Baltimore Orioles: Three Takeaways From Mike Elias Interview

What will the Baltimore Orioles do with Jonathan Villar?

It was widely assumed last season that Jonathan Villar would be traded by the trade deadline, but the deadline passed, no one offered Mike Elias a deal that made the organization better, and Villar stayed in the lineup, putting together one of the top offensive performances in the second half of the season for Baltimore.

Villar is now set to earn a raise in arbitration and has one more year on his contract. MLB Trade Rumors is projecting an increase in Villar’s salary from just less than $5 million to $10+ million in 2020. Is that salary too much for the Orioles to hang on to?

When asked about Villar on Thursday night, Mike Elias mentioned Villar’s stellar season and how he’s performing at his peak now at 28, with just one more year on his deal. “Whether he stays beyond that, I don’t know” said Elias. “Where we’re at as an organization, we have to entertain things with these guys and take the long term view of the club in mind.” “Money and budgets are a huge part of our business.” referring to the large group of arbitration-eligible players this offseason.

We know that Villar isn’t going to be a part of winning Orioles team, but non-tendering the one guy on the roster who steals bases at a high clip and led the way with a 4.0 fWAR season seems out of the question. After listening to Elias, it could now very well be an option.

While I’m sure Elias will work hard to find a deal and move Villar at what is likely to be his peak value, I find it very hard to believe he is non-tendered. Even at $10 million, you have to sign him, try to move him and if an offseason deal doesn’t come fruition, hope he has another good season and try again at next year’s deadline to salvage what you can.

Until a decision is made, this is sure to be on the bigger talking points of the offseason.

The Baltimore Orioles want to keep Trey Mancini around.

Like Villar, Trey Mancini’s name was often brought up in trade talks last season, but that talk seemed to slowly disappear as the trade deadline approached and the season came to a close. Elias spoke about Mancini on Thursday and his comments are likely to make many Baltimore Orioles fans pretty excited.

“I hope that he’s here. We love having him. I think he’s perfect for what we’re trying to do, the type of player and person we want. He’s great for this town.” That’s high praise for the 27-year-old outfielder/first baseman who is coming off a career year.

Elias did mention that he will listen if teams come calling for Mancini, but every team listens to offers on every player, even those they have no intention of moving. Mancini’s value is largely limited to American League teams and there aren’t very many organizations in dire need of a player like Mancini, at the moment.

Elias had a bit of a spark in his eye when talking about Mancini and his comments were clearly genuine observations about someone worthy of becoming the face of the Baltimore Orioles during this rebuild.

If fans are going to have to sit through another 100 loss season in 2020, we need someone to rally around and give us a reason to visit the ballpark. Trey Mancini is that guy. His 35 home runs, 38 doubles, 97 RBI, and .291/.364/.535 slash in 2019 makes it even easier to rally behind the former eighth-round pick out of Notre Dame.

The Baltimore Orioles will likely protect “four or five” guys from the Rule 5 draft.

I watched over 200 Baltimore Orioles minor league games last season (and still work through Aberdeen Ironbirds games when I have free time and there’s nothing on tv) and the one thing every broadcast team loved to talk about was the development of legitimate pitching prospects in the organization. No matter how many times you hear it, it never gets old hearing people glow over Orioles pitching prospects.

The same goes for Thursday night’s conversation with Elias. “We have some guys who look very special to me,” said Elias when talking about his pitching prospects. Most will flame out and never reach the big leagues, but there’s real potential that a Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer, DL Hall or another Top 30 arm develops into a valuable major league starter. Just saying that to myself brought a smile to my face.

Elias expects to see Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer in the majors this season and had particularly high praise for Akin, despite his high walk total. The first wave is coming and it should be a fun ride.

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However, the final big takeaway from this interview revolves around the Rule 5 draft. Elias expects to protect “four or five” prospects from the Rule 5 draft. The deadline to protect players is November 20th.

We discussed all of the Rule 5 options a few weeks ago and had four guys on our “locked” list. Akin, Kremer, Ryan Mountcastle and Cody Sedlock seem like the guaranteed picks. We just mentioned Akin and Kremer, Mountcastle is the reigning International League MVP, and Sedlock has become sort of the poster boy for how successful this new player development can be in Baltimore.

Other names to watch closely are outfielder Ryan McKenna and pitchers Gray Fenter and Steve Klimek. Klimek is a bit of a reach, but Fenter could legitimately become a major league bullpen piece down the road. McKenna was the hot prospect to talk about around the water cooler last year but went cold in Double-A this year. His elite speed may not be enough to protect him.

You can view the full interview here via Facebook. If you missed it, I highly encourage you to take a listen. Once you do, let us know your thoughts!