Connolly: Q&A with Mike Elias

[HowAboutThat]

12 hours ago, atomic said:

That is just an excuse. 

Of course it’s an excuse, but it’s also true. Excuses are reasons, and are often entirely valid.

 Someone once said, of General Motors, that it was so big that it could be run completely incompetently for 30 years before anybody would notice. Well, actually, that is exactly what happened. As soon as somebody noticed, and changes began to occur, it was immediately obvious that it would take almost as long to rebuild the company, as it did to ruin the company. If you are faulting Mike for not doing what you want him to do, well, with respect, he knows more than you do. If you’re faulting him for slow progress, well, slow and steady wins the race.

I don’t think anybody should have downvoted your Comment, but I do get the feeling that you’re being a little bit hard on Mike. I would be interested in what you would have done differently than Mike throughout this process, which remember has only been about 15 months.

[HowAboutThat]

PS, for everybody interested, remember that no matter how bad Mike is he is an improvement on Dan. Even the people who were most enthusiastic about Dan cannot deny that Mike is running the ship much more wisely.

[Frobby]

39 minutes ago, Philip said:

PS, for everybody interested, remember that no matter how bad Mike is he is an improvement on Dan. Even the people who were most enthusiastic about Dan cannot deny that Mike is running the ship much more wisely.

I feel that way, but I'll wait until Mike has some playoff appearances to show for it before pronouncing that judgment.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

I don’t think anybody should have downvoted your Comment, but I do get the feeling that you’re being a little bit hard on Mike. I would be interested in what you would have done differently than Mike throughout this process, which remember has only been about 15 months.

That's easy: maximize current wins while doing all the stuff Elias is saying he's doing (and explicitly showing the fans all the behind the scenes stuff so we can be more confident he's not a snake oil salesman) and add 50% more for good measure.  In other words, top five farm system, top five analytical staff, and never dipping below 75-80 wins at any time between 2019-2021.

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

2 hours ago, Philip said:

PS, for everybody interested, remember that no matter how bad Mike is he is an improvement on Dan. Even the people who were most enthusiastic about Dan cannot deny that Mike is running the ship much more wisely.

I don't think we can say that until Elias's tenure brings more playoff success than DD's. I really don't understand the Duquette-hate.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Chewbacca Jr. said:

I don't think we can say that until Elias's tenure brings more playoff success than DD's. I really don't understand the Duquette-hate.

Mike doesn't have the same boss as Dan did.  Not really fair to compare the two.

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Mike doesn't have the same boss as Dan did.  Not really fair to compare the two.

Elias also doesn't have to deal with Buck and Brady being all Rasputin-like behind his back.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Chewbacca Jr. said:

Elias also doesn't have to deal with Buck and Brady being all Rasputin-like behind his back.

But Dempsey is still around!

[HowAboutThat]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I feel that way, but I'll wait until Mike has some playoff appearances to show for it before pronouncing that judgment.

Whether Dan more credit for success or blame for failure is an open question.

the only thing that really matters now is that it will not be an open question with Mike.

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, Mr. Chewbacca Jr. said:

 I really don't understand the Duquette-hate.

The people who are extra glad that Dan is gone have ample reason to feel as they do.

[24fps]

6 hours ago, Philip said:

PS, for everybody interested, remember that no matter how bad Mike is he is an improvement on Dan. Even the people who were most enthusiastic about Dan cannot deny that Mike is running the ship much more wisely.

Dan reporting to PA vs. Elias reporting to the sons will always be apples to oranges.  We're all expecting a better long-term outcome now that the Orioles have entered the 21st century.

[HowAboutThat]

8 minutes ago, 24fps said:

Dan reporting to PA vs. Elias reporting to the sons will always be apples to oranges.  We're all expecting a better long-term outcome now that the Orioles have entered the 21st century.

That is correct and that is a huge reason for joy 

[DrungoHazewood]

14 hours ago, 24fps said:

Dan reporting to PA vs. Elias reporting to the sons will always be apples to oranges.  We're all expecting a better long-term outcome now that the Orioles have entered the 21st century.

Elias probably wouldn't be here if Peter was still in charge.  He would have interviewed, and Angelos would have said no to the rebuild, no to international investments, no to a real analytics department, and Elias would have turned it down.  Just like the first 3-4 candidates did in 2011.

[Going Underground]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Elias probably wouldn't be here if Peter was still in charge.  He would have interviewed, and Angelos would have said no to the rebuild, no to international investments, no to a real analytics department, and Elias would have turned it down.  Just like the first 3-4 candidates did in 2011.

No way you can compare the two.Orioles had 14 consecutive losing seasons before Dan got here.No way the Orioles would have let Elias tear down the team for something like 20  consecutive losing seasons.Fans would have lost total interest. The tear down would not have happened if the Orioles did not have a few years or winning, no matter who was in charge.

[hoosiers]

17 hours ago, 24fps said:

Dan reporting to PA vs. Elias reporting to the sons will always be apples to oranges.  We're all expecting a better long-term outcome now that the Orioles have entered the 21st century.

This is true, but Dan said we would win when he got here and made moves to win.  And we did win, right away thanks to the talent on hand and some spectacularly successful moves.

It would be an entirely different discussion if AM had remained one more year or if Elias were in charge of that team and DID NOT TRY TO WIN in 2012.  We probably would have kept Machado in the minors, had a top 10 first round pick in the 2012 draft and perhaps could have made more investments internationally (Dan did hire FredF and later had some bigger $ signings between $300k and $750k).  I wonder if we had gone through two more years of investments before trying to win if we would have had a better run in 2014-2018 and perhaps laid important groundwork internationally how things would have been different - especially given the awful trades and free agent signings (other than Cruz) made by Dan after 2012.