Elias: O's 'still fighting and playing for 2025' as Trade Deadline talks heat up

BALTIMORE -- Entering the 2025 season, few would have predicted the Orioles would become potential Trade Deadline sellers. But after it went 35-46 during the first half of the schedule, Baltimore is in a challenging position.

With that said, general manager Mike Elias isn’t ready to commit to being a seller quite yet.

“We’re still fighting and playing for 2025,” Elias told MLB.com prior to Saturday’s 11-3 loss to the Rays at Camden Yards. “This is a team that we had high hopes for. We can see the talent on the team, but [we] just stumbled badly out of the gates and dug a hole, and that’s still haunting us. I think we’re playing better and things are moving in the right direction, but there is a Deadline coming up, and we’re going to have to make a strategic decision around that sometime [within the next] month.

“I don’t have an exact day in mind, but we’ll use our tools and judgment to decide when that might be. But for now, we’re hoping to keep playing well, keep racking up wins, staying within an arm’s reach of the Wild Card race in the meantime, but we will have to make a reasonable determination at some point in the next several weeks.”

Here’s more of what Elias said during an interview that touched on the July 31 Trade Deadline, the O’s play under interim manager Tony Mansolino and more.

The Trade Deadline
While Elias wasn’t ready to commit to the Orioles’ Deadline strategy, he acknowledged how time is running out to do so. In the near future, he’ll need to decide what moves to make -- whether that’s adding, subtracting or somewhere in between.

“I don’t think we can wait until the very last day or two,” Elias said. “I think we need to have time to work on deals, and you don’t want to see the market activate too much, whether you’re buying or selling. I think it’s sooner than that.”

Baltimore sat seven games back of the third American League Wild Card berth heading into Saturday, needing to pass seven teams to get into that spot. FanGraphs had the O’s postseason odds at 3.6%.

“Look, I’ve got to look at the standings, and there are odds out there and we’ve got to look at those things. So unfortunately, we dug a hole, and those are stacked against us right now,” Elias said. “But there’s still time to keep trying, and we’re doing that right now.”

Mansolino’s performance
On May 17, Elias and the Orioles made the somewhat surprising decision to dismiss Brandon Hyde, who had been the club’s manager since 2019 and was the AL Manager of the Year in ‘23. At that point, the O’s were 15-28.

Since Mansolino was moved from third-base coach to interim manager, Baltimore is 20-18.

“It was a very sudden ask. It’s a tough assignment; there’s no way to prepare for it. It’s not something I don’t think anyone really wants to do,” Elias said. “But I’ve been impressed how quickly [Mansolino has] tapped into his experience in the game as a coach here, but also as a manager in the Minors. Kept the operation running smoothly, helped the team stabilize. I think the play has improved, and the players are fighting for him. It’s been, to me, a really impressive performance thus far in a tough situation.”

Will Mansolino be considered as a candidate for the managerial job long term?

“I think it’s too soon for me to talk publicly about what our approach is going to be for the permanent manager position,” Elias said. “I think if and when I do talk publicly about it, it will be after the Trade Deadline, after the Draft, more toward the late summer, fall, but I’m not there yet.”

Basallo’s timeline
In early June, the Orioles’ catching duo was Adley Rutschman and Maverick Handley. Now, both are on the injured list -- Rutschman has a left oblique strain that will sideline him until after the All-Star break, and Handley is on the seven-day concussion IL. That has left Gary Sánchez and Chadwick Tromp to handle the backstop duties.

Some may wonder why Baltimore has yet to recall catcher Samuel Basallo, the club’s No. 1 prospect (and MLB Pipeline’s No. 14 overall) who is one step away at Triple-A Norfolk despite being only 20 years old.

“We definitely talked about it and continue to,” Elias said. “I think, ultimately, he is so important that you don’t want to make a callup decision around a prospect that important because of an emergency if you can avoid it. So that’s where that landed.”

Basallo is knocking on the door, slashing .269/.392/.579 with eight doubles, 15 home runs and 35 RBIs through 52 games. However, he has caught only 18 games after dealing with multiple injuries (right elbow inflammation, left hamstring strain) earlier in the season.

“That’s a very small number, and that’s the biggest area of development for him,” Elias said. “He’s throwing well, the receiving is getting better, the game-calling. Handling a high level of games is something that you can’t replicate that experience, and ultimately, he’s going to be doing it in the American League East here pretty soon, so we just want to bake in as much experience as possible.

“He’s put himself in a great spot. Hopefully he stays healthy, and I hope that he’s part of the 2025 team.”