Mike Elias says he expects to still be running the Orioles in 2027. The bigger question is whether Baltimore should be planning on that.
The Orioles have already moved on from one major piece of their old structure. Last season, after the team stumbled to a 15-28 start, they fired longtime manager Brandon Hyde.
That kind of move usually comes with another, because when things keep going south, the next person to feel it is often the top baseball executive. In Baltimore, that person is Elias.
Elias has been in charge since November 2018, arriving from Houston after serving as GM under Jeff Luhnow from 2016 to 2018. He came in to oversee a rebuild after Dan Duquette’s departure, and by the basic measure of turning the franchise around, he did his job. It took five seasons for the Orioles to reach the playoffs, and he rebuilt the farm system and helped usher in a new core.
But the trouble started once the rebuild phase gave way to the harder part: sustaining success and adding the right major league pieces. Elias built well through the draft and player development, but his track record of bolstering the roster through free agency has been shakier.
The splashy Corbin Burnes trade helped, though it came at the cost of prospects Elias had developed. Baltimore got back to the playoffs in 2024 as a wild card team, then followed that with Tyler O'Neill as the big pickup the next offseason.
It was only last offseason that Elias finally landed a true headline free agent in Pete Alonso, and that may have come too late.
Elias was asked whether he sees himself as part of the Orioles’ long-term future, and he answered, "That’s my assumption." That’s the public line, and it makes sense for him to say it.
Still, the Orioles are no longer in the stage where a rebuild is the goal. They’ve already done that part.
What should have followed was a run of sustained contention, with the kind of adjustments that can carry a team deeper into October and maybe into the ALCS or the World Series. Instead, the team slipped back and even traded away Adley Rutschman, one of the central figures of the rebuild.
Elias rebuilt Baltimore into a playoff team. The question now is whether he’s the one who can take it any farther.
Gunnar Henderson has two years left of team control, and other key players are also running down their control years. That makes this the time for ownership to decide whether to keep pushing forward with Elias or find someone else to finish the climb.
In Other News...
Pete Alonso Is Chasing A Baltimore Milestone MLB Has Never Seen
Pete Alonso has been one of the most dangerous run producers in the game this season, and his latest push is putting him in position to reach a place no hitter has ever reached before. Now with the Orioles, Alonso leads the American League with 108 RBIs, a mark that trails only the kind of season-ending pace that has made him a fixture in the middle of a lineup built to score in bunches.
What makes the chase stand out from a Baltimore perspective is the broader history attached to it. Alonso already led the National League in RBIs in 2022 with the Mets, and if he finishes on top again he would become the first player in MLB history to lead both leagues in different seasons. He is also in the mix to lead both leagues in home runs after reaching 40 this year, giving the Orioles a late-season storyline that sits well beyond the usual box-score drama. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Wild Card Push Just Got A Brutal Late Twist
Steady rain washed out Tuesdays game against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards, pushing the Orioles into a split-admission doubleheader Wednesday at a point in the season when every game seems to carry postseason weight. Baltimore holds a two-game margin in the Wild Card race, so the lost night matters less as a standalone postponement than as another test of a schedule that has already been cramped by weather.
It is the fourth time this season the Orioles have been forced into a doubleheader because of a postponement, a grind that can ripple through a pitching staff and a lineup trying to stay fresh down the stretch. On the front office side, Baltimore also added Ty Holub as a senior analyst in domestic scouting, another move aimed at sharpening the organizations long view even as the present keeps demanding attention. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Now Have A Real Aron Estrada Roster Decision
Aron Estrada put himself on the map at Double-A Chesapeake this season, and not just as another name tucked into the Orioles farm system. The 21-year-old switch-hitting infielder hit .281/.325/.482 with 25 home runs over 128 games, enough to make him one of the more intriguing internal breakout stories in the organization as Baltimore continues sorting through its infield pipeline.
The next step is where things get interesting for the Orioles. Estrada is expected to open next season at Triple-A Norfolk, but he is also Rule 5 Draft eligible this offseason, which puts him firmly in the conversation for a spot on the 40-man roster. Baltimore now has to decide how much stock to put in a power spike that came during a broader surge in minor league offense, and how aggressively it wants to protect a player whose upside is starting to demand real attention. [Read more 🡒]