... E

Improving the roster ............. D

Improving the prospect pool ..... Incomplete 

 

[atomic]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

It seems like the development of the minor league guys already here has been strong. His regime gets a good deal of credit for teaching John Means a new trick, too.  

We’ll have a better basis for judgment at the end of this year.   I’m not expecting many more wins, but we’ll get some good info on how the development of the young pitchers is going.     
 

From what I read Means learned his new tricks in the off season on his own dime.

[scOtt]

3 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Also, in contrast to the previous GM (who I think gets unfairly criticized around here), he's very accessible, engages with the fans, media...that accounts for a lot in my book.  I'm aware that it's window dressing and ultimately doesn't really matter but it's nice to have someone who is a relatively open with what their ideas and goals are and what they're doing to achieve them.

 

Many of the times I've heard him interviewed he is very engaging. Like he wants to tell the fans as much as he can. Explain processes and things. But there's a fine line when it's "I can't talk about that."

[CallMeBrooksie]

8 hours ago, maybenxtyr said:

Never claimed to be an expert. Admittedly most of my knowledge of the prospects come from this site, but if you have any knowledge on any of the trade pieces I'd love to hear it. I also hope I'm wrong and someone will be a helping piece to the team. 

Good shot though.

Was Alberto not a solid "under the radar" signing? Picked up from the garage bin and came within one good week of contending for the batting title.

He's not a star nor a difference maker.. but he sure was a big help to last year's club and will be an interesting piece to watch this year.

 

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, atomic said:

From what I read Means learned his new tricks in the off season on his own dime.

False.     He went to P3 and picked up a couple of mph on his fastball.    Obviously, that’s very important and I don’t want to minimize that.     The improved change-up was something he picked up from Chris Holt in spring training.   

“Means has credited Orioles minor league pitching coordinator Chris Holt for helping him improve his changeup this spring.

“I didn’t really work on it much this winter. I was more focused on gaining velocity. But I came into spring training and worked on it. Always been good at disguising it, but he just told me how to slow it down. That has been a big key as well,” Means said.

https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2019/04/john-means-uses-strong-changeup-composure-to-get-off-to-solid-start.html

 

 

[sportsfan8703]

Since Elias has taken over we’ve acquired these players from outside the organization that are on the 40 man currently,

 

Wojo, Bailey, Rucker, Armstrong, Sulser, Kohl Stewart

Smith Jr., Alberto, Valaika, Ruiz, Severino, Urena, Iglesias, Martin

14/40 spots that he’s turned over. 

 

[Roll Tide]

14 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Since Elias has taken over we’ve acquired these players from outside the organization that are on the 40 man currently,

 

Wojo, Bailey, Rucker, Armstrong, Sulser, Kohl Stewart

Smith Jr., Alberto, Valaika, Ruiz, Severino, Urena, Iglesias, Martin

14/40 spots that he’s turned over. 

 

Are any of these guys part of the long term solution? Or mainly a group assembled to lose 100 games?

[sportsfan8703]

18 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Are any of these guys part of the long term solution? Or mainly a group assembled to lose 100 games?

Who knows? We’re rebuilding. I’d rather we have guys like this as placeholders than older FAs. 

Elias’ rebuilding team of 2019 finished with a better record than the $150+ million payroll that the 2018 had. 

[Frobby]

46 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Are any of these guys part of the long term solution? Or mainly a group assembled to lose 100 games?

It’s mainly panning for nuggets.    You know most of them won’t be difference makers or long term contributors.    But you hope to find a couple who might be.    So far I’d say Alberto has been the biggest contributor.    We’ll see this year if he can replicate his performance, or come reasonably close.   

[weams]

17 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It’s mainly panning for nuggets.    You know most of them won’t be difference makers or long term contributors.    But you hope to find a couple who might be.    So far I’d say Alberto has been the biggest contributor.    We’ll see this year if he can replicate his performance, or come reasonably close.   

For those who hoped for bigger returns for the trade victims, I think we need to start paying more attention to realized values than the speculation ones we talked about for years. True, Bundy could be a breakout. But Villar already had his. 

[Ripken]

A - The most important aspects were establishing a presence in the LA market, integrating modern teaching and analysis, and getting the org on the same page from top to bottom.  We had no structure before and now we do though it has to continue growing.  He got AR at 1/1, not that it was a hard decision, but I love that draft.  Beyond that, I didn't care much (there are a few exceptions) about who is on the OPACY field in 19 or 20.  I will start caring next season.

[sportsfan8703]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s mainly panning for nuggets.    You know most of them won’t be difference makers or long term contributors.    But you hope to find a couple who might be.    So far I’d say Alberto has been the biggest contributor.    We’ll see this year if he can replicate his performance, or come reasonably close.   

Just to break it down even further,

Rotation options - Wojo, Kohl Stewart

The most important thing here is to bridge the gap until all the "prospects" in AAA/AA are ready to come up.  Likely OD 2021 and beyond.

Bullpen options - Armstrong, Fry, Sulser

Again the goal is to eat innings, but with some success, Armstrong and Fry could bring back at least something in an in season deal.  Even if it's just players that don't have to be added to the 40 man in 11/2020.

Wildcards - Bailey, Rucker

These guys could be a part of our next "winning" team in 2022, 2023.  

Current "Starters" - Severino, Ruiz, Alberto, Smith Jr.

Younger players that haven't really had a chance before.  Their starters now, but could be bench players on a stronger team.  They could also be trade chips if they produce.  

Stop Gap - Iglesias

Allows us to have steady defense at SS.  This way we can really help out our young pitching staff.

IF Depth - Martin, Urena, Valaika

Let's face it, we don't have much on the prospect from in terms of IF prospects in the system.  Maybe we find the next Alberto?  

This doesn't include the depth that Elias has kept via players clearing waivers and remaining in the system.  Also, the Bundy, Villar, and Cashner trades, helped to build the depth as well.  

We're going to acquire our top end talent via having high picks in multiple, consecutive, drafts.  I think Elias has done a pretty good job of building depth.  We'll really get to see that in the minors this year from Delmarva - Norfolk.  You gotta build the depth/talent/quality of the org from the ground up.  Eventually it'll reach the top.