AL East: A mid-term front office assessment of all five teams
By Bill Felber
5. Baltimore Orioles front office -3.5
The Orioles entered 2022 as clearly the division’s worst team by consensus. That gave Elias plenty of room to work, if little talent to work with.
Through the first half of the season, he’s made transactions involving 30 major league players. As might be expected given the team’s talent base, about half of those transactions – 16 to be precise – returned negative impact on the Orioles. Only eight were positive, the other six were neutral. The next impact of everything Elias has done to date amounts to -3.5 games.
For better or worse, here are the five most impactful.
March 12: Elias signed starter Jordan Lyles to a two-year, $17 million contract. So far the deal is a bust. Lyle’s 15 starts have produced a 4-7 record and 4.94 ERA that equates to -1.0 WAA.
Nov. 24: When Cincinnati put reliever Cionel Perez on waivers, Elias staked a claim. That move has worked out well for Baltimore. In 29 appearances encompassing 24 innings, Perez has a 4-1 record and 1.14 ERA with a save and +0.9 WAA. Given their light workloads, reliever profiles can change as quickly as you can say six-run inning, but thus far the Perez deal has been a quiet success.
April 10: Rookie reliever Felix Bautista made the opening day roster and has pitched 30 innings with a 1.50 ERA. That adds up to +0.8 WAA for Elias.
Nov. 30: When the Yankees released Rougned Odor in mid-November, Elias signed him on the cheap; the veteran middle infielder, with two years to go on a multi-year deal he had signed with Texas, came to Baltimore for the major league minimum. Whether he’s been worth that is debatable. Odor is hitting .198 with a .638 OPA and has generated -0.8 WAA to the Orioles.
Next. 3 players the Orioles should trade at the deadline. dark
March 15: Chris Owings was one of those players left without a team when the lockout was called. At the first post-lockout opportunity, he signed with Baltimore. But Owings managed only six hits in 68 plate appearances — a -0.7 WAA — before being released in mid-June. He has since caught on with the Yankees but has not been activated.