Elias on MLB network 1230-ish

[Just Regular]

Non-MASN employees Harold Reynolds and Matt Vagersian doing the interview.

Elias handled them smoothly - points made.

Adley is good at baseball.     Grueling his label for the July decisions...calculated risks.     AL East is tough.     Pitchers in old Camden scared...smoothing of current dimensions anticipated in medium term.    Market feels fast, this much action historical in front of offseason.

Reynolds specifically praised time Elias took with kids at Combine last summer.     Elias liked its efficiency.

Reynolds asked SS/3B Gunnar specifically - "he can do both".     Cited 3B Urias SS Mateo both RH bats driving him bouncing back and forth.     Long-term big guy + Jackson Holliday tilt it 3B.

Grayson - Elias precise citing 5-pitch mix.

 

[justD]

Matt Vasgersian just cannot let go of the left field wall alteration.  It's so tired. 

Anyway, I included a transcript of the text on page 6 or 7 of the thread, because it took me a while to do it, but here's the full text of it for those who can't watch it. 

Quote

Mike Elias on MLB Network Hot Stove

Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds, December 7, 2022, Winter Meetings in San Diego

MV: Hey, congratulations to Mike Elias for a terrific year in Baltimore. Thanks for joining us, by the way.

[Greetings back and forth]

Amazing year you guys put together. I mean, we on the outside kinda looked at it as, hey, it kinda came together quicker than advertised. Did you guys feel the same way internally?

Elias: Yeah, I think I like to use the word, [like to say] it came together ‘organically.’ We entered the franchise at the end of 2018 when there really was nothing but problems: the major league team had lost 115 games; we were lacking a lot of the infrastructure around the organization and the departments that modern teams have; and needed more talent in the farm system.

And we just went about making decisions and moves in every angle to bring young talent in, to get the right people in the right spots across the organization, and Brandon Hyde was very focused on coaching up the players that we had for a few years.

And all of a sudden this year, that kind of young talent came together and had a winning season.

And now we’re in a position where the franchise is very healthy, and we see a window opening up for the next several years. And this is the first off-season where we’re really focused on hey, let’s get our playoff odds up for 2023 above all else.

HR: You know, Mike, that young talent is like, in your wheelhouse. You did that in Houston – you guys redid that whole thing. And then yesterday we had the draft lottery, and the importance of that first pick and being able to not miss. And obviously Adley was like your big pick at that time, when you ended up a few years ago having Adley Rutschman. How important was that, and how hard is it to zero in on that ‘right guy’?

Elias: It’s a really hard decision. I’ve been a part of a lot of number one picks, we haven’t gotten them all perfectly, but we’ve done pretty well overall. And this dates back to Houston, like you mentioned …

HR: Yeah, Correa and moving forward …

Elias: Right, you’re sitting here with that pick and you don’t have a crystal ball, and there are a lot of good players to choose from. Your mind goes to best-case scenarios, but also worst-case scenarios with every player. And it’s a lot of pressure for the team, and the scouting director, and the general manager, and the scouts that are entrusted with that pick.

So it was interesting seeing the first lottery last night. I was watching it. I’m glad we had the pick when Adley was the number one prospect, in 2019, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that easily.

MV: Hey, speaking of pressure, let’s go back to the trade deadline last year, when you guys were - in the race, quite frankly. You made the decision to peddle your closer elsewhere, you sold off or traded your longest asset, your longest-tenured bat and one of your big bats in Trey Mancini. And you guys stayed in the race despite those moves, which we don’t often see.

After we saw Felix Bautista pitch, we were like, ‘oh yeah, I get it, why they could trade their closer.’

But talk about the pressure, and the reaction that you got to those moves, back last year.

Elias: It was grueling. I mean, look, these jobs are not easy jobs. You’re put in a lot of tough spots. You have to make decisions that aren’t clear in one direction or another. I think as front offices, it’s part of our responsibility to see opportunities that come along in the marketplace and make calculated risks. We did that with those two trades.

I think that the results have been good, for the organization. We brought in a lot of young talent, as you said, we had players that we saw that could backfill, that could take the repetitions and opportunities.

And sometimes you have to do that stuff, especially when you’re a middle market team, to keep the organization healthy long term, even though there might be a little risk to the short term.

