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How much impact will Jared Banner make? Key takeaways of presser · Birdland Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's time for another edition of Birdland Territory.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Today we're going to talk about the Jared Banner-Mike Elias
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: press conference of earlier this week. And the new guy
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: is here, the new Orioles general manager to work with,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: president of baseball operations Mike Elias, 18 years he has
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: in baseball operations with the Red Sox and the Mets
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: and most recently the Cubs where he was their assistant
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: general manager.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Since 2024, worked with them since 2020.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: So guys, we have a lot of clips to play
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: and we'll sort of go back and forth with some
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: clips and our thoughts and reacting and talking about this presser.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Let's get it going here right away and start with
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Mike Elias talking about Jared Banner and what led Elias
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: and the Orioles to hire him.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: We are so pleased now that we've landed on Jared
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: for this opportunity and this position. Jared has had a
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: great career and I think he's really in the prime
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: of his career and we're getting him at a time
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: when he's really well prepared for this and ready to
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: grow and make a huge impact on our franchise in
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: this tremendously important position for us. He's been on successful teams.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: He's held all kinds of different roles. He's led multiple
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: departments and he's got a great reputation and we have
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: a lot of mutual connections that we've worked together that
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: recommend him very highly for this. So Once we talked
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: to Jared, it was very clear to me that this
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: was the best fit for us for this tremendously important
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: general manager position.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: I thought he made a good first impression. 40 years old,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a lot of experience. As Elias said, he's on the
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: way up in his career. They're getting him at the
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: prime of his career. He's got a lot to offer
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and he is ready to to bring different thoughts. That
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: was very clear in this presser. What were your guys'
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: first blush thoughts of how he handled it?
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought he did a good job.
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: I just think the fact that he kept reiterating, and yeah,
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: he didn't elaborate on a lot of stuff he wants
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: to implement and bring in, which is, I think, understandable
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: because if you say certain things right away, and then
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: you actually see underneath the hood of the car and
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: you're like, man, I actually can't put those things into
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: practice here, but I thought he just did a good
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: job of reiterating that he wants to win and winning
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: is the most important thing and forget everything else.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: The ownership's on board, the front.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: Office is on board, and he's on board to win
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: the most games as possible for the Orioles fans. And
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: I just like that he kept kind of bringing it
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: back to that point. And I thought too that, you know,
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: the fact that he said that he's going to come
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: ruffle some feathers, he's not afraid of some confrontation. And
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: I just think I think when you get new ideas
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: and you get new people in the fold, I think
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: that's what you want to do. You want to challenge
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: some of the ideals that you've set forth in the
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: organization and have an outsider kind of come in and
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: kind of give his opinions on what he thinks can help.
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: He's been involved with some successful organizations. He's seen the
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: Red Sox and the Cubs do some really good things.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: And I think the fact that he was willing to
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: come to a kind of a smaller market team says
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: a lot about what he wants to do with this
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: Orioles organization.
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I remember when we did our episode following the
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: end-of-season press conference, and the one clip from Mike that
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: stuck out to me the most from that entire press
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: conference was him mentioning that they're 29th out of the
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: 30 teams in terms of manpower, person power, if you will,
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: of the baseball ops department, and he wanted to add.
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: And obviously, GM was the biggest opening available, and Mike
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: made it clear he's not done adding, and Of course,
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: Jared Banner is going to be a part of that process.
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: But it's one thing to just add people for the
• 3:56
  Speaker 6: sake of adding people. You needed to add from the
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: outside that this couldn't be, you know, friends of Mike
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: or friends along the way. The front office, I think,
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: got very insular and it needed some new ideas.
• 4:12
  Speaker 7: And Mike Elias admitted as much.
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: And Jared Banner, he sounds very confident and motivated personally.
• 4:20
  Speaker 7: To write this ship.
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: And he even said it himself, Hey, Mike and I
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: are going to have some uncomfortable conversations.
