The Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde on May 17, but plenty of questions still remain for a team in the midst of a nightmare season. How much synergy existed between Hyde and GM Mike Elias? Does owner David Rubenstein need to take on a bigger role? When will the Orioles hire a new full-time manager? ESPN baseball reporters Tim Kurkjian and Buster Olney broke it all down on Glenn Clark Radio recently.
Elias didn’t talk to the local media about why the club fired Hyde until May 20, four days after the manager’s dismissal. That raised many eyebrows across baseball.
Tim Kurkjian: I am still just a little surprised he didn’t address this immediately as the general manager of the team. When the manager is fired, the general manager has to be the first guy there in front of the media, in front of a microphone, in front of a camera. You have to do it for the media and for the organization, but you have to do it for the fans also. You have to explain to people why Brandon Hyde was fired. It was a little disappointing that that didn’t happen, but now it’s Mike Elias’ job to turn this around and turn it around quickly.
Buster Olney: People with other teams are commenting on it. They are shocked that he [did] not make himself available to the media other than putting out that statement. From my own perspective of covering the sport for a long time, I don’t know how you build a culture of accountability within your organization if the guy at the top of the food chain doesn’t stand up and answer questions. Think about every day if you’re covering a major league team. When I covered Cal Ripken back in the ’90s, if he made an error that cost the Orioles the game, he’d be in front of his locker after the game. That’s the expectation.
How much freedom did Hyde really have in terms of how players were deployed under his watch? Elias runs an extremely analytically-inclined operation, which is evidenced in big-picture decisions like the draft and in daily decisions like how aggressively the club chases the platoon advantage. While managers will never have the power they once did, Kurkjian and Olney still say a balance must be struck.
Tim Kurkjian: That’s the way it has to work in every organization in my mind. It has to be a 50-50 split between the eyes and ears of our manager, coaches, instructors, scouts and all the data that you get, which is an enormous amount. If you go too far one way or another, it probably isn’t going to work out. The relationship between the manager and the general manager is absolutely critical, especially now. When I used to cover the Orioles, it was Tom Giordano, it was Hank Peters and it was Earl Weaver. They ran the team, those three guys. Now we have 40 guys who are running the team. The point is when Chris Young hired Bruce Bochy to manage the Rangers a couple of years ago, he told him we will give you all the help you need with advanced metrics and everything else, but in the end, we’re going to trust you to make out the lineup and you’re going to manage the team and you’re going to manage the game. To me, that’s still the best way it has to work.
Buster Olney: I think it’s incredibly important for a manager to have some independence from the front office because they’re boots on the ground. They’re the ones communicating with the players, trying to sell things. I remember having a conversation once with Terry Francona when he was managing the Guardians. Cleveland’s front office is perceived to be very steeped in analytics. Tito’s response to me when I asked about this was, “These guys are really great with me. They’ll bring things to me and I’ll say, ‘Give me a couple weeks, I have to get the player prepared, I need to be able to talk to them about the situation.'” The front office would defer to Tito. … You want it to be collaborative, and I think it’s cancerous if there’s a perception in your clubhouse from the players that the manager’s powerless and that he’s essentially just a talking piece for the general manager. That is incredibly dangerous.
Was Elias given too much freedom by Rubenstein after the latter took over as owner just before the 2024 season? The payroll rose significantly from 2024 to 2025, but Elias mostly opted to continue his strategy of turning down the risk associated with multi-year deals. The club has gotten nothing out of offseason acquisitions other than Ramón Laureano and Tomoyuki Sugano.
Buster Olney: That is David Rubenstein’s job, to check on him. I had this conversation with folks with other teams after Brandon Hyde was let go about how each person has their job, right? They work in concert in that regard. I don’t know this 100 percent sure, but I know it 99 percent sure. Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, advised against the Yankees signing Aaron Judge to more than an eight-year, $320 million deal. That was Brian being in a position where he has to be responsible for the Yankees’ payroll. That’s his professional advice. It’s Hal Steinbrenner’s role to come in and say, “Brian, I hear you. You know what, we’re going the extra year because I’m the caretaker of the franchise.”
That’s what Jim Crane did in Houston when Mike was down there. They had done a great job developing this core of talent. Jeff Luhnow, their general manager, didn’t want to make the Justin Verlander trade at the price it was going to be. Jim Crane stepped in and said, “Nope, now’s the time.” The Cubs, when they did their tanking, they reached a position where they needed a starting pitcher. They went out and spent $155 million on Jon Lester because that was the time. That’s what David needs to learn to do, to go to Mike and say, “Mike, I hear you. You feel like you can figure this out with a bunch of one-year signings, but you know what, there are other guys out in the marketplace. Let’s go be aggressive.” I’ve heard that Orioles ownership was willing to spend more money during the wintertime, but Mike had a plan. He’s had success, so they deferred to him and here we are.
There are now questions about the future of Elias, who was hired by the previous ownership group. In the meantime, Elias must prepare for the 2025 MLB Draft and July 31 trade deadline. Is hiring a new full-time manager on his to-do list as well? Or will that wait until the offseason, when Rubenstein could opt to start fresh in baseball operations?
Tim Kurkjian: Now we have to see what Mike Elias is going to do. What manager is he going to name full time and when is he going to do that? And more important, what’s he going to do with this roster? Look, I don’t see them making the playoffs being 16 [games under .500] and being outscored 84 runs already. It’s hard to see that, but there is still a really good core of players here. I think he has to add from here, but he has to add in order to get back to a serious contender next year, meaning you don’t just go trade for somebody who’s at the end of a contract who’s going to help you get to .500 this year and still not make the playoffs. You have to go get somebody — several people, perhaps — who’s going to help you win next year. That is an enormous challenge to find that … when the competition is going to be pretty fierce as we get closer to the trade deadline.
For more from Kurkjian, listen to the full interview here:
For more from Olney, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles