Mike Elias' admission might be the beginning of the end of his Baltimore tenure

The Baltimore Orioles officially introduced new GM Jared Banner in a press conference on October 27, and some rather interesting quotes came out of the event. Banner and President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias sat at the podium and answered questions from reporters, and one quote from Elias truly stood out.

When talking about Banner's responsibilities, Elias gave a breakdown of what he will be focused on. Elias said, "Our setup right now is that Jared will take over everything to do with our internal players, our internal coaches, player development, performance, healthcare, all of that is going to fall under his umbrella". Elias went on to say that he will now "work more directly on the scouting and acquisition side of the equation: pro, international, amateur, contracts, things like that".

Elias did say that they are going to work together on everything, but they'll each have their own specialties. The most interesting quote of all might have been when Elias admitted, "I think he’s better than I am in those areas".

Did Mike Elias just admit he isn't fit to be running the Orioles?

It's very interesting for the President of Baseball Operations to admit, first, that he is passing off the duties of internal growth and development, and second, that he isn't as good as his new hire at those things. The President of Baseball Ops should be good at every aspect of running a team, and shouldn't have to pass off all of those duties just to focus on bringing new players in.  

No team would want their top baseball official publicly admitting that they aren't good at internal growth and that they've hired someone else to figure those things out for them. His admission is something that Birdland may have already known.

The Orioles have struggled to develop the players they've drafted and turn them into stars since Elias took over. While they've had a handful of players become household names, they have also had high draft picks not become everyday regulars and struggle mightily once they reached the big leagues. If Mike Elias is admitting that he isn't good at internal growth and development, then why has he been running the team for so long?

If Banner succeeds in turning around the developmental side of the Orioles, there needs to be real questions about Mike Elias' future at the top of the organization. The top executive needs to be able to do everything, or they aren't ready. Mike Elias may have just started his downfall with one quote.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow