The Orioles have promoted Brendan Fournie to an assistant general manager position, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports. Fournie has been with the O’s for just under four years, working as the team’s senior director of baseball strategy and operations. His new portfolio, as per Kubatko, will have Fournie “oversee baseball economics, advanced scouting and salary arbitration, and also provide roster and transaction support.”
Fournie becomes Mike Elias’ third assistant GM, joining Sig Mejdal and Eve Rosenbaum. It hasn’t exactly been clear who (if anyone) Elias views as his chief lieutenant within Baltimore’s front office, though when news broke two months ago that Elias had been promoted to president of baseball operations prior to the start of the 2025 season, it came with the added item that the O’s were planning to hire a general manager to act as Elias’ number two. That said, Elias has since downplayed the idea that a GM hire might come this offseason, so Fournie’s promotion may not be a hint that the team is any closer to finding a general manager.
Some other promotions and role changes are coming within the front office, largely within the player development and scouting departments. Kubatko reports that Matt Blood will go from VP of player development/domestic scouting to a new role as the VP of player and staff development. Blood will now be providing “executive support” to manager Craig Albernaz, the big league coaching staff, and the sports medicine and performance departments.
In addition to these new duties, Blood will still be the leader of Baltimore’s minor league player development department. His old scouting responsibilities appear to be divvied up between a few other staffers getting promotions. Will Robertson will become the new VP of domestic scouting and will now oversee the Orioles’ draft operations. Chad Tatum (domestic scouting), Hendrik Herz (draft operations), and Kevin Carter (pro scouting) were also promoted to assistant director roles within their respective divisions.
A definite upgrade from Threenie
My guess is the new manager is going to have a lot of help managing this team. Lots of help.
I’m still having trouble discerning
the true nature of the differences between the former and current positions. Perhaps this is all simply restructuring, making room for more lateral hires
Oh me so Fournie, oh oh me so Fournie, oh me so Fournie, me love you long time!
I dont like it. This reinforces the idea that the way Elias does things is the right way. Absent of Elias being let go, I’d like to see someone from the outside who thinks less like Elias.
Then maybe if he does well, that opens the door to let Elias go. I want to see the guy who feels he can sign a pitcher to a 5-year-deal for over 100M. Who drafts a pitcher in the first round. Who doesn’t draft the same types of players over and over, OFs and MIs from colleges in the South,ignoring team needs. A non-Elias. Not a mini-me.
To be fair, it’s bad practice to draft for team need.
Your ideas repulse me and I wish to unsubscribe from your newsletter.
Someone is drafting and developing top flight pitchers…and for years…decades…that hasn’t been the Orioles.
Someone? Yeah, I’m sure there’s one team that’s developed more than one TOR arm under the same regime that wasn’t drafted 1.1 or a winning lottery ticket.
Go look at the pitchers drafted in the top half of the first round in the last 20 years. For any team that found a gem, it’s been a wasteland beyond that. And a wasteland with no gems for most teams. It’s almost like we’ve known TINSTAAPP for decades.
I simply said that some teams can draft and develop top flight pitchers. There are top flight pitchers around baseball. They weren’t drafted and developed by the Orioles.
Not since Mike Mussina.
Or Jake Arrieta, but the Orioles failed to develop him.
14 of their top 30 prospects are pitchers so maybe pump the brakes on criticizing his methods
Next you’ll tell us that international signings and picks after the first round are useful. 😵💫
Awesome. When they all become TOR pitchers at the MLB level and not A or A+, let me know.
Again, your expectations are absurdly ahistorical and bereft of the context of…every other team’s experience, save maybe the Mariners of very recent vintage. Who came away with nearly zero home-grown offense in exchange for their successful pitching over-investment.
Use as many big words as you want, but you obviously don’t know Orioles history at least, and probably more. Anyone who know the team could put up a long list of prospect busts, especially on pitching.
Jesus Christ, you can keep repeating yourself, but that doesn’t mean your point has become valid that the Orioles are a pitching development outlier. They aren’t.
And I can name every high-end O’s pitching prospect going back 30 years.
I’ll sleep well knowing elias has someone to get his morning coffee ready. Congratulations 4knee!
Cool so three assistant GMs and no GM.
I can appreciate that idea but if you never draft pitchers high and wont sign and/or retain quality pitchers, you manufacture team need.
It just feels like his philosophy is based on the concept that you can do well making close to zero investment in pitching. Which I think has not worked.
Even during the two playoff seasons, 2023 its Grayson and Dean who were not guys he brought on. Last year Burnes and Eflin, one gone this year, one probably gone next year. Just not much in terms of continuity with guys he brought in.
It feels like he is Buddy Ryan or other defensive coaches who just feel they did not need to have a great QB and could just plug in anyone. As long as they coach defense their way, they will win, who cares who the QB is. It just feels like he refuses to accept great starting pitching is important.
Most teams draft the best player available at the time, then figure it out later what the team needs. At least that’s how I see it.
I can appreciate that thought as well. But to date, he hasn’t figured it out later. He may. I sure hope he does. I would much rather the Os do well and be wrong about how capable he is of building a team that can go deep in the playoffs or win one playoff game.
His figure it out later of Charlie Morton Sugano Gibson, relying on Kremer feels like one of the more colossal front office fails of the decade.
recency bias. there are worst mistakes than that.
Exactly. I have thought of it as the Mike Mussina curse. Should have been extended but no, and ever since its been a huge problem. After that and up until 2012 you had maybe Ponson with one great year and Bedard briefly and next to nothing else.
Every year Jeremy Guthrie the best pitcher with 10 or 11 or 12 wins. They couldn’t even be a lousy team with one great pitcher to be excited about. Then Tillman and Chen and Bud Norris in the mid-2010s and finally we have some pitchers who rack up some wins. It was like 12 wins was a brick wall.
So after 2000, no matter who is in charge, having consistent quality starting pitching has been a problem. That is part of why its unsettling watching the current approach.