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: You know, because you have to do.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: Something different, you know, the definition of insanity, doing the
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: I think Jared banner is coming in and there that's
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: the beginning of them kind of changing philosophy, changing way, uh, uh,
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: ways in how they operate.
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  Speaker 7: And I think it's needed.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: So a good first impression with a lot of work
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: to do. The proof will be in the pudding. The
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: proof will be in the one loss record. So how
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: do these two men at the top of the Orioles
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: baseball operations chain divide the league?
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: By and large, we're going to be partnering on everything.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: But there are certain aspects of baseball operations that we
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: are going to split up and direct more exclusively between ourselves.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: So our setup right now is that Jared will take
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: over everything to do with our internal players, our internal coaches,
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: player development, performance, health care. All of that is going
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: to fall under his umbrella. I will then work more
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: directly on the scouting and acquisition side of the equation, pro, international, amateur, contracts,
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: things like that. but we will be running the whole
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: team together and working a concert with one another. But
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: that's sort of the general division of management duties.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: So it is somewhat clear cut there. I mean, on
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the one hand, they're helping with everything.
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  Speaker 2: There's not, you know, we're talking about signings, Jared, come
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: back in an hour when we get on to player development.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: It's not exactly like that, but yet, there is some
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: specific roles in which each man will head up. Do
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: you like how they did that?
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: I actually really liked it. I thought this was the
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: most important thing that they said in the press conference.
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: For me personally, just kind of hearing that Mike was
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: going to really handle the acquisitions and the player signings
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: and the draft. And I think that's somewhere where Mike
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: has really excelled with this organization. He took it from
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: a team that just had trouble– developing players, getting them
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: to the big leagues, having enough talent to win divisions
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: and get to the playoffs. But he proved that he
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: can do that. And I just think where he kind
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: of struggled was having development inside the organization once they
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: got to the AAA and the big league level. And
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: I think him saying Jared's going to actually take over
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: that part of it. I think that's phenomenal. And I
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: think that that is going to take a lot off
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: of Mike's plate. And then Jared's going to really step
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: in there and get to put his ideals in there.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: And then I just think it's a good idea to
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: have those two things separated from each other because.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: It's a lot.
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: There's a lot on a GM's plate. And I don't
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: think I actually realized it even until this press conference
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: when Mike was.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: Kind of putting all that out there.
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  Speaker 5: And you're like, man, having to go out there and
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: try to find players, do the signings, do the draft,
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: and then be involved in the day-to-day operations of the
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: roster makeup and the player development in the minor leagues.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: There's just so much that is out there that I
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: think making these clear separations are really going to help
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: the organization as a whole and kind of put both
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: of their strengths, Mike and Jared's, out in the forefront
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  Speaker 5: and really just kind of help this team win more
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: games and get these players to develop better at the
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: big league level.
• 7:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's a good point, Brad, and Mike
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: did do a great job of kind of outlining that
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: in terms of this president of baseball ops and GM
• 8:01
  Speaker 6: tandem that we're seeing. I think Mike said 16 teams
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: utilize that power structure now.
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  Speaker 7: This is a relatively new thing.
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  Speaker 6: The past 10 years, 15 years, I think Mike was saying,
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  Speaker 6: and you know, there's so much on the plate of
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: a general manager, at least under the old structure where Mike,
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: he has a scouting background like that. That is more
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: his lane, you know, growing up and getting to the
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: position that he got to when he came to Baltimore
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: in 2019. So being able to focus more in that area,
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: delegate some more of the day to day. And then
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: in terms of working with the coaching staff, because Mike,
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: Jared Banner said that he is going to work very
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: closely with Craig Albernaz.
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: I think it's the prudent move. I think it absolutely
• 8:49
  Speaker 7: is the prudent move.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: And another thing that was kind of maybe lost in
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: the shuffle there, but he did mention health care falls
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: under Jared Banner. And we're not talking about co-pays here
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: or what's your health insurance carrier. We're talking about keeping
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: the players healthy and on the field. which I think
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: we all know was a huge issue for the Orioles
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: for the last two years. So, um, what impact he
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: can have there, what thoughts he can have there, I
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: think will be pretty important because the Orioles were one
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: of the most injury prone teams.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: The last two years.
