Throughout Mike Elias’ tenure as general manager of the Orioles, he has maintained a tight-lipped approach when it comes to detailing the organization’s player acquisition and retainment strategies. Elias wasn’t an open book Tuesday, but he did crack the cover back when it comes to Baltimore’s offseason approach and a push for player extensions.

“I guess I’ll be a little more revelatory than I have been,” Elias said.

Elias noted that the Orioles are actively working on extensions, but couched that those are not straightforward negotiations. He mentioned the overhaul of multiple facets of the organization, including the business strategy team, and said that contract extensions and free agent signings will be part of the efforts to “spruce up” the club.

Those contracts are “going to happen over time,” Elias said. And while Elias said the front office made a strong offer to last year’s staff ace, right-hander Corbin Burnes (two sources said it was worth $180 million over four years), he maintained that there must be a balance when it comes to long-term contract offers.

The topic of extensions and the acquisition — or, in Baltimore’s case, missing out on — a front-end starting pitcher are pertinent for two reasons.

There has been a glut of extensions for young stars around baseball in recent weeks. And the Orioles have started the season 6-9. The starting staff has already been buffeted by injuries to Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