After down '26 for O's, Elias aims to get club back on track: 'We're tired of it'

BALTIMORE -- Last Nov. 4, Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias sat at a dais inside the Camden Yards warehouse next to Craig Albernaz, who was introduced that day as the club’s new manager. There was excitement and optimism -- not only for the organization’s long-term outlook, but also for the present and short-term future.

The O’s believed a successful 2026 season was on the horizon after a disappointing ‘25.

Instead, Baltimore went 79-82 and missed the postseason for the second consecutive year. An up-and-down season featured more lows, especially as the Orioles made repeated attempts to climb out of an early hole and failed to do so.

That led to Monday, when Elias and Albernaz were again seated together on a dais, this time inside the press conference room at Camden Yards. And this time, they expressed disappointment, because the 2026 campaign did not go as planned.

“We want to be better results-wise, and results need to be better,” Elias said. “This is the second year in a row that they haven’t been there to this degree. And we’re tired of it.”

“Myself, the coaching staff, Mike as well, we always talk through each situation each day, things that we can do differently,” Albernaz added. “But as a bigger aspect of it, there is one word that keeps on coming up, each player I talk to, each coaching staff member. It’s the word execution. That’s the biggest thing. It’s executing.”

The Orioles are now entering a crucial offseason facing many questions. Where do they go from here? How do they get back on track? Can they capitalize on the prime years of their young core? And -- most importantly -- what needs to happen for Baltimore to not only return to the postseason, but to make a deep run through October?

In 2023 and ‘24, the O’s made consecutive playoff appearances, even winning the American League East in the former. But they haven’t won a postseason game since Game 3 of the 2014 AL Division Series.

The first order of business may be for Elias to add to his front office. There’s already been some change, and Elias is looking to add fresh external voices -- potentially even one to serve as a general manager underneath him in the club's hierarchy.

What type of executives is Elias looking to hire over the next few weeks/months?

“Well, the answer is ‘good people,’ and it’s case-by-case and it’s individually based, like every hiring is,” Elias said. “Baseball operations have been growing very, very rapidly over the last few years, just with the way the game’s evolving. And I think with our ownership group now, we have a good opportunity to sort of participate in that growth a little bit more than we’ve been doing. And there’s parts of our baseball operation that I think I could use some different voices and ideas in more than others.

“I don’t know that I want to get into it here on the stage, but you’ll probably be able to see as these hires come in where we’re looking for some impact.”

The Orioles’ ownership group, led by private equity billionaire/control person David Rubenstein, has been quite involved since purchasing the team in March 2024. And Elias said they’ll be part of the hiring process for front-office additions, including that potential GM.

“That’s something that I’m working on right now, and just in terms of overall staffing to the baseball ops department, however that’s going to shake out, I don’t know,” Elias said. “Can’t control every aspect of it, but they’re very involved.”

Baltimore still has building blocks in place. Pete Alonso, who signed a five-year, $155 million deal last offseason, became a team leader this year, while also pacing the AL in both home runs (43) and RBIs (113).

The O’s have a solid core that features shortstop Gunnar Henderson, infielders Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo, outfielder Colton Cowser, a quality starting rotation and more. Some of those players have underperformed at times, but there’s optimism they can fulfill their potential.

If that happens -- and if the offseason brings more complementary pieces to the roster -- the Orioles could quickly turn things around and be competing again in 2027.

“To the degree that they haven’t played as well as they have earlier in their Major League career, that’s part of the game. It’s really hard to stay on top of your game as a player. It’s really hard to stay healthy as a player nowadays, too, and they’re working on that and we’re working on how we can better support them in that regard,” Elias said. “Hopefully, all of us in the Orioles uniforms here do a better job with that and we get better results next year. But we’re going to keep working with these guys.”