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  Speaker 2: What if for whatever, you know, they got to get
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: to the bottom of that somehow a couple of years
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: ago was the opposite. They were near the top of
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: the league and fewest games lost injury. And now not so. So, um,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see. Now, we heard a lot
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: from Jerry Banner, and let's hear from Banner now. He
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: talked about what led him to the office.
• 9:45
  Speaker 8: I had a really good job in Chicago. It was
• 9:48
  Speaker 8: a role I was not looking to leave. But when
• 9:53
  Speaker 8: Mike came to me about potentially partnering to build a
• 9:56
  Speaker 8: perennial contender here in Baltimore.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: It really changed. me excited.
• 10:02
  Speaker 8: Then I sat down with Katie and with ownership, and
• 10:05
  Speaker 8: that's when I started to realize, whoa, hold on, this
• 10:07
  Speaker 8: is a special place. Baltimore is it. This is the
• 10:11
  Speaker 8: place that me and my family need to be. Story franchise,
• 10:15
  Speaker 8: iconic ballpark, passionate fan base. Owners should care and want
• 10:20
  Speaker 8: to win. And most important of all, the organization's chock
• 10:25
  Speaker 8: full of talent, top to bottom. So it really made
• 10:28
  Speaker 8: it a pretty easy decision for me. So to the fans,
• 10:32
  Speaker 8: I want you to know, I know you're frustrated. It's
• 10:35
  Speaker 8: been a rough couple of years. We're frustrated too. But
• 10:38
  Speaker 8: you have our commitment. We're going to build a winner
• 10:40
  Speaker 8: here in Baltimore. We're going to build a team that
• 10:43
  Speaker 8: Baltimore can be proud of.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: So that's probably the comment that'll play the best with
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: a fan base, a guy immediately recognized the history of
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: the Orioles. And I'll be honest and say one or
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: two scouts I talked to in the early portion of
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: the offseason expressed concern about the quality of candidate pool
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: the Orioles would get for this role with a team
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: that's trending down and thinking, does someone want to join
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: this ship that's headed not in the rough waters here?
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: And so someone did, and someone with a very good
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: resume and a very good reputation in the game And
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: then when he got here, he said, this is why
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I wanted to be here. And I think he pointed
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: out things that we can lose sight of sometimes when
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: we start thinking about 75 and 79 wins.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely.
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: I think the fact that he came right out and
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: said that Chicago was a job he didn't want to leave.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: And the fact that he chose Baltimore to go to
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: says a lot.
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: And I think, you know, just kind of all the
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: stuff he said is going to resonate with the fans.
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: That is, it's a historical team in the ballpark. And
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: just the fan base being passionate. And I just think
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: I don't know. Like I said, I know it's an
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: initial press conference. You're going to want to say all
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: the right things, but I just, I could just kind
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: of feel it when he was saying it there that
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: he really does want to have a winner for the,
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: for the franchise and for the fans. And I just
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: think that Baltimore is a special place. And I think
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: he's just getting an early taste of it, but like
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: playing there, the five years I did, you just, you
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: start to realize how special a town and city Baltimore
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: is when you get to play there. And I think
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: his appreciation for the fan base is, and for the
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: organization is only going to get stronger. So the fact
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: that he's able to realize that right away, I think
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: is only going to help him as he moves along
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: with this job, just kind of understand the importance of
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: what the Orioles mean to the city and the fan base.
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: Yes, Steve, it's funny you bring up, you know, what
• 12:33
  Speaker 6: those scouts said, because I think that was kind of
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: my concern too, because it's, it's a tenuous spot because
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: if things don't go well in 2027, what could happen
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: at that point? But if you take a step back
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: and let's just say there was a job opening, you know,
• 12:53
  Speaker 6: in Baltimore for president of baseball ops. Let's just say
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: Mike Elias was not here. I think this is a
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: very attractive job. I really do for everything that Jared
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: Banner was saying.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: This is a much different spot than Mike Elias came
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: into in 2019 where you're building it from the studs.
