BALTIMORE -- Orioles general manager Mike Elias has always characterized their rebuild as a long-term, at times painful process. In his eyes, the team is exactly where it needs to be in that process.

“We knew this was going to be tough and take a while,” Elias said. "Now 2 1/2 years in … we’re very much on track with what we’re trying to do.”

Elias highlighted the organization’s successes over the course of a 20-minute press conference on Friday, addressing the state of the team hours before it extended its 16-game losing streak with a 3-0 defeat to the Braves. Opposite a completely dialed-in Max Fried, the Orioles were held to four hits, and Keegan Akin dropped his eighth consecutive decision. The Orioles have now lost each of Akin’s last 12 games (nine starts), and are 1-17 in games in which he’s pitched this year. 

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Elias’ comments also came one day after the Orioles’ farm system was again recognized positively, with Adley Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez crowned the game’s top pitching and position player prospects by MLB Pipeline. Those two highlight a system that’s grown by leaps and bounds with Elias at the helm, and is still improving. But at the big league level, the situation remains as dire as any point in Elias’ tenure.

"We end the game every night and everybody is upset,” said outfielder Austin Hays, whose diving play to rob Jorge Soler provided Friday’s defensive highlight. “There’s no music in the clubhouse. Everybody’s just mad because we’re losing games. It’s a very tough atmosphere, but I think we’re doing as good a job as you can do, coming in the next day with a positive mindset."

The O's current losing streak is the second-longest in franchise history, and the second of at least 14 games they’ve endured this season. They’ve lost all 16 by multiple runs, becoming the first team in the Modern Era to lose at least 15 straight by two or more runs. They finished play Friday with the worst record in baseball, worst run differential (-230) and with a 117-226 mark since Elias took over in November 2018.

“I’d hoped we would be able to avoid stretches of play like we’re in right now, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know it was a possibility,” Elias said. “The state of play right now, this losing streak, is not reflective of our large-picture goals that are very much on track in my assessment. We’re going to continue to grind through it.”

Added Elias: “As I assess where we're at in this project, we have a flexible landscape going forward with our Major League roster and our Major League finances, [and] we have a top-of-the-league type of farm system. All of that infrastructure is updated and up and running and performing, and allowing us to perform as we're going to need to operate as the type of franchise that we are in the division that we're in, and the type of market that we're in going forward. And we have several players on this team right now that are looking to us like young, special guys that are going to be part of a good team here.”

Asked if the Orioles were ready to shift their focus to free agency this offseason, Elias called it a possibility, but was noncommittal. The O’s did not sign a single free agent to a Major League contract last winter and haven’t signed one to a deal longer than one year in Elias’ tenure. Their Opening Day payroll fell from a projected $148 million in 2018 to $57 million this season, 4th lowest in baseball, per Cots Contracts.

“My objective and North Star through this whole thing is maximizing playoff odds for the Orioles over a long time horizon,” Elias said. “We have based our decisions on that [and] base our prioritization of investments with those goals in mind. When the time comes, when those are the best uses of our resources and efforts, possibly as soon as this offseason, we will ratchet up those investments with those strategic goals in mind. So when it makes sense to do that, we'll look at things and we'll do that.”