Author Archives: Domenic Vadala

Welcome to Birdland Crush! Yes folks, for the record it's a spin off of the popular summer beverage native to the Mid-Atlantic Region - "orange crush." Nevertheless, I've been covering Orioles' baseball since 2009 in some capacity, and it's basically the greatest gig of all time so far as I'm concerned! But for those who aren't familiar with my work or bio, I'm familiar with pretty much every sport out there. But baseball is king - we all know that. So my hope is that you come back and check in after every Orioles' game, and throughout the off-season. I'm always on duty!

Baltimore Orioles: Mike Elias introduced to local media

The Baltimore Orioles introduced Mike Elias as their new General Manager yesterday. As has been stated, Elias comes to Baltimore from the Houston Astros’ organization, where he was the Asst. General Manager. Elias will lay out the future course of the team as we move forward.

And as I said yesterday, it starts now. Elias’ first task will be to find a new manager for the Orioles, which one has to hope will happen soon. Elias told the media yesterday that John and Louis Angelos have given him full autonomy to make whatever decisions are necessary for the organization to build a winner (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

We had a lot of very extensive conversations throughout this process and we sat down and we talked a ton of baseball and we all came into those conversations with very specific plans and ideas and visions in mind for what this should look like, how we should go about these things. And we were on exactly the same page with what the approach should be. For me, that is something that is necessary for them to want to hire me for this position, but also for me to want to jump on board.

Presumably, that includes the decision of who manages the club moving forward, However it should be reassuring to Orioles fans to hear that the owners are on the same page as the man they’re tasking with doing the job. As I said yesterday, this is a moment that will be remembered by fans in the future – whe the O’s are either sinking or swimming. And again, it starts…now.

Baltimore Orioles: It starts today

Mike Elias’ tenure as the Baltimore Orioles’ General Manager begins in earnest today. He’ll be introduced to the media and fans at a press conference at 11 AM today at Camden Yards. And that’s today’s news!

Whatever happens in the next five or so years will tie back to today. Sink or swim. This is a new beginning for this franchise, which is building from the ground up. So remember this moment. The future starts now.

Baltimore Orioles will have a rate equilibrium moving forward

Moving into 2019 the Baltimore Orioles are going to have a rare moment of balance in a sense between the field and the front office. Mike Elias as we know is the new GM. And assuming that the Angelos brothers are to be believed (and there’s no reason to think they shouldn’t be at this point), he’s going to have full autonomy in hiring a manager.

And that’s how franchises should work. The owner hires the manager, who in turn hires the coach/manager. But last time around that isn’t really how it worked. Andy MacPhail did hire Buck Showalter, who Dan Duquette then inherited. And going backwards from there, MacPhail inherited his manager, and so forth going back.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Obviously Showalter had enough clout with ownership and his name spoke enough for itself to where Duquette had to know that Buck’s job was secure regardless of what he (Duquette) thought about him. But while there are situations where a new GM has inherited a manager and it’s worked out well, ideally a new GM is going to want his own guy running the team.

For the most part, that’s usually how it works. With a few exceptions most new coaches inherit bad teams. So lots of times the GM and head manager/coach in fact are coming in at the same time. That’s certainly the case with the Orioles. Whether or not things work out in the end is up to both parties, and of course the players.

Baltimore Orioles hire Mike Elias as their new GM

Not that it’s been any big mystery, but the Baltimore Orioles have formally hired Mike Elias as their new General Manager. Again, I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been out in the media for the better part of the second half of the week. Just covering my bases as a writer!

Elias of course comes to the Orioles from the Houston Astros’ organization, where he served as the Asst. General Manager. He’s 35 years old, and is a native of the region being from Northern Virginia. He’s been seen as an up-and-comer in the industry for some time. So now’s obviously his chance. He’s going to be the Orioles’ top guy.

The Orioles announced that Elias will have full autonomy to do what he needs to do in order to build a winner. The Orioles also said that he’ll be able to do what he needs to do to make the franchise relevant in the community. And I feel that’s a huge deal. The Orioles have long been imbedded in the Baltimore community and amongst their fans. It appears that isn’t going to change.

A press conference will be held to formally introduce Elias as the new General Manager on Monday at Camden Yards, at 11 AM EST.

Baltimore Orioles: Commissioner Rob Manfred extended

Baltimore Orioles’ ownership representatives John and Lou Angelos spent the week at the owners’ meetings. Obviously the big story is that they appear to have hired a new GM in Mike Elias. However the owners also voted to extend commissioner Rob Manfred for an additional five years in his current role.

This is noteworthy for the future of the game. And it’s something to which Orioles fans should pay attention perhaps more so than Elias’ hire. I can’t tell you that I’m against everything for which commissioner Manfred stands, because that’s inaccurate. But I do have serious questions regarding the direction of the game.

Preliminary indications seem to be that Manfred isn’t against radicle change in baseball. And there are a lot of radicle ideas out there, such as seven inning games, and starting extra innings with a runner in scoring position. The idea of ties has also been floated.

People seem to be very caught up in the pace-of-play, and Commissioner Manfred seems to get that. Speaking for myself, I might not be against implementing a pitch clock. At least more so than I would be seven inning games.

I suppose my point is that baseball is timeless. Sure it changes here and there – there are rule changes every year in every sport. But that doesn’t mean that changing part of the fabric of the game (such as nine innings) would be acceptable.

None of this is to say that any of that will happen. It’s just chatter. However it’ll be interesting to see what if anything Manfred decides to do with his newfound tenure.

Baltimore Orioles: Commissioner Rob Manfred extended

Baltimore Orioles’ ownership representatives John and Lou Angelos spent the week at the owners’ meetings. Obviously the big story is that they appear to have hired a new GM in Mike Elias. However the owners also voted to extend commissioner Rob Manfred for an additional five years in his current role.