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: There's infrastructure here at this point. This isn't a team
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: that is completely bereft of talent. This isn't a farm
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: system that is near the bottom in the farm system rankings.
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: It's quite the opposite at this point.
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: Is there plenty of work that needs to be done
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: this offseason to get them back to what they want
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: to be doing, and that's playing games in October?
• 13:35
  Speaker 7: Absolutely. But this isn't a teardown. This isn't a complete overhaul.
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: Not even close.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: The other point I would like to make, people keep wondering,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: you know, is Mike Elias going to let him make decisions?
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Is Mike Elias going to let him do things?
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: With his resume, Jared Banner doesn't take this job if
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: he thinks he's walking into a situation where every time
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: he throws out something, Elias swats it away and says,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I got this figured out. And why hire someone to
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: such a prominent role if one guy is going to
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: still make every call? I just don't think that's– I
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: think Mike Elias, fans will scream at me for saying this,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: is open to this new guy, open to new ideas,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: realizes he took him so far, and maybe he doesn't
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: have every answer.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: And it's okay.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: A lot of us don't have every answer in our jobs.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: So I do think these two men will work well together.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Where the proof is going to be a year or
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: two from now. We can't– we can project it now.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: But I do think that's the feeling I got from that.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and also, too, I would say being the assistant
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: GM of the Cubs, if you thought he was basically going.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: To have the second role.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: Here with the Orioles, why would you leave the Cubs
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: to come to the Orioles unless you thought it was
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: either going to be more responsibility on his plate or
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: a better situation or a situation that has a chance
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: to breed a winner? Because if you're the second in
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: charge basically over with the Cubs– and you think you're
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: going to be the second in charge with the Orioles,
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: why would you kind of make a parallel move to
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: an organization that doesn't really seem to be in the
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: same spot or have the same resources as the Chicago Cubs?
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: So to me, that, that says it kind of right
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: there in itself, like, yes, it's a, it's a higher
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: title on paper, but if it wasn't going to be, um,
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: you know, if he, if he still was going to
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: be second in charge and have to take answers for
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: everything from somebody else, then why would he not just
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: stay in Chicago where, you know, you just have more
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: resources in there and it's, uh, It's kind of a,
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: they've been to the playoffs and the team is kind
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: of right there and you have the best player in baseball.
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: So to me, it just kind of all those things
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: point to Baltimore is a good situation and he would
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: not have left the Cubs otherwise.
• 15:44
  Speaker 7: And it's kind of funny.
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: I'm just kind of thinking out loud while you're talking, Brad.
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: Banner's sort of in an interesting spot because we know
• 15:53
  Speaker 6: that the fan base, there's plenty of vitriol going Mike
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: Elias's way. But if the Orioles turn it around in
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: 2027 and, and they make the playoffs, and they're doing
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: things differently, I think a lot of the fan base
• 16:08
  Speaker 6: and perception will be like, man, Jared Banner.
• 16:10
  Speaker 7: Was the missing piece.
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: This guy comes in, and he was able to help
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: turn it around. So in a way, I don't want
• 16:17
  Speaker 6: to say it's a win-win situation for Jared Banner because
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: it's not that cut and dry, but there is certainly
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: the potential if they get back going in the right
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: direction that, who knows, maybe Jared Banner in a few
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: years could get another promotion somewhere else.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Tim, I had the same thought you had.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: I was reading somebody's story, and then they wrote it
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: this way. They wrote that if the Orioles now win
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: next year, Mike Elias will get all the praise.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I thought, really? They just brought in this guy to
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: bring new ideas and new thoughts, and then they win?
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: People are going to connect the dots and say these
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: new ideas and new thoughts had something to do with it.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: And if they do, that's great.
