In Mike Elias’ view, two things can be true. The Orioles have disappointed for much of the second half, with a sub-.500 record since the All-Star break and an offense that has plummeted in production.
And the executive vice president and general manager can be confident — even insistent — that time remains for a turnaround.
“This ain’t over yet,” Elias said, “and we’re fighting every night, and I think we’ve got some fun in store for us if we can just keep the focus on a night-to-night basis, get some of these guys back healthy, get back people back to their approaches. And I think it’s starting to happen.”
There are only 12 games left entering Tuesday’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants, and the path to the postseason isn’t as straightforward as it once was. The Orioles have lost three straight series. Baltimore is looking more like a wild-card contender than a division winner, although a series against the New York Yankees later this month may well determine the American League East.
Elias readily accepts that the past few months haven’t gone according to plan. The Orioles enter Tuesday at 26-28 since July 19, and their .240 batting average in the second half is firmly middle of the road.
“This has been an unpleasant stretch here for the latter part of the summer and we’re all processing it individually,” Elias said. “But we’re ready to pull this together and I believe that we’re gonna. We’ve still got time to do so.”
In a wide-ranging press conference, Elias offered injury updates, acknowledged that the organization has lost some of its “mojo” and reinforced his trust in the coaching staff and players he assembled to fulfill their goals.
Losing like this is a first for many of these players
Ever since catcher Adley Rutschman arrived early in the 2022 season, a change came over the Orioles. The former No. 1 prospect was the first player drafted by Elias, and with his debut, a change from a rebuild to contention became reality.
The Orioles went more than a calendar year without suffering a sweep. They elevated in 2023 to a 101-win team before crashing out of the postseason. They entered 2024 with World Series aspirations.
Around Rutschman, other top prospects have filed in. These are players who haven’t experienced losing before — at least losing in front of the spotlight like they are now.
“This is the first time together, I think, that this group is experiencing this, and obviously there are circumstances outside of our control that are making it worse and perhaps causing a good deal of it,” Elias said. “But I do think this group, all of us individually within this group, are experiencing this kind of negativity as a winning team — as a team that up to a couple months ago was one of the best teams in all of baseball. This is hitting all of us together at once, and when that happens, all of us, I think, individually reflect on it and what could do better or could have done better or will do better going forward. How to improve our own personal processes and approach.”
Over the past few seasons, the Orioles have lost some of the veteran leaders who were charged with teaching young players the way of the majors. Infielder Rougned Odor, catcher Robinson Chirinos, right-handers Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles were all key voices in the clubhouse.
When asked whether there is a lack of veteran leadership and direction from coaches — and if that is playing a role in why the Orioles haven’t broken out of this — Elias said it starts with him.
“When we’ve gone through an unsuccessful few months, couple of months like this, a lot of it is stuff that’s out of people’s control, but obviously not everybody’s approaching their jobs, their execution, their own processes perfectly, and that starts with me,” Elias said. “I look at that, but it does not affect my belief in the people we’ve selected to play on this team, to coach this team, to do their jobs. They’ve proven their skill at that, up until very, very recently over a pretty long period of time. We all have to make adjustments in this league. It’s very competitive. The competition is always getting better. The competition is adjusting specifically to you, and we all need to self-modify and evolve to stay competitive in the major leagues, but that’s different than losing confidence in personnel or a group of people. I have extreme confidence in this group and these personnel.”
Who, then, is to blame?
For all the noise about the coaching staff, Elias directed the blame away from them. He said adjustments must be made, but this is the same group that helped elevate the Orioles to this level of expectation.
He also avoided blaming the downturn solely on injuries, despite how many there have been. Instead, Elias shifted responsibility to himself as the one who made the final decisions on roster construction and personnel decisions.
“I put the roster together. I put the staff together. I put the personnel together,” Elias said. “And results in this business, whether it’s this year or other years, it starts right here with me.”
Still, Elias is bullish in his belief that there is time and opportunity ahead of the Orioles for a turnaround.
“I think we’re gonna get right here before the season’s over,” Elias said. “I think we’re gonna make the playoffs and I think we’re gonna do really well in the playoffs. And so, I think this is something that this group is gonna get behind it, and the players that have been putting a lot of pressure on themselves to pick up the rest of the lineup, they’re gonna figure out the right approach and then we’re gonna get some guys back, and I think we’re gonna feel like ourselves again here before too late. And that’s our goal here the rest of the way. I believe in these guys, I believe in the staff.”
Injuries have tested roster depth
There is no doubting how large of a role injuries have played this season. Baltimore lost three starting pitchers — Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells — for the season. The bullpen has missed Danny Coulombe for a long stretch. The infield has taken a beating, with Jorge Mateo, Ramón Urías, Ryan Mountcastle and Jordan Westburg all out.
The infield injuries, especially, took Elias by surprise.
At the trade deadline, Elias focused on adding starting pitching rather than hitters. He traded for right-hander Zach Eflin and left-hander Trevor Rogers. Of course, the latter trade hasn’t worked out as well as the former, with infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers headed to the Miami Marlins for a pitcher laboring in Triple-A.
“It’s turned out here that’s not necessarily been the crisis we were expecting in the second half, and we’ve been paying for it,” Elias said.
The swath of infielders out has hurt more than the pitching injuries of late.
“The testing of our depth, and a lot of depth we’ve lost, is not something I anticipated in this degree in the second half on the position player side,” Elias said.
Updates on when players might return
Among all those injured players, several are nearing returns.
Westburg (fractured hand) hit batting practice on the field before the game Tuesday, and Elias said he expects Westburg to return before the end of the regular season. Urías is on a similar timeline; he ran on the field Tuesday, testing his sprained ankle, and Elias said he and Mountcastle are also in line to return ahead of the postseason. Urías and Mountcastle could appear soon for Triple-A Norfolk before that season finishes this weekend.
There’s less of a clear timeline for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who’s recovering from a mild shoulder strain. He is throwing bullpens, but timing is a challenge.
“Time and the calendar is not exactly our friend here with 12 games to go in the regular season,” Elias said. “So we’re just kind of doing everything that we can to keep it moving in the right direction on a day-by-day basis, and sort of see where we’re at in terms of the calendar and then also our scenarios and what we’re projected to be in postseason-wise.”
The possibility of Rodriguez pitching out of the bullpen would require less buildup time, but Elias was noncommittal on whether that was a possibility.
“A reliever takes less buildup for sure. But this kid is a starting pitcher,” Elias said. “And also, first and foremost, we’re going to be most interested in doing the right thing for his health and career.”
