Poll: Grading Elias' Tenure Thus Far

[wildbillhiccup]

You know, the only thing that sucks about the timing of our rebuild is that it seems like it will be coinciding somewhat with the Red Sox doing the same. I just read a report that Betts is definitely going to be traded and probably Price too. It's a shame we aren't a little further along and able to capitalize on there being a bit more parity in the AL East. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, wildbillhiccup said:

You know, the only thing that sucks about the timing of our rebuild is that it seems like it will be coinciding somewhat with the Red Sox doing the same. I just read a report that Betts is definitely going to be traded and probably Price too. It's a shame we aren't a little further along and able to capitalize on there being a bit more parity in the AL East. 

And the Jays, too.  They're a couple years ahead of us but we're always going to be having to duke it out with at least one of the Yanks/Sox and Jays/Rays.  

[wildbillhiccup]

31 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

And the Jays, too.  They're a couple years ahead of us but we're always going to be having to duke it out with at least one of the Yanks/Sox and Jays/Rays.  

Yep, another good point. They're definitely still rebuilding. I'd say the only teams who aren't in rebuild mode (right now) are the Yankees and Rays. I think the Yankees are going to run away with the division this season. 

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Yep, another good point. They're definitely still rebuilding. I'd say the only teams who aren't in rebuild mode (right now) are the Yankees and Rays. I think the Yankees are going to run away with the division this season. 

I should also point out that the Rays are widely regarded to have the best farm system in the major leagues right now.    So not only is their current major league team 40ish games better than ours,  they’ve got more talent in the pipeline than we do.  They’re not going away any time soon.  

[wildbillhiccup]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I should also point out that the Rays are widely regarded to have the best farm system in the major leagues right now.    So not only is their current major league team 40ish games better than ours,  they’ve got more talent in the pipeline than we do.  They’re not going away any time soon.  

Agreed, but I just think the Yankees are stacked this season. Just a hunch, but I see them handily winning the division. Hope I'm wrong. 

[Frobby]

59 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Agreed, but I just think the Yankees are stacked this season. Just a hunch, but I see them handily winning the division. Hope I'm wrong. 

This year?    Oh, I couldn’t agree more.   They won 108 last year despite the fact that their players missed something like 1500 games with injuries.   And now they have an ace at the top of the rotation, something they’ve lacked in recent years.   I’ll be very surprised if they don’t win 100+ games.     My comments on the Rays were more just to say that I expect them to be a playoff contender for well into the foreseeable future.     I do not expect them to win the division this year, though I do like their chances of being a strong wild card as they were last season.   

[hoosiers]

Really surprised at the folks grading Elias something other than an A or B.  The man is building out what should be a top 5, near best in class analytics group that will be light years ahead of what DD left behind.  Elias also building out a quality international scouting operations with guys with strong reputations (including Elias) internationally.  Elias has been focused on finding young players to acquire for the MLB roster (taking chances on Ruiz, Smith,  Alberto, etc) while fielding a worst 3 team in baseball in order to draft high - while clearing payroll.

I am not saying others wouldn't be doing the same thing.  It is not a complicated strategy, but it is the right one.  Now, are we drafting well?  Are we signing good international prospects?  We won't know this for a while, but we can be sure that the analytics approve of the guys we are taking whether this particular batch pans out or it doesn't. 

Making decisions with a better chance of working out than not - very appealing to me.

[hoosiers]

The AL East is always tough and the NYY will be a beast this year, but they appear on their way to the leagues first $300M payroll IMO.  That type of payroll is going to win.  The question in my mind is what is the window of this NYY team and I think it is about three or four years and we will see declines in the most expensive players.  

The BoSox may be in for a rebuild, but they are starting about two years later than us and we will be drafting might higher this year and very likely next.  

The Jays are starting to emerge from their rebuild and they are capable of a high payroll.  They are a very dangerous organization when things are moving together in the right direction.

The Rays are going to be very good for a long, long time.  Their prospects are tremendous.  The young MLB team they put on the field has a quality upside.  

We should be emerging from our own rebuild around 2023 and should find ourselves with comparable or better under 25 players in our organization than at least two of the teams above - perhaps and maybe all four.  

The division is going to be a beast around 2023-2025.

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, hoosiers said:

Really surprised at the folks grading Elias something other than an A or B.  The man is building out what should be a top 5, near best in class analytics group that will be light years ahead of what DD left behind.  Elias also building out a quality international scouting operations with guys with strong reputations (including Elias) internationally.  Elias has been focused on finding young players to acquire for the MLB roster (taking chances on Ruiz, Smith,  Alberto, etc) while fielding a worst 3 team in baseball in order to draft high - while clearing payroll.

I am not saying others wouldn't be doing the same thing.  It is not a complicated strategy, but it is the right one.  Now, are we drafting well?  Are we signing good international prospects?  We won't know this for a while, but we can be sure that the analytics approve of the guys we are taking whether this particular batch pans out or it doesn't. 

Making decisions with a better chance of working out than not - very appealing to me.

Is he?  We know he's trying to but is he going to be successful?  You don't think it's premature to give him credit for something that hasn't actually happened yet? 

Basically ever other team is trying to do the same thing.  Better than Dan isn't good enough to get an A, that's grading on a serious curve.

[Satyr3206]

18 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

What exactly should Elias be doing to handle the MASN situation?  Should he be taking night school law classes to go inject himself into the legal process?  Should he be going on undercover missions to DC to try to get the Nats to give up their case?  This is an issue that has nothing to do with Elias' area of responsibility.  If it turns out in the O's favor and you give him a gold star for it, you're giving gold stars to the rooster for making the sun come up.

A Hurricane is an act of nature. You should know that. The MASN issue is man made. Any GM coming in would know that and find out how it should be addressed considering almost all of the legal options have been exhausted.

[Satyr3206]

18 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

What exactly should Elias be doing to handle the MASN situation?  Should he be taking night school law classes to go inject himself into the legal process?  Should he be going on undercover missions to DC to try to get the Nats to give up their case?  This is an issue that has nothing to do with Elias' area of responsibility.  If it turns out in the O's favor and you give him a gold star for it, you're giving gold stars to the rooster for making the sun come up.

That is the most ridiculous line of reasoning I have ever heard from you.

[sportsfan8703]

The Astros hired a GM from the Rays. I’m glad Elias never interviewed. 

[DrungoHazewood]

5 hours ago, Satyr3206 said:

A Hurricane is an act of nature. You should know that. The MASN issue is man made. Any GM coming in would know that and find out how it should be addressed considering almost all of the legal options have been exhausted.

I think you've missed the point that the MASN situation is completely being handled in the courts by the Orioles' and Angelos' legal team, and that the GM in charge of the baseball operations has nothing at all to do with that.  It's a totally different part of the organization.  It's like expecting a university's athletic director to fix a scandal in the English department.

[DrungoHazewood]

5 hours ago, Satyr3206 said:

That is the most ridiculous line of reasoning I have ever heard from you.

So tell me what you expect Elias to do to fix the MASN situation.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Is he?  We know he's trying to but is he going to be successful?  You don't think it's premature to give him credit for something that hasn't actually happened yet? 

Basically ever other team is trying to do the same thing.  Better than Dan isn't good enough to get an A, that's grading on a serious curve.

We do need to be careful that we don't get ahead of ourselves. It's nice that the organization isn't getting D's in so many areas, but we're just getting interims in the first marking period of the new school year.  Nobody's guaranteed any A's at the end of the year just yet.