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: At the end of the day, who cares?
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: You just want the Warriors to win, whether it's Jared Banner,
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: whether it's Mike or whoever, or.
• 17:08
  Speaker 7: One of these new hires yet to be named. Who cares? Ultimately,
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: everyone just wants this team to get back on track.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: If they win a lot of games and go deep
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: into October next season, they'll be praised.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: For all of them.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: They can all take a bow. And the fans will
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: be happy to clap for everybody involved. Guys, this is
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: a good time to remind our fans we now have merch. Birdlandterritory.com.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Check that out.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: We have merchandise, shirts, hats, hoodies, even for the toddlers.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's pretty cool if you go to the
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: site on the screen, the QR code, and find out
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: how you can purchase some merch. merchandise that supports our
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: show and also a good time to mention, keep subscribing.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: That's free, easy to do, and it helps us a lot.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: And we keep getting a lot of subscribers and more
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: and more views and we're growing fast.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: And we love it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: And we're really appreciate, uh, Oriole fans finding us as
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: they have now that word uncomfortable that was used a
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: couple of times in the press conference.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Here's Jared.
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: I think if you, if you talk to people around
• 18:17
  Speaker 8: the game, uh, they'll tell you that, um, I'm always
• 18:21
  Speaker 8: willing to challenge others and I'm always willing to get uncomfortable.
• 18:26
  Speaker 8: Me and Mike are going to have to have some
• 18:28
  Speaker 8: uncomfortable conversations at times and there's going to be some tension.
• 18:31
  Speaker 8: And that's what you need to do. You need to
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: challenge all your processes in order to get better. So
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: that's something I take a lot of pride in. It's
• 18:37
  Speaker 8: a gift and a curse, though.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Trust me.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: That last comment's interesting, too. His way of saying it
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: doesn't always play out the way you hope. But I
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: like the fact that he sat right next to Elias
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: and said, me and Mike will have uncomfortable conversations. I mean,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: it's I think it's clear these two men have when
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: they interviewed and chatted, you know, they got beyond surface
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: level discussions here.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: And I just think that's kind of what you need
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: at this point. And Tim, kind of go back to
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: your point before where you said there's infrastructure put in
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: place and this isn't a full teardown.
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: I think like.
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: Mike Elias did all of that, and I think that's
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: the one thing that's kind of been lost in all this,
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: and it's kind of where the fan base is getting
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: all mad. It's like, would you rather have before Mike
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: Elias or where it's at now?
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: And I think that's where Jared Banner sees this now,
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: that I'm not stepping into– an organization where, you know,
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: the White Sox a couple of years ago, where it
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: is a complete teardown. You have to rethink how you're
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: doing everything on and off the field.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: And I just don't think the Orioles are in that spot.
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: And that's why I think this is so such a
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: good place for him to be. And I think he
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: sees that his kind of, you know, I'm going to
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: challenge you on certain things that I think are being
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: done the wrong way. His attitude is going to really
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: help kind of push this thing that has kind of
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: stalled out for the last couple of years forward and
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: get these players going in the right direction. And I
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: think just being able to recognize that in front of
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: everybody's questions that they had and right there in front
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: of Mike Elias shows you that he's not willing to
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: shy away from the things that need to be discussed
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: and talked about to make this team win more games.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: And that's their end goal.
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't think he's just going to be a
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: wallflower and just kind.
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: Of sit and twiddle his thumbs.
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: I found that answer very interesting to me, guys, because
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: it was kind of, I don't want to say a
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: softball question, but a question, hey, what's your greatest strength?
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: And he went there, said, hey, man, I'm willing to
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: have uncomfortable conversations. I'm willing to mix it up. And
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: Maybe this organization needs some of that, right? Because maybe
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: they need someone that can kind of challenge some philosophies and, hey,
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: you know, the way that you've been doing the prior
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: handful of years, maybe it's not the right way.
