'It's Very Painful': Orioles GM Mike Elias Discusses Team's 9-Game Losing Streak
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Orioles dropped their ninth straight game on Wednesday, falling 3-2 to the Minnesota Twins to close out their six-game road trip. The nine game skid is even worse in context when you consider that they've lost 13 of their last 14 and 16 of their last 18 since John Means' no hitter on May 5th. As difficult as it is to be an Orioles fan watching the team day in and day out, general manager Mike Elias feels that same pain.
"It's very painful. We follow this team as well on a night-in and night-out basis. We're living it," Elias said in response to a question from WJZ sports director Mark Viviano. "We understand the length of losing that this fanbase has gone through dating back to 2017 in a lot of ways. But we had a lot of systemic level work that has needed to be done."
"We're allowing young players the chance to play and stick in the major leagues," Elias continued. "And while the overall record and team performance has been very difficult during that time, we are seeing some rewards from that."
GM @MElias met w media today to address the O's struggles: 9 straight losses, L's in 16 of last 18 gms.
— Mark Viviano (@MarkWJZ) May 26, 2021
I asked him the importance & difficulty of keeping the fan base engaged in a long #rebuild process when the big league club is obviously overmatched. He feels your pain⚾️ @WJZ pic.twitter.com/BzNMOgqx2A
To Elias' point, the Orioles have fielded the fourth-youngest average age lineup in baseball this season. Those young players are continuing to learn the rhythm of every day play at the top level. Elias sympathizes with fans who are frustrated by the process but says that they are working to fix things.
"The way that baseball is and the way it's set up, it takes more than one season or two seasons and especially in the division that we're in," Elias said. "There's some length to that process. We've been here for two drafts, one of them was only five rounds, but we're seeing those players graduate up through the minor leagues. Soon the international players will start to join them. There's a lot to look forward to. We're doing things the right way and doing them in a way that will set us up for a long time so that, hopefully we can be amongst those organizations that are able to avoid going through processes like this."