Jared Banner wasted little time showing he understands the tone in Baltimore and the job in front of him.
In his introductory media conference Tuesday, the new Orioles general manager mixed a few laughs with a straightforward acknowledgment of what he is walking into: a frustrated fan base, a tough stretch for the club and a front office that needs to be on the same page moving forward. When he was asked late in the session how he might lean on Orioles icons Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken Jr. as he evaluates the roster and settles into the organization, Banner delivered a line that landed with the room.
“First and foremost I made sure I hit Jim back right away … had to,’’ he said.
It was a playful reference to the recent back-and-forth between Palmer and manager Craig Albernaz, and it drew a solid laugh. But the bigger purpose of the day was to introduce Banner, explain why he wanted the job and clarify how he and president of baseball operations Mike Elias will divide responsibilities.
Banner began by laying out what appealed to him about Baltimore, pointing to the team’s history, its “iconic” ballpark, its “passionate” fan base and committed ownership. Then he shifted to the challenge.
“Most important of all, the organization is chock full of talent, top to bottom,’’ he said, “so it really made it a pretty easy decision for me. To the fans, I want you to know, I know you’re frustrated.
It’s been a rough couple of years. We’re frustrated, too, but you have our commitment.
We’re going to build a winner here in Baltimore. We’re going to build a team that Baltimore can be proud of.”
Elias said the two will work closely together, even as certain areas of baseball operations get split up. In his description, Banner will handle internal players, internal coaches, player performance and healthcare. Elias said he will focus more on scouting and acquisition, including pro, international and amateur scouting as well as contracts.
“By and large we’re going to be partnering on everything,’’ Elias said, “but there are certain aspects of baseball operations that we are going to split up and direct more exclusively between ourselves. So, our setup right now is that Jared will take over everything to do with our internal players, our internal coaches, player performance, healthcare. All of that is going to fall under his umbrella.
“I will then work more directly on the scouting and acquisition side of the equation - pro, international, amateur, contracts, things like that - but we will be running the whole team together and working in concert with one another. That’s sort of the general division of management duties.”
Elias also praised Banner’s experience across multiple organizations and said he is assigning him areas where “I think he is better than me in.”
Banner, for his part, said he would look to learn from successful clubs across the league, including the two medium-market teams that reached the World Series this year. He put that idea in his own bluntly humorous way.
“I think there are things to take away from all the clubs in the big leagues,’’ Banner said. “That’s one of the things I’m actually really good at is stealing other people’s ideas. So, if we see something that someone else is doing better than we’re doing, we’ll have no shame in taking that idea.”
The pair spent about a half-hour taking questions, but neither was ready to map out specific offseason moves, especially with a labor showdown potentially narrowing the window for business. The sport’s Basic Agreement expires on December 1st.
Banner called it “business as usual” for now, though he stopped short of predicting how long that would last. He also declined to get into details about next year’s coaching staff, but suggested the Orioles are not headed for a massive overhaul.
“We’re in the process of working through that,” Banner said. “We’re hoping for some continuity.
Things could change. Some of our staff members could get big opportunities someplace else and things like that, so we’ll see how things shake out, but we’re hoping for continuity.”
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