Credit to the team and to the players, they kept fighting – we were the last team to miss the playoffs, meaning we were the closest team to get into the playoffs that didn’t. A lot of that is our division, the American League East – it’s really daunting having to beat those four other organizations to get one of the playoff spots…

HR: Right, were you hoping Aaron Judge was going to San Francisco, to get him …

Elias: [Wide smile] Yeah, it would’ve been nice to get him out of the American League East, but yeah, we’re used to seeing him, so we’ll just keep living with it …

HR: Yeah, I’ll tell you what, you did find a way, though. Maybe the biggest move was to contain people by moving that fence back! You know, you had one of the most aesthetically pleasing ballparks in Baltimore, and everybody was like, ‘what are they doing?’ And it paid off! So tell us about the fence – the thinking going into it, and did you get the results you were hoping for?

Elias: Yeah, look. We were brought in to try to win and look at things from a fresh perspective. And the dimensions at Camden Yards, while beautiful, had been cozy and been a very dramatic home run park for, like, 30 years. You talk to the players – the pitchers who have pitched there, both young and old – they would tell you it wore on their psyche, they were scared to throw the ball over the plate. It’s not an easy recipe for success, being the type of market that Baltimore is, and not being able to attract pitchers on one-year, kinda bounce-back deals.

So we’re gonna be renovating Camden Yards over the next few years. I expect we may smooth out the dimensions that you see now. But the quickest and easiest way for us to improve this was to just take that left field, where most of the homers were going, and move it back.

HR: It saved something like 60 home runs this year! A crazy number.

Elias: All of our young pitchers popped. And we’ve been able to bring in a couple of guys on short-term, one-year, kinda value, bounce-back deals, like Kyle Gibson just a few days ago. But Jordan Lyles last year had a career year there.

So, we’ll see, but I think it was the right move.

MV: Yes, so for fans who haven’t had a chance to see it, or fans that haven’t had a chance to visit Camden Yards, this is what Kyle Gibson was promised when he signed with the Orioles. (Shows photo of what’s like a 150-ft wall) We took a little creative liberty here, Mike, but this might be what it feels like for a pitcher when you turn around and see what you did out there!

Elias: A confidence booster!

MV: For sure, right?

So give us your reactions to what else we’ve seen in the marketplace so far this year. Anything surprise you? Is this going according to what you might have expected? And I know you don’t make it a priority to comment on other teams’ business, but just in terms of the League in general?

Elias: Feels pretty fast, I mean, as Winter Meetings go (obviously when we have Winter Meetings, which we were taking for granted, but we missed a couple in a row now). There’s usually action, but to me, it’s usually a trade, then maybe four or five big signings. And gosh, if these reports are accurate, we’re probably over ten at this point, at least! So this is pretty historic in terms of this much action, in the very front of the offseason, on the free-agent front. I think maybe it speaks to the health of the league right now, so it’s good to see. It’s really nice to just have a normal off season of business, after the last two years.

HR: Yeah, it’s been tough.

You know, I became a big Mike Elias fan last year, we had The Combine here, and we had General Managers come in. And this guy stayed around for every event, whether we were in a room speaking to kids… You name it, he was there, he was involved. I want to thank you personally for that, because it means so much when the General Manager is there, and I appreciate that, for you.

The Combine – what did you get out of this, what did the Orioles learn, what did you learn?

Elias: Yeah, thanks, and I’m glad that people like you are helping build up this event, because this is something that’s been lacking in baseball that other sports have, that I think is a real value-add to the draft process from a team’s perspective. It’s just a way more efficient way of seeing a bunch of kids all at once, and helps promote the draft. So we still have a lot of work to do to build the event, but …

HR: Did you like having the rooms, everybody having their own suite where players could come and visit? Was that a big part? Did that help?

Elias: That part was fun. We had a workout out on the field, with BP and a lot of Skills, Infield/Outfield. And then I think the Strength & Conditioning part of it, just talking to our guys (we had our strength staff out here), this is something that you’re not always able to do before the draft, you know, get some measurables on guys and their athleticism.

So it’s really cool, and I’m glad Major League Baseball has thrown its weight behind the event, and we want it to keep building it.

HR: I know John deAngelo, Bill Francis, that whole crew did such a great job putting that Combine together and making the adjustments. But I do, I really appreciate you doing that …

MV: Mike, before you go, because we know how important drafting and developing your players is to what you’re trying to accomplish organizationally, and we have a board of some of your top prospects prepared here. I’ll ask you to grab one or two of them, and tell fans about what we’re going to see at the big-league level hopefully someday.

