Baltimore Orioles: Three Takeaways From Mike Elias Interview

We learned a lot on Thursday evening thanks to an interview with Baltimore Orioles general manager Mike Elias.

The offseason is officially upon us and while the Baltimore Orioles are expected to remain relatively quiet during the upcoming winter months, general manager Mike Elias and his staff have plenty to keep them occupied as they continue a long and extensive rebuild in the Charm City.

On Thursday evening, Elias joined MASN’s Jim Hunter and Roch Kubatko on 105.7 The Fan for about an hour to discuss a variety of topics from upcoming arbitration cases, to Rule 5 decisions, Trey Mancini, and plenty of other interesting topics as the offseason officially kicks off.

From reiterating how the organization will continue to focus on putting the infrastructure in place for long-term success (revamping the scouting department and international programs, putting together a staff of high-level personnel and minor league coaching staffs) to praising Brandon Hyde‘s first-year performance as a manager, Mike Elias, once again, did his best to inject a good bit of optimism into the minds of Orioles fans.

He also raised a few eyebrows with a few comments, or at least generated some discussion among fans. Maybe these were more about rumor/offseason activity starved fans reading way too much into an interview, but maybe not.

After sitting down and watching the Facebook stream, here are three of the bigger points raised by Elias and how they could impact the team in 2020.