• 20:50
  Speaker 7: And I kind of see it as a good thing,
• 20:52
  Speaker 7: quite frankly. I really do.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Me too.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: And, you know, Elias said they wanted new ideas. This
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: guy says he'll bring them. He also said they talked
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: to 10 or 12 people over the course of a year.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: for this position, which gives further background that they were
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: not just going to bring in someone just to bring
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: him in. You got to bring in a right guy
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: who you feel is the right mix at the right time.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: And so I think Jared Banner brings all of that
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: to the Orioles. And so now one thing they said,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: he's going to work with the internal roster. That means
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: the young core we keep That's the two words we
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: use constantly, young core. And what do we mean when
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: we say that? We mean some of those players going
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: backwards on their performance. How can he help that?
• 21:38
  Speaker 8: Like I said, we're going to challenge all of our processes,
• 21:42
  Speaker 8: and we might have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. One
• 21:45
  Speaker 8: of my main player development philosophies is we have to
• 21:48
  Speaker 8: make practice more like the game so that the game
• 21:51
  Speaker 8: gets easier once you get in there. So that's something
• 21:54
  Speaker 8: we're going to focus on. And again, can't wait to
• 21:56
  Speaker 8: get started with the guys.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Now, that last part is a repeat of the Orioles
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: the last few years. I've heard from coaches on the farm.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: I've seen it. They tell me we're trying to make
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: practice like the game. In the minor leagues, they throw
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: BP as hard as they can. They try, you know,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: you're not just throwing 70-mile-an-hour softballs in there. They do
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: some work that tries to duplicate that. So that's not new,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: but maybe it can be. Maybe Banner has some thoughts
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: that can help that. And he was asked about Gunner,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: and so it'll be interesting to see what thoughts he
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: has for those players.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and his thoughts about Gunner, too, really piqued my interest,
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: talking about PCA and working with Pete Carl Armstrong in
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: Chicago and just kind of, you know, Pete was an
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: eight-win player last year and kind.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Of went in the offseason and was like, what can
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: I do to get better?
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: And the fact that he kind of has a player
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: that's along the same talent level, at least that's the
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: way Jerry Benner was talking about it, Gunnar Henderson is
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: along that same talent level as Pika Armstrong. So they
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: took him from an eight-win player to a 10-plus-win player
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: and potentially NL MVP this year. So he has some
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: work with guys who are just superstar talent level. And
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: I think that should be encouraging for fans that, you know,
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: Gunnar's kind of stalled out here and maybe degressed the
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: last couple years. But the fact that he knows how
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: to get these guys to, He just mentioned with P.K.
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: Armstrong just his chase rate and taking his chase rate
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: down and getting balls in the zone. He said basically
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: he revamped his whole hitting style. And that's a guy
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: who had eight wins over a replacement level. So I
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: think that's encouraging. I think just the fact that he's
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: going to come in and kind of ruffle some feathers.
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: We talked about during the season that these core guys
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: just kind of almost seem too comfortable, that like they're not.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: Going to go anywhere. There's nobody that can replace them.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: Sometimes bringing in a guy that's from the outside and
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: being like, hey, there's somebody we can go get that
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: can replace you and you're going to be out of
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: here soon. I mean, sometimes that works as a, as
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: a strategy to get these guys kind of, you know,
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: headed back in the right direction. It's not that we
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: want to see these guys go anywhere, but sometimes you
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: just need a reality check as a player that man,
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: I really need to pick it up or else I'm
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: not going to be part of this group anymore.
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: No, I think it's a good point, Brad.
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: And, and, you know, just talking about banner challenging Mike and,
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: and the baseball ops department in terms of how they
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: go about things. But, Yeah, I think you can say
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: the same thing about the guys in that clubhouse.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: And there's probably something to that of guys being too comfortable.
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: And it's been going in reverse for a couple of
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: years now. And when you look at these players, you know,
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: Gunnar being the easiest one, for example, like they've. been
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: at the top of the game. Colton Couser was second
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: in rookie of the year voting. Jackson Holliday has had
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: some stretches here where he looks like a really high-level player. Heck,
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: even this year, what was it? July, I believe. It's
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: about the consistency. It's about sustaining it. It's not just
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: one thing with any one of these.
