Elias’ comments at the GM Meetings sparked fresh hope that Baltimore is ready to act like a big spender. The fine print tells a more familiar story.
For years, the Baltimore Orioles’ spending habits have come with an invisible fence around them. They’d talk about being opportunistic, about valuing draft capital and long-term flexibility, and then sit out the part of free agency where the biggest checks and the biggest penalties live. That’s why Mike Elias publicly floating a willingness to forfeit a draft pick for the right free agent landed with such a thud in Birdland.