Diner Question: What should Elias’ priorities be?

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• Ha, what an open ended question be this!

  Well, from the sounds of all the departures, he's pretty much tasked with rebuilding this organization from the ground up. Obviously a manager and coaching staff are top priorities, along with rebuilding the scouting department. The rule 5 draft at next month's Winter meetings will likely play a large part in constructing next year's roster, so getting a handle on that. It wouldn't surprise me to see the O's draft some players from the Houston organization over the many rounds of the major and minor league portions of the draft. O's can work on filling out their roster through February, as the last few seasons have shown that there are decent bargains to be had late in the offseason. Lastly, I'll throw out there that reaching out to Adam Jones and seeing if you can get him to agree to come back to Baltimore for the rest of his career *should* be a priority. It won't be, but that'd be a mistake in my book.

  • With a new general manager, maybe it could happen, creatively.

• Excellant question. Getting his analytical team,scouting,are a priority BUT a solid assistant he feels comfortable with and a manager and his coaches sit atop the list. Getting the Angelos Sons to make a public appearance at his press conference could be quite a challenge for him--only kidding.

• Top priority? Let's start with concentrating on evaluating the young players that are already in place, and then implementing a system that will consistently add talent to the minor league system on an annual basis. In short, let's figure out how to fix or build up the scouting department.

• The Birds need to become the envy of Major League Baseball when it comes to identifying and grooming top-line pitchers. Period.

• After the obvious priority of getting a manager, coaching staff & assistant GM I don't think there's any question that the top priority should be fixing the player development aspect of the organization. We need a complete overhaul. That is the foundation for everything else. I really can't think of anything that COULD be done until that foundation is built. We've had all these high ceiling guys who never panned out because of terrible player development. Draft picks and minor league trades will be absolutely useless until we modernize our player development.

• After securing a GM and manager, he needs to make an honest and thorough assessment of our MiLB system. Of our Top-30 per MLB Pipeline:

  18 were drafted by O's
  5 were O's 1st Round picks (Mountcastle, Hall, Rodriguez, Harvey, Stewart)
  1 was an international FA signed by O's (Alex Wells)
  11 were obtained in 2018 trades
  1 was signed from another organization (Luis Gonzalez)

  The organization needs to do better with player development.

• While revamping player development is definitely a must for the organization, I'd counter that it's a long term project and not something that is a top priority. I think that you can't really address player development until you build the rest of the system up first. Hiring a coaching staff, scouting, analytics, and getting the right players into the farm system all needs to happen before you can properly develop players.

• First priority? How about being sure he has a job? Getting ownership to make public anything they do would be a great start. This is the most opaque organization since Stasi. Any other team would love getting media buzz during the week instead of waiting until a weekend in the heart of football season.

• First: Hire Elias!
  Then: hire Sig Mejdal ! WOWSA

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sig_Mejdal

• As simple as this sounds I think his first priority should be to come up with a solid long-term plan and hire all the best people. I don't really know anything about this guy besides what I have read, but just his age alone and the team he is coming from says a lot. I think he will be a great hire IF he clos allowed to do what he wants

• John and Lou Angelos and I, grew up like Robbie, Chip and Ernie. Or maybe Greg, Peter and Bobby. Here is what I hope my brothers and Elias would have agreed on:

  1. Build and maintain a world class scouting and player development program. Mine other teams; hire the best in these important roles. Give them the resources to succeed.

  2. Resolve the Chris Davis quagmire. Buy out of the contract. Negotiate a solution. Get the smart attorneys together with his smart attorneys. There has to be a win-win here, even if it means parting with millions and millions for nothing.

  3. Make sound baseball decisions without regard to the fan base, the media, the court of public opinion. This should guide the manager selection too.

  • Mark, Chris Davis is owed $110 million by the Orioles, and I expect him to receive all of it.

    Please don’t compare this business with your business. That way out is to release him. His smart attorney is Scott Boras, and he’s not negotiating less than the full amount unless Davis retires.

• I believe the first priority is to hire staff that can support and implement his vision.

• I’m sure by now he has a grip on who’s running the show. If it is him great. If the Angelos family have last say on anything he should not have taken the job. What’s his title? Is it the same as DD. If so go back to Houston. If he is the real and only GM he would need an assistant and manager before the upcoming winter meetings. Coaches can be chosen later. I think he’s already schooled on what players are available through FA and probably knows the rule five guys, since Houston has learned to be on top of things. Somewhere along the line he needs to put a time table on his rebuild. I said his rebuild.

• I hope the Angelos,s stay out of the setting up an organization that will produce a winner. Why? In my 35 years of management in a very large company I had a great
  Deal of experience in dealing with Lawyers...I do not believe they are experienced
  In management ...only to deal with the legal issues not the management issues.
  What will happen with Anderson? He did not produce or say anything that helped .
  Get rid of Davis by buying him out without paying his big $$$.
  Take Bordick as Manager.

  • Jacobs, as I've explained many times, Chris Davis' contract is guaranteed. If the Orioles release him, they owe him $110 million. The only way he doesn't get paid in full is if he walks away. Buyouts for less than the full contract can only occur if the player initiates it, and that's not happening.

• 1. Hire a Manager that you see eye to eye with and also that Manager should have a proven track record of winning.

  2. Review your Scouting & Player Development departments and make changes where necessary. The O's will be enjoying high draft picks for the foreseeable future and we must HIT on as many of those picks as possible.

• Top three priorities are bringing in talent, talent, and more talent. Need to bring in the front office/scouting talent that can properly evaluate and project the baseball abilities of players. Need to consistently improve the player talent at all levels through drafting, player developments, smart trades, and strategic signings. And need to bring in clubhouse talent that maximize the potential talent of the players.

• Nothing new here that others haven't already mentioned, but I think the focus should be on Scouting & Player Development. Look, if things break perfectly the Orioles are 3+ years away from being competitive, so I'd like to see Mike Elias draft some kids out of High School and get more involved in the International Market. This would allow the team to go "slow-and-steady" in turning this mess around.

• 1. Continue the housecleaning.
  2. Hire competent teachers.
  3. Build the analytics team.
  4. Convince the fans and owners that a plan is in place
  5. Be bold, stay ahead of the curve.

• Rich...
  We have lawyers..so I would refuse to pay Davis the contract..I would claim the
  Contract was based on a performance..One that he failed to maintain.. I would
  Claim that his performance was based on failure to maintain and update his skills
  Therefore we cancel the existing contract and buy him out for $5 million.
  Let him sue and go to court and take case to jury in Baltimore.

• Rich...I fully understand your point of view re David but if I were one of the Angelos
  Who are lawyers I would take the position that the contract was based on the performance of the individual and due to his lack of maintaining or improving
  He is not worth the $$$$..thatwe will pay him a buy out based on his performance.
  Bring this matter up locally with a jury and I believe we would win vs Davis.
  It may be a try but for the $$$ and the fact the owners are lawyers I would do it
  If for no reason to acknowledge that the O's made a big error.