Elias on Orioles’ 12-18 record: ‘Really disappointing for all of us in the organization’

BALTIMORE—Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias is disappointed with how the 2025 season has begun. He acknowledges that he second-guesses himself but said there’s no second-guessing when it comes manager Brandon Hyde.

“Very confident in Brandon Hyde,” Elias said during a dugout news conference Friday at Camden Yards. “I think that you look at the job of a major league manager, and it would take me 45 minutes to talk about everything that goes into the job … but when things are going great, and they have at times here … and then when we’re experiencing failure, it’s really important in that job and in my job, too, to be consistent with your approach, and he’s doing that.”

Hyde was hired by Elias in December 2018. “He knows baseball really well,” Elias said. “He’s a good evaluator. He uses information at his disposal in a way that is intelligent, but also in a way that cares for his players. He’s a tough guy. This is wearing on both of us, but he’s handling it well.”

Elias began the briefing by talking about the 12-18 start.

“It’s been really disappointing for all of us in the organization,” he said. “It’s been very difficult, and we have not performed to expectations, so we all feel that. I feel that. I look at the team, look at things, and with the offense, the position-player group, I think we’ve had obviously a lot of health issues. We’ve had some guys individually with just literally tough luck on the balls that they’re hitting. And then we’ve got a lot of players and guys with long major league track records who just aren’t performing to their norms.

“So all those being the case, I’m really optimistic, and we’re optimistic, that we’re going to work out of that and things are going to get better. With the starting rotation, having injuries and also starting so poorly and putting us in a bad spot because of that, it is difficult to contend with that level of injuries. But even that aside, they’ve had a poor start and that’s my responsibility, and I’m in charge of baseball operations and when we have a bad record to start the year, that’s my responsibility.

“But we are all working very hard and we have a lot of faith in this very talented group, and piece by piece, step by step, we’re going to get guys healthier, we’re going to get guys performing more to their norms. If there’s something we can fix with a player, we’re working on that. And I’m very optimistic and confident that we have a lot better baseball ahead and we’re going to play the way that we should be this season.”

Elias said he does second-guess his offseason moves.

“I think this is my 18th year in Major League Baseball, a lot of that in scouting the draft, international scouting and then, this job,” he said. “I am constantly second-guessing, analyzing, looking at things that I’ve done, that I didn’t do, the way that I did them, the processes, the outcomes. I’m doing that all the time. It’s a big part of how I go about my career.”

Notes: Third baseman Ramón Urías, who ‘s been one of the team’s top performers this season, was scratched from Friday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals because of right hamstring tightness. Urías has been playing third base regularly for Jordan Westburg, who’s on the injured list because of a left hamstring strain. Emmanuel Rivera will start at third on Friday. … Elias said that starting pitcher Zach Eflin, who’s on the injured list with a right lat injury, and reliever Andrew Kittredge, who’s recovering from left knee surgery, are scheduled for rehab appearances at High-A Aberdeen on Sunday. … Elias thinks that starter Grayson Rodriguez, who’s on the 60-day injured list, will be a contributor at some point this season.  “He’s still healing. We got to let his lat heal and once that happens we’ll do some reimaging and that may happen in the next couple of weeks,” he said. “And if that looks OK, it’s possible that he’s throwing a baseball before the end of this month but then we’ve got a long way to go.”

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