Elias: Well, first of all, I’ve been in a couple of rebuilds with Houston and the Orioles, and I’m very excited about our farm system. I mean, it’s basically the consensus number one …

HR: You’ve got some studs on that board, man …

Elias: It’s as good and as deep of a top-10 prospect list as I’ve been a part of in my career. So we couldn’t be more enthused about this whole group. And this is an area that we’re going to have excel in with the Baltimore Orioles, drafting and developing.

HR: Where do you see Gunnar Henderson – Third? Short? What’s the plan for him, do you know?

Elias: He can do both. And I mean, right now we’ve got Ramon Urias at third base, who won the Gold Glove last year. We have Jorge Mateo who’s a gold-glove caliber shortstop. They’re both right-handed. So I kinda see Gunnar, while he’s in the young part of his career, bouncing back and forth between short and third. That’s what he did in the minor leagues, he can do both. Look, I think that when you’re 6’4” 225, third base is a little easier? And long-term maybe he’s able to concentrate on that more, and we have Jackson Holliday coming up in the minor leagues, who we just took with the number one pick. So we’ll see but the fact that he can do both of those positions is huge for us.

HR: Can we put that board up again, because I want to ask you about Rodriguez, because he’s one of the top pitching prospects coming. Tell us a little bit about him.

Elias: Look, there’s really nothing I can say that’s negative about him. He’s 6’5”, he’s got 5 pitches and he locates them, he’s competitive as heck, he throws 98. It’s really the whole package.

HR: Will we see him in the big leagues this year, you think?

Elias: I think he might break camp in our rotation. I think that’s kinda our hope. He was very, very close to being called up last year and then strained his lat, right in the middle of the summer, right before we were kinda getting ready to make the transition to the majors. A very unfortunately timed injury for him and for us. But I think we want to give him every opportunity to break camp. Because he’s really checked off triple-A at this point, just needs to be healthy.

MV: There are so many fans that are now kinda re-engaged with the great brand of the Baltimore Orioles because of the work that you and your staff have done over the past few years. Congrats and best of luck this holiday season and the rest of the hot stove season. Way to go.

Elias: Thanks, nice to see you guys.

HR: I’m a fan, man, seriously.

 

 

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, justD said:

Matt Vasgersian just cannot let go of the left field wall.  It's so tired. 

Im so tired of Elias talking, yet saying nothing, and doing nothing what he says he is going to do.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

4 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Market feels fast, this much action historical in front of offseason.

[interloper]

16 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Im so tired of Elias talking, yet saying nothing, and doing nothing what he says he is going to do.

What did you want him to say in this type of setting? Announce a bunch of signings? Doesn't work like that. 

[Redskins Rick]

5 minutes ago, interloper said:

What did you want him to say in this type of setting? Announce a bunch of signings? Doesn't work like that. 

When you use words like blast off and we are going to have lift up, people expect to see activity.

 

[interloper]

Just now, Redskins Rick said:

When you use words like blast off and we are going to have lift up, people expect to see activity.

 

That's fine or whatever, but he's not going to say anything of note on an MLB network interview. No GM would. 

[Redskins Rick]

7 minutes ago, interloper said:

That's fine or whatever, but he's not going to say anything of note on an MLB network interview. No GM would. 

Thats okay, he said enough, looking for pitching on 1 year deals, is going to come up empty.

 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Thats okay, he said enough, looking for pitching on 1 year deals, is going to come up empty.

 

He's not going to get the #1-3 he said he was going to if that is the plan.

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

He's not going to get the #1-3 he said he was going to if that is the plan.

its pretty obvious that "his" plan of acquiring talent, is pretty hosed.

I think he is done for FAs and we can look forward to the rule V and the college draft.

 

[interloper]

5 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Thats okay, he said enough, looking for pitching on 1 year deals, is going to come up empty.

 

He actually said he has multi-year offers out to pitchers, but we already know you weren't actually paying attention. You just wanted to complain and get stuff wrong. 

[interloper]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

He's not going to get the #1-3 he said he was going to if that is the plan.

Someone else wasn't paying attention. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, interloper said:

Someone else wasn't paying attention. 

Was it you?

 

[Redskins Rick]

5 minutes ago, interloper said:

He actually said he has multi-year offers out to pitchers, but we already know you weren't actually paying attention. You just wanted to complain and get stuff wrong. 

Seriously.  Maybe, you need to start paying attention.

Quote

Orioles in agreement with veteran starting pitcher Kyle Gibson ...

https://www.baltimoresun.com › sports › orioles › bs-sp-o...

 

4 days ago — Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has cited the organization's difficulty in signing free-agent pitchers to one-year deals ...

 

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Was it you?

 

It was for sure.