LAS VEGAS—During Tuesday’s media session at the General Managers Meetings, the Orioles had two representatives — Mike Elias, the president of baseball operations, and general manager Jared Banner.
Banner, who came from the Chicago Cubs, was named to the GM position last month, and he’s getting to know Baltimore, and the Orioles.
“Amazing. I’ve gotten to meet some great co-workers,” Banner said. “It’s been great getting to know Alby [manager Craig Albernaz] and some of the other major league coaches. Our front office staff is really impressive. I’m learning a lot, excited to get going.”
Banner said the Orioles’ front office staff would be growing shortly.
“We’re working on some,” he said. “We can’t quite announce them yet.”
At his introductory press conference on October 27th, Banner said there might be tension between him and Elias when it came to decisions.
“It’s always fun getting to know someone new and creating that relationship,” Banner said. “Mike is giving me a lot of leeway right now to investigate the organization and get to know people and bring new ideas and concepts to him and the rest of the group. We’re talking about some of those things now, so we’ll see. We’ll see how it all goes.”
Because Banner was most recently with the Cubs, who play the Orioles just three games per season, and train in Arizona, he didn’t have much familiarity with his new team.
“I know all their names, and I obviously know their history, but I don’t know them individually, yet,” Banner said. “I’m looking forward to hopefully talking to them all in the next month to hopefully build a relationship. That’s going to be important, but that hasn’t started quite yet.”
If the lockout comes on December 1st, as expected, teams won’t be able to communicate directly with their major league players. Banner and Elias are trying not to guess what the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will look like.
“There are a lot of rumors swirling about how different things are going to be,” he said. “I’m not sure. I think we’re ready to read and react depend on how things shake out, but we’re ready for everything.”
Elias mentioned that some infielders have been told to be ready to play in the outfield next spring. Blaze Alexander already plays the outfield and infield, and it’s likely Coby Mayo will be tried in the outfield to keep his bat in the lineup.
“The first question is how good of an athlete he is, how easy is it for him to make adjustments, how comfortable is he being uncomfortable,” Banner said. “I think those are the main things that we look at.
“The key for us is we want to have a good defender on the field at every position and any way that we can create that ability, we will definitely investigate, but I’ve seen a lot of areas where a position change goes really smoothly. Other times, it doesn’t. Sometimes, it’s trial and error.”
Banner will oversee player development, and that’s another area he’s learning.
“I’m definitely getting in the weeds on that as I get to know the organization, as I get to know the staff,” he said. “At least early on in my tenure, I really need to be as granular as I can just so I can get to know the organization well.”
Banner will be helped by Mike Shildt, who’ll now be the organization’s director of on-field instruction.
“It’s definitely challenging, but it’s also fun,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for us to get better. We know we want to be a better team next year than we were this past season so we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that happens, and we’re currently investigating ways to do so.”
Banner and Elias are proceeding as if there’s going to be a Rule 5 draft, and the Orioles have until November 17th to protect what looks to be a large group of attractive players.
“It’s a great problem to have when you have a lot of talented players who need a spot on your 40-man,” he said. “I’m excited about that, and we’ll probably have some tough decisions to make. It’s a good thing.”
Notes: Orioles centerfielder Colton Cowser won the MLB Play of the Year Award for his game-saving catch on August 31st against Colorado. Pete Alonso was named first-team first baseman on the All-MLB Team. … Louis Varland of the Toronto Blue Jays was named the winner of the first American League Reliever of the Year. Cleveland’s Cade Smith finished second and former Oriole Bryan Baker finished third. I voted for Varland, Baker, Smith, Houston’s Josh Hader and Texas’ Jacob Latz.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: [email protected]