• 25:00
  Speaker 7: Guys, but.
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: You've got to be collaborative in trying to get it
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: right and get them back going in the right direction.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I think fans should never forget.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: We look at, you mentioned Pete Crow Armstrong, probably going
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: to be the MVP, like a 155 OPS plus.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: You look at his stats and you go, wow.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Go to Gunner in 2024. It's a 155 OPS plus.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: That's what Gunner did. Now Gunner's not bringing the defensive level.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Pete Crow Armstrong's bringing. So there's a whole, you know,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: overall player. You have to say a PCA is ahead
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: of Gunner. if you compare his 26 to Gunner's 24.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: But Gunner offensively was Pete Crow Armstrong in 2024. So
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: we never lose sight of that. Also, Jared Banner will
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: head up Oriole player development, and he loves what he'll
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: have to work with.
• 25:55
  Speaker 8: I think it's the top five farm system in the league.
• 25:57
  Speaker 8: I think there's a ton of talent down there. And
• 26:00
  Speaker 8: most importantly, it's fairly close to the major league level.
• 26:03
  Speaker 8: It's not talent we're going to have to wait a
• 26:05
  Speaker 8: long time on. So We should see some of that
• 26:07
  Speaker 8: talent in the major leagues this season.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Steve loves his minor league players. So when you tell
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Steve it's a top five farm, I'm on board with that, obviously.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: And again, I never forget the Orioles had the number
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: one ranked player three years in a row for baseball America.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: It's never happened. And no, they all didn't turn into MVPs.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: But, you know, an outside source said your guy is
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: the best prospect ever. in the game three straight years.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: And Visaya was the fourth year, oh, by the way,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: not missing by that much. So there are some good
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: things here to work with. And Mike Schilt, who impressed
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: us in our show, hopefully will be back. Elias said
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: he'd like him to be back. And I think Mike
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: is going to look at some managing opportunities if they
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: come his way. But if they don't, I think he'll
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: be happy to be with the Orioles. So player development
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: is always big.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Definitely.
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: And I think the biggest thing that he said there
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: is that It's not like you have a bunch of
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: low A, high A players. It's double A, triple A.
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: These guys are knocking on the big league level door.
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: So I think to me, that's the biggest thing. That's
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: got to be the most exciting thing to Jared. And
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: I think he kind of mentioned that, alluded to that
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: multiple times during this press conference is how excited he
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: is about the talent that they have in this organization.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: So that's somebody coming from the outside.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: That's not, and now it's somebody who's taking over the job.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: So it's an exciting time for fans to it's not
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: guys we're gonna have to wait forever.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: It's we'll hopefully we'll see him next year. Who knows?
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: Some of these guys could be on the roster to
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: start the year if they have a good spring training.
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: So I think that's the most exciting part. And to me,
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: it's a lot of the arms. That is what's going
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: to win you games. I mean, you look at the
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: teams that made it to the end, they're just loaded
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: from top to bottom with arms.
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: And I think whether they're.
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: Starters or relievers, you got to get the most arms
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: up to the big leagues and have a big time
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: talent level on the pitching side of things. And I
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: think that's where the Orioles are headed and, And I
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: think that's one of the most exciting things Jared was
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: kind of talking about during his press conference.
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: And it's also important to point out, look, you don't
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: have to use all these players to promote them to
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: your major league club. You can use them in trades and, and,
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: you know, you can deal from some of the pitching
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: surplus that you have on the farm to get an
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: outfielder outfielder. I know we've brought that up repeatedly, but
• 28:21
  Speaker 6: I thought it was really cool hearing Jared Banner, um,
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: and Mike Elias for that matter, just talking about the
• 28:29
  Speaker 6: work that Cal Ripken Jr. and Mike Schilt are doing
• 28:32
  Speaker 6: down on the farm. And, you know, it was so
• 28:34
  Speaker 6: much fun interviewing Mike Schilt last week. And if you
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: haven't seen it, you can always go back and watch
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: your old videos. Mike was just a wealth of knowledge
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: and it was just really cool just hearing all the
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: work that he was doing down on the farm this
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: year and taking inventory and, you know, obviously has some
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: big ideas for some more change in 2027.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a year in the system for Schilt
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: and Cal was more hands on this year.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: And now you bring in Banner.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: You got three guys really to make sure the Oriole
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: minor leaguers are positioned well.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: For future success. So that's exciting.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: If you say he's going to work with the internal people,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: that means the coaches too.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: And that means manager Craig Albertaz.
• 29:18
  Speaker 8: We're going to partner together. We've already spoken several times.
• 29:20
  Speaker 8: I can tell he's hungry for information. He wants to
• 29:23
  Speaker 8: make the team better, just like we all do. So
• 29:26
  Speaker 8: we're going to find a way to figure it out.
• 29:29
  Speaker 8: It's a puzzle. We're problem solvers.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Before we wrap up our time here today, I want
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: to say one thing Banner did impress me with in
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: a short time he's been on the job, how active
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: he's been.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: He's talked to Jim Palmer. He's talked repeatedly to Cal.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: He's talked repeatedly to Albert as he said, he's not
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: leaving a stone unturned here. And he said he's in
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: a fact-finding learning process. So he's active. And I think
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: he knows with the lockout, you better get to all
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: the players in November because in December you're not allowed to.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: So that'll, I'm sure, be a priority too.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think the biggest thing with all these
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: GMs is that they're super smart and gathering all this
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: information is kind of what they do best.
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: So I think right now getting all the information.
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: From everybody, guys from the past, guys in the present,
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: like with the Orioles, that stuff is never going to
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: go away and you can't shy away from the players
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: from the past and the teams from the past and
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: using all the resources you have. So the fact that
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: he mentioned guys that, you know, like Cal Ripken to
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: Jim Palmer to the manager now, he's kind of tied
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: it all together. He understands what the Orioles and what
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: the organization in the city.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: Are all about.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: And to me, I was just really impressed overall with
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: this with this press conference and just things he had
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: to say. And now hopefully he can put it all
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: together and have a good, like you said, put the
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: puzzle together and have an idea what they're going to
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: do in spring training. Just go and attack it and
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: get this team head in the right direction.
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Steve, I think you make a good point.
• 30:56
  Speaker 6: Right now, he's drinking through a fire hose at this
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: point because you basically have a one-month sprint before the
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: lockout begins on December 1st. So he's probably working long
• 31:07
  Speaker 6: hours in the warehouse just gathering inventory and getting everything
• 31:11
  Speaker 6: ready in terms of plans that you can send to
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: the players for offseason and just taking.
• 31:16
  Speaker 7: Inventory of everything. It's going to be a busy next
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: month for Jared Banner, for sure.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: And overseeing player development, he can impact with non-40-man roster
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: players after December 1. But if there's a lockout, the
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: 40-man roster is off limits, and maybe that will happen.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: Hopefully not, but it could be months. You can't talk
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: to Gunnar Henderson and Colton Gouser and guys like that.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: So I'm sure November, he'll be busy reaching out to
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: current Oriole players.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Hey, O's fans, hope you enjoyed that one. I know
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: we did.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: It's been an eventful week in Birdland. Jared Banner joins
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: the Orioles, and today we gave you some of our
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: thoughts on that. We hope to get him on the show.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: Keep your fingers crossed for us there. Maybe over the
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: next few weeks, we'll get a chance to talk to
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: him directly on Birdland Territory. Thanks for checking us out today,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: and we'll see you next time on Birdland Territory.
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: If you made it this far, you'll love this next video.
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: Check it out right here.
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: And make sure you subscribe to Birdland Territory for more
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: Orioles coverage like this multiple times a week.