Poll: Grading Elias' Tenure Thus Far

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Greg Pappas said:

Do you honestly feel Elias is the one keeping Davis on board?

From the sun:

Quote

“Elias will oversee all baseball operations for the club and have full autonomy to build his staff and make decisions on all baseball matters that he believes will make the Orioles successful on the field, entertaining to fans, and impactful in the community,” the Orioles said in the hiring announcement.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-mike-elias-20181116-story.html

 

That is what we were explicitly told.

[maybenxtyr]

45 minutes ago, CallMeBrooksie said:

Perhaps they are still under your radar?

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.

[interloper]

This whole thread is bait and I refuse to participate. lol

[Moose Milligan]

I gave it a B, just initial reaction.  

Really, what's holding me back from an A is the handling of Davis.  I kinda get it, I mean maybe he wanted to see if he could get him back on track.  And that's fine.

But whatever they tried, it didn't yield results.  Davis just clogs the roster, no two ways about it.  And maybe Elias views it as "Well, he's terrible, but he's not TOTALLY hamstringing this roster until Mountcastle is ready, until we need to put Mancini at 1st base full time...until then, we'll keep seeing if we can turn him around."  While I disagree with that logic, I understand it.

I love everything else he's done.  

 

[Moose Milligan]

5 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

The one thing he's done that I have an issue with is not promoting Mountcastle in September in what appears to be a bid to manipulate his service time.

I think that when you look at a player like Mountcastle the possible benefits to his development outweigh the advantage of a potential seventh year of team control.

I'm not sure what you can expect from a development perspective from a handful of at bats in September.  Maybe it shows him what he needs to work on in the offseason but I doubt not bringing him up in September is going to stunt his growth.

 

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

I'm not sure what you can expect from a development perspective from a handful of at bats in September.  Maybe it shows him what he needs to work on in the offseason but I doubt not bringing him up in September is going to stunt his growth.

 

A month working with ML position coaches to get him more acclimated at both first and left field.  A chance to see ML pitching and maybe have a light bulb go off about his approach?

We all heard how useful Means' exposure to the majors in 2018 was.

Seems to me that's more valuable than the maybe nothing to be gained by gaming his clock.

[scOtt]

10 hours ago, Going Underground said:

But if the Orioles get good over the next few years,the Angelos Bros. would have to increase spending. Houston traded for very expensive pitchers over the last few years to be the final pieces in a championship caliber team.We shall see if the Orioles would be on board with a significant salary jump to get to the highest level. 

Yeah. That's why I gave them C/B. Incomplete gets an honorable mention. We have have to wait and see what's what. And yes Corn, Davis is a major concern. Not this year tho. HE truly is this year's 26th man.

[Moose Milligan]

17 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

A month working with ML position coaches to get him more acclimated at both first and left field.  A chance to see ML pitching and maybe have a light bulb go off about his approach?

We all heard how useful Means' exposure to the majors in 2018 was.

Seems to me that's more valuable than the maybe nothing to be gained by gaming his clock.

You're assuming that what's good for Means would have the same impact on Mountcastle.  Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't.  I see where you're coming from and don't necessarily disagree but at the same time Mountcastle is going to be in Baltimore.  While there'll be a learning curve for him, eventually he'll reach a point where he can hang or he can't.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

You're assuming that what's good for Means would have the same impact on Mountcastle.  Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't.  I see where you're coming from and don't necessarily disagree but at the same time Mountcastle is going to be in Baltimore.  While there'll be a learning curve for him, eventually he'll reach a point where he can hang or he can't.

I agree it might not.  I just think the chances that gaming his service time makes an appreciable difference is so low that it was the better choice to call him up.

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

It's kind of hard to grade Elias. Most of the work he has done has been behind the scenes. There's really no way for me to evaluate it. Everything he has said sounds good, but there's no way for us to be privy to what's going on internally.

As far as roster construction, I'll give him a C. He really hasn't done much. It seemed like Villar and Bundy were salary dumps, which isn't particularly inspiring. He inherited the 1st Overall Pick and took the best player. I could have done that.

I've also been disappointed with what he's given Hyde to work with. For pretty cheap, they could easily upgrade the roster and give Hyde the ability to actually manage a game. The bright spots on this team: Mancini, Hays, Mountcastle, DL Hall, GrayRod - they were all here before Elias got here.

So, really early to tell. But, so far, his only real positive has been the behind-the-scenes stuff and I'd kind of expect any GM to be able to take the stone-age Orioles into the present day.

[Moose Milligan]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I agree it might not.  I just think the chances that gaming his service time makes an appreciable difference is so low that it was the better choice to call him up.

You'd trade a month of his career on the front end for a year on the back end, closer to his prime?

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Mr. Chewbacca Jr. said:

It's kind of hard to grade Elias. Most of the work he has done has been behind the scenes. There's really no way for me to evaluate it. Everything he has said sounds good, but there's no way for us to be privy to what's going on internally.

As far as roster construction, I'll give him a C. He really hasn't done much. It seemed like Villar and Bundy were salary dumps, which isn't particularly inspiring. He inherited the 1st Overall Pick and took the best player. I could have done that.

I've also been disappointed with what he's given Hyde to work with. For pretty cheap, they could easily upgrade the roster and give Hyde the ability to actually manage a game. The bright spots on this team: Mancini, Hays, Mountcastle, DL Hall, GrayRod - they were all here before Elias got here.

So, really early to tell. But, so far, his only real positive has been the behind-the-scenes stuff and I'd kind of expect any GM to be able to take the stone-age Orioles into the present day.

i think this is a decent critique.  Especially pointing out that Mancini, Hays, Mountcastle, Hall, GrayRod all being here.

In regards to roster construction, we all know what's going on here.  Wins at the ML level aren't being prioritized which I, personally, am ok with.  We knew it was going to be ugly.  In regards to the draft, taking AR was a no brainer, for sure.  But the rest of the draft appeared to have a philosophy and a targeted effort behind it, too.  

IMO, he's done a fantastic job with the international program.  I am not sure if you're lumping that in with the behind the scenes stuff but the J2 signings this year were pretty much on front-street.  There wasn't anything behind the scenes about it.

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.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

You'd trade a month of his career on the front end for a year on the back end, closer to his prime?

Maybe.  If he's worth paying arb 4 money for.  If he isn't traded.  If the next CBA doesn't change things.  If he's still in baseball.  If he doesn't sign an extension.

A lot of the time you would just end up getting the extra month.

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Maybe.  If he's worth paying arb 4 money for.  If he isn't traded.  If the next CBA doesn't change things.  If he's still in baseball.  If he doesn't sign an extension.

A lot of the time you would just end up getting the extra month.

Fair enough, it makes sense.

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

i think this is a decent critique.  Especially pointing out that Mancini, Hays, Mountcastle, Hall, GrayRod all being here.

In regards to roster construction, we all know what's going on here.  Wins at the ML level aren't being prioritized which I, personally, am ok with.  We knew it was going to be ugly.  In regards to the draft, taking AR was a no brainer, for sure.  But the rest of the draft appeared to have a philosophy and a targeted effort behind it, too.  

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.