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.
