For years, Orioles general manager and Executive Vice President Mike Elias insisted he had the full financial support of ownership under John Angelos. What else was he supposed to say? We all have bosses.

But that’s why it was refreshing, a few weeks ago, to hear him admit that it had “not been an easy task rebuilding this franchise with the backdrop of everything, franchise level, that we’ve been dealing with.” That was in the context of the financial support David Rubenstein, Michael Arougheti and company are willing to provide as Elias looks to “get over a new hump” of postseason success with the roster the rebuilding years produced.

In the context of a World Series where well over a half-billion dollars is being spent on payroll by the Yankees and Dodgers, money is certainly on the mind. In a couple of weeks, only one team will be judged to have spent their money well.

That’s just how this works. There are bad teams in one bucket — those who are bad on purpose or by accident. In another, there are the teams that try to operate in a manner they find financially sustainable, with homegrown and cost-controlled players making them good and occasionally great. That’s where the Orioles find themselves now. And then there are the teams with high payrolls and high expectations, creating an appetite for spending more or adding more to the roster that only a championship can satisfy.

That’s not to say these aren’t great teams those riches built. They are. While Shohei Ohtani’s $70 million salary is heavily deferred, the core of the Dodgers’ lineup with him, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman is worth $127 million alone this season. All worth it. Los Angeles has kept some of its own players after they reached free agency and extended homegrown catcher Will Smith for 10 years and $140 million. The roster is supported by experienced players making real money in almost every corner of it.

The Yankees’ three highest-paid hitters make less than the Dodgers’ hitters, but not by much: Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto are making $103 million combined. The Yankees have a balance of well-paid veterans and cost-controlled talent to supplement that.

Both teams, as a result, have pushed through the postseason to the World Series and will score a victory for the high-payroll advocates around the game.

All that will just be another occasion to call for the Orioles to spend more money than they have, but I think we’re past the point of that even being necessary. Elias has said they will as clearly as someone in his position wants to in October.

Rubenstein, in an interview with NPR, made another declaration toward accelerating where the Orioles are by saying that, at age 75, it was “unlikely” he’d be doing this for 20 more years, “so, I’ve got to speed up the effort to get a World Series a lot sooner than maybe some younger owners would.”

The Orioles’ payroll will increase organically through arbitration raises and would go up more if they sign one pre-arbitration player to a contract extension. There are plenty of candidates. But the call shouldn’t necessarily be to spend more money at this point, but to spend it well.

Personally, I’m still forming an opinion on whether the Orioles would be better off adding, say, three players who make $12 million a year versus one who makes $30 million. I wonder if there’s an opportunity cost in adding too many veterans to the roster given the need to continue to integrate some of the organization’s top prospects, and whether it might be a bit more sensible to add one heftier piece to create a more formidable lineup core.

There’s still time to figure that out before free agency, though I fully understand solidifying my own opinion has nothing to do with what the Orioles will actually do. I just like having opinions — comes with the territory.

And it’s exciting to have this new frontier of money to consider. There have been some early playoff exits, but I think that it’s broadly true that this front office has done everything it set out to do and done it well. The rebuilding through scouting and player development certainly was a success. They set out to win the division last year and did that, and this year’s club still won 91 games in the face of a lot of adversity.

They’ve never really had to spend money, let alone had money to spend. What will they want to spend it on? Will they do it well? I can’t wait to find out.

Ballpark chatter

The World Series will feature three former Orioles pitchers, all of whom are vastly outperforming relative to their time here. Jack Flaherty has been a better deadline acquisition for LA this season than he was for the Orioles in 2023. Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips, as highlighted last week, is a great story of progress.

So, too, is Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr., a Rule 5 pick for the Orioles in 2018 who didn’t last long, to say the least. He was intriguing for all the reasons he is good now — the pitch mix, the arm slots, the deception — but made all of four appearances before he was removed from the roster so the Orioles could add bullpen help. It took years for Cortes to become what he is now. Would he have survived that miserable 2018 season, then a full organizational transition, to have that happen here? Unlikely. But he’ll always have those four games to use as motivation every time the Yankees face the Orioles.

📫 Have a question? Write to me here.

🚀 Talent pipeline

Catcher Creed Willems is swinging the bat well in the Arizona Fall League, with four extra-base hits to help him hit .345 (10-for-29) with a 1.010 OPS in the first seven games out west. The 2021 eighth-round pick ended the minor league season with four home runs in 16 games at Double-A Bowie and will be 21 years old for most of next season. Next year is going to be a big one for him.

📰 Further reading

💥 All the heavy hitters: The four hitters who hit the ball hardest in all of baseball will be in the World Series. Just wanted to throw this in there for members of the contact crew; they undoubtedly do not read me. (MLB.com)

⏳ What about Santander? Andy outlined the Orioles’ decision with Anthony Santander in the coming weeks well. I have a hot take in the oven but will say this: It’s a really fascinating first decision of the winter for Elias. (The Banner)

📋 Orioles coaching: The Orioles have really good internal candidates to add to the coaching staff, as Danielle pointed out. I’d like to add minor league field coordinator Jeff Kunkel to the list. (The Banner)