What is your grade for Elias after his 4th year?

[Pickles]

I honestly think in the cumulative it's hard to give him anything other than an "A."

This team was in a historically bad position when he took over.

And within three years was competing for the playoffs, had the highest ranked farm system, and had a future as bright as any in baseball.

I think anyone on this board would have signed in blood in Nov. 18 for this franchise to be in the shape it is now.

[Frobby]

34 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

OP's question is grade for "everything he has done to date, all things considered." 

I didn’t interpret it that way, because the last line asked for a “year 4 grade.”  But in any event, I’ve answered the question both ways by now. 

[Orioles0615]

Solid B. Depending on how the offseason goes this could be downgraded or upgraded 

[Jim'sKid26]

45 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I agree with all that.  If I was grading everything Elias has done over 4 years to get the team to this point, I’d probably give a better grade than for 2022 alone, which is kind of ironic since 2022 was the year that the O’s shocked everyone by contending well into September.  

Man, you are a tough grader. I expect a very harsh assessment from SG, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.  

[Sports Guy]

Well an A grade basically means there is no room for improvement. 

It’s hard to see that he can’t improve on things, especially at the ML and Intl level.

[Number5]

Yeah, I think sometimes on these "how do you grade" questions, many of us tend to define an "A" grade as meaning "perfect."  To me, "A" means excellent, not necessarily perfect.  Some nits can always be picked, but it is truly hard to imagine anyone having performed appreciably better than Elias has in his time here.  He gets an A from me.

[emmett16]

Pretty crazy what a year can do.  This time last year it seemed like the hangout was collectively low on the Elias regime after 3 years on the job.  

[Jim'sKid26]

The other thing I will say is that he is doing it with a dumpster fire of an ownership group, two ongoing lawsuits and a COVID epidemic.  

[Aristotelian]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well an A grade basically means there is no room for improvement. 

It’s hard to see that he can’t improve on things, especially at the ML and Intl level.

Could anyone ever get an A?

[AnythingO's]

I rate him A-. Along the line of SG's comment about doing more in the off-season to be .500 in 2022, to me the more telling "read" is what he did at the trading deadline. He removed pieces that were key in the O's success to that point and stood pat. Even then he judged the team to be not ready to compete for the playoffs. Sure, in hindsight, those pieces under-performed after leaving, but you can't assume the same if they had stayed. We still don't know what kind of trader he will be, otherwise he would be an A+ for his work to date.

[Number5]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Well an A grade basically means there is no room for improvement. 

So it has been some 2000 years since anyone has deserved an A?

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Aristotelian said:

Could anyone ever get an A?

Sure.  The Astros are established in the Intl market and producing well.  Farm system has been good. mL team elite.  
 

Not everything is going to work but it’s all about getting something out of everything and being very successful.

Elias isn’t there yet and btw, that’s not a dig at him.  That’s partly because of what he walked into in some instances and what he has to work with ownership wise.

[emmett16]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well an A grade basically means there is no room for improvement. 

It’s hard to see that he can’t improve on things, especially at the ML and Intl level.

I think this is where I am which is why I went B+.  I wanted to give an A because of the historically bad situation he inherited, but at A  there isn’t any room for improvement.  I think we still haven’t seen this machine firing on all cylinders yet.  If Elias & Sig are still here after year 7 (which is when I have kind of penciled in the arrival of the International pipeline)  I think we will see what an A+ looks like.  By then I expect to have competed for a WS or two, signed a significant FA, made some significant trades, and witnessed success of Elias’ first Int star. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, emmett16 said:

I think this is where I am which is why I went B+.  I wanted to give an A because of the historically bad situation he inherited, but at A  there isn’t any room for improvement.  I think we still haven’t seen this machine firing on all cylinders yet.  If Elias & Sig are still here after year 7 (which is when I have kind of penciled in the arrival of the International pipeline)  I think we will see what an A+ looks like.  By then I expect to have competed for a WS or two, signed a significant FA, made some significant trades, and witnessed success of Elias’ first Int star. 

Right.  Again, it’s not a dig at Elias, it’s just more like he has more to do.

I’m looking at this grading in the overall scope of the job as a whole, not necessarily just on what he has done so far.

But even if I did look at it that way, I would still ding him down for how he approached the 2022 season.

[Moose Milligan]

Gonna give the 'ol B+/A- which would frustrate me to no end when I was in high school.  Except mine was more like D+/C- but whatever, you get my drift.