This is noteworthy for the future of the game. And it’s something to which Orioles fans should pay attention perhaps more so than Elias’ hire. I can’t tell you that I’m against everything for which commissioner Manfred stands, because that’s inaccurate. But I do have serious questions regarding the direction of the game.

Preliminary indications seem to be that Manfred isn’t against radicle change in baseball. And there are a lot of radicle ideas out there, such as seven inning games, and starting extra innings with a runner in scoring position. The idea of ties has also been floated.

People seem to be very caught up in the pace-of-play, and Commissioner Manfred seems to get that. Speaking for myself, I might not be against implementing a pitch clock. At least more so than I would be seven inning games.

I suppose my point is that baseball is timeless. Sure it changes here and there – there are rule changes every year in every sport. But that doesn’t mean that changing part of the fabric of the game (such as nine innings) would be acceptable.

None of this is to say that any of that will happen. It’s just chatter. However it’ll be interesting to see what if anything Manfred decides to do with his newfound tenure.

Baltimore Orioles: Mike Elias to be named Birds’ GM

The Baltimore Orioles apparently have their new head man in the front office. Mike Elias, the Asst. General Manager in Houston, appears to be the choice, as first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The move isn’t yet official, but it’s happening.

Elias has a strong background in scouting, and has worked for several different organizations. If you’re going to poach front office talent from any organization, you may as well do it from one of the more recently successful ones in Houston. Elias has met with John and Lou Angelos on various occasions. The brothers are at the owners meetings currently, which could be why the team’s hesitating just a bit to make the move official.

This move could well represent a move towards a more analytical approach to the game, which was lacking in the recent past. Elias will of course hire the next manager, and it’ll be interesting to see if he finds that person in the Houston organization. Time will tell.

Baltimore Orioles: Mike Elias to be named Birds’ GM

The Baltimore Orioles apparently have their new head man in the front office. Mike Elias, the Asst. General Manager in Houston, appears to be the choice, as first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The move isn’t yet official, but it’s happening.

Elias has a strong background in scouting, and has worked for several different organizations. If you’re going to poach front office talent from any organization, you may as well do it from one of the more recently successful ones in Houston. Elias has met with John and Lou Angelos on various occasions. The brothers are at the owners meetings currently, which could be why the team’s hesitating just a bit to make the move official.

This move could well represent a move towards a more analytical approach to the game, which was lacking in the recent past. Elias will of course hire the next manager, and it’ll be interesting to see if he finds that person in the Houston organization. Time will tell.

Baltimore Orioles: What’s a reasonable win total in 2019? (updated)

The Baltimore Orioles had an historically bad record in 2018 – this much we know. The good news for whomever the next manager is will be that there’s nowhere to go but up. In theory. But when we look to next season, what’s a reasonable number of wins that we can or should expect from the 2019 Orioles.

First off it’s tough to predict that in November. Nobody can possibly know the answer to that before the roster is construed. However there a few tangible things that we can deduce. This season the Orioles had Alex Cobb and Andrew Cashner, neither of whom had much in the way of spring outings. Cashner signed a bit earlier than Cobb, so he actually got a spring start. Cobb didn’t, and went to extended spring training until mid-April before joining the Orioles.

Both of these pitchers struggled out of the gate in 2018. As time went on they corrected themselves, but of course they eventually produced quality starts that were losses because the bats couldn’t get untracked. But as time went on they slowly corrected themselves.

So I would submit that spring games and workouts are of supreme importance to pitchers (or to anyone). Thus regardless of the the makeup of the team, who the manager is, etc, those two will have a full slate of spring games and workouts next year. I suspect that’ll make for a smoother transition into the season, and hopefully a few more wins early.

The O’s also had some major injuries last year, such as Jonathan Schoop, Mark Trumbo, and Darren O’Day going down early. And if that wasn’t enough, one of O’Day’s replacements, Richard Bleier, was also done for the season early with an injury.

Trumbo and Bleier are obviously the only ones still on the team. But you have to assume that the injury bug perhaps won’t bite the Birds again in 2019. Furthermore does the law of averages not suggest that Chris Davis SHOULD be at least marginally better next year?!

Do all of these factors add up to a lot more wins? Probably not. But I do believe that when all’s said and done the 2019 Orioles will have more wins than the 2018 version did. But we can’t say for sure.

UPDATE (7:20 AM): USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported overnight that the Orioles are expected to hire Houston Asst. GM Mike Elias as their new General Manager. No word on a timeline, but that’s the word on the street. More as it comes!

Baltimore Orioles: Battle for Sarasota?

Yesterday I wrote about the Baltimore Orioles and their spring training experience. As I said, Ed Smith Stadium is second to none. It’s the best spring training experience in the league. And that’s a good thing for the Orioles for more than one reason.

In 2020 the Birds will begin sharing Sarasota with the Atlanta Braves. They’re building a new spring facility in the area, as 2019 will be their last year in their current facility in Orlando. How does that affect the O’s?

As I said yesterday, the Orioles have embraced Sarasota and Sarasota has embraced the Orioles since the partnership began. They’re very much embedded in the local community, and it’s very much a grass roots partnership. Local businesses purchase season tickets for Grapefruit League play, and local residents flock to games. Will Atlanta eat into that revenue?

The obvious answer is that the presence of another team in town will have an affect. But it’s up to the Orioles how big an effect it will have. They need to keep up their presence in the Sarasota community, and if anything step it up. If they’re able to do so, hopefully the community still stands behind them when the Braves come.

One thing that will change for the better will be the spring training schedule. With another team in the immediate market, the Orioles should be able to schedule easy road games in terms of their travel schedule. In 2020, that is.