Why did Orioles trade for Blaze Alexander? | MAILBAG

Question: I don’t understand the trade for Blaze Alexander. We are giving up Kade Strowd, who showed great promise last year, for a utility man. Ramón Urías is still a free agent. It seems to me we could have signed him for cheap instead of trading Strowd. What is your take on the trade? From: Don Critzman

Answer: Don, you were one of a number of readers who were puzzled by the trade. John Burbridge, Oscar Dutton and Scott Defoy all wanted to know.

I know the Orioles thought they needed a utility player. I don’t think they had real interest in Urías.

Strowd’s numbers were good, and one of the prospects they traded, Wellington Aracena, had a good stat line in the limited number of appearances he had, and the Orioles still need additional bullpen arms.

Mike Elias will be speaking with us this week, and I’m sure it’s a subject that will come up.

Question: Are the Orioles really serious about adding a general manager position under Elias? I don’t know why it would take so long. From: Timothy Morris

Answer: Timothy, I think it’s something Elias would like to do, but he was busy conducting a managerial search at the end of the season, and that’s the time when he’d also be looking for a general manager.

I’ve heard they had placed calls, so I think there was genuine interest, and once the managerial search was over, it was already too late in the offseason for a full GM search.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.