A few months ago, in the aftermath of unpopular-with-fans trade deadline activity that saw the Orioles ship off fan favorite hitter Trey Mancini and then-blooming closer Jorge López, general manager Mike Elias addressed assembled O’s media during a trip to Texas and proclaimed, among other things, “I think it’s liftoff from here for this team.”
This was an eyebrow-raising statement for me because it’s so much different than the kind of thing that Elias had been saying up until then. His first few years around here usually featured comments from him that talked up the building of his favorite phrase, “the elite talent pipeline,” and completely deflected or side-stepped any question that might have been aimed at eliciting an answer about when the Orioles might be good or even decent again.