As the Orioles stumbled out of the gate to begin this season due in part to what seemed to be a poor offseason strategy by GM Mike Elias this past winter, a common question for debate was whether he might be on the hot seat to lose his job, or how much longer it might take before Elias would end up on the hot seat. On Thursday afternoon, a new piece of information entered that debate: Actually, Elias was secretly promoted this past offseason.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Brittany Ghiroli first
reported on the news that Elias was quietly bumped up to the title of President of Baseball Operations over this past offseason. The report was confirmed by members of the regular Orioles beat, including MLB.com’s Jake Rill. Elias’s title previously – and still publicly, since the team has not announced any change – was Executive Vice President and General Manager. Rosenthal and Ghiroli’s report added that there is a plan to have a new general manager hired under Elias.
This is not an uncommon way for teams to handle their front offices in recent years. What fans understand to be the general manager is really “the person who makes the decisions in baseball operations,” and teams have increasingly promoted that person to some kind of President title, as here with Elias. Someone who might otherwise have been an assistant general manager will then be named general manager. I’ll be curious whether this is an internal promotion. Eve Rosenbaum, currently an AGM, would seem to be the candidate in that case.
The new report about Elias’s promotion probably means that he’s got a lot more job security than any of his haters, dislikers, or skeptics might prefer. There was likely a contract extension for several years along with this quiet promotion. I haven’t been on the “fire Elias now” train, but I do think his job should be in real jeopardy if he screws up another offseason and the team misses the postseason again in 2026. Even being replaced after 2026 feels unlikely if he got the bump to President ahead of this year.
