Four Things That Need To Happen Next in Orioles Rebuild

Let’s suspend disbelief for this exercise, shall we?

Let’s pretend that the Orioles don’t have feckless, private-equity obsessed owners who weren't drive by business decisions and were actually committed to winning. Let’s pretend they had the wherewithal to view their management team through a realistic prism, and that everyone in the organization was under review and would be held to account.

It’s shameful that I must posit those disclaimers, but that’s the state of Birdland as baseball czar Mike Elias heads toward what would be Year Nine of his perpetual rebuild. Elias never achieved anything close to the “liftoff” he promised in August 2024 with his first wave of top five draft picks. And after selling off Adley Rutschman and Tyler Wells for mostly teenage prospects, rebuild 2.0 is already underway even as they toil around the third Wild Card spot.

If this was a serious ownership group with serious ambitions about winning – hell, even quasi-serious about winning – actionable tasks pointing to the first two items on this list would be well underway (bringing in an outside consultant to review all baseball employees, starting an audit of a suspect medical team, sending an outward signal to fans that their deep concerns are warranted.

Things are bleak and some of these moves are major and all are warranted:

Fire Elias Now

Reasonably, it should have happened after the 2023 playoff debacle – coming off two straight horrible jobs with the in-season rosters of the 2022 and 2023 teams. He has almost no redeeming qualities as a baseball executive and runs a cynical and cowardly operation that refused to make changes or real adjustments. His best players have regressed massively, his deadline moves have made multiple teams actively worse and his managerial hires are brutal.

Owner David Rubenstein gave every indication he is perfectly fine with this charlatan in charge, and actually “really, really happy” with the job he’s doing. The fact he wasn't immediately fired after the deadline is another sign he’s fine.

Fire Craig Albernaz After Season

This is the least-equipped and most overwhelmed and most annoying managerial hire yet, which is astounding. He relishes in being a puppet to extremes that makes it impossible for any player to take him seriously. His staff has failed almost every player development question asked of it.

At some point the manager must have a pulpit and a real salary and a real resume if anything is ever going to change for the better in Baltimore. Someone has to walk the plank for this disaster. If they keep this mook in charge people should revolt. Alex Cora or Buck Showalter should be here in 2027 (among others).

Another year of Elias and Albernaz would be spitting in the face of their fanbase (and they’re probably quite capable of it).

Trade Gunnar Henderson This Winter

He’s never getting extended here. Even with a new skipper perhaps on the way, you have to ask if he’s going to get better here now in a slide well over a year in length. He is bad in the field and bad on base and has an OPS below .700 this season.

He also carries extreme worth still so young and with some huge production in the past. Dealing a player with this much value with two years of control always make the most sense for a smaller-market team that has failed to secure his services beyond that. He took Adley’s trade hard and, like many pillars of this failed rebuild, is probably very ready to move on to greener pastures.

His agent, Scott Boras, surely is and to see if another of his client’s, Jackson Holliday, could take over at shortstop. I suspect this gets addressed before Opening Day rather than at the deadline like with Rutschman. Plenty of people would do this exercise and say: "Sign Gunar!" And infer some bargain could be made. Boras is never doing a deal at this point in a players contract, especially not for this player with this team.

Promote Heston Kjerstad And/Or Enrique Bradfield Jr.

Again, suspending disbelief. But a real franchise would buy-out Tyler O’Neill and open up more room for other bats. Kjerstad not being dealt at the deadline was odd – but Elias is odd – and he’s smashed in AAA, so if not a look now, when?

Bradfield has an MLB glove and wheels. Colton Cowser was a hot name at the deadline and needs a change in the offseason. If nothing else as September callups, but at least one of these two getting a look would make sense.

We know Elias prefers prospects in theory than practice – and they would probably just rot on the bench like Coby Mayo is, but we can dream I guess.

Subscribe To "The Daily Flock" On YouTube For The Most Pointed Orioles Coverage:

Add us as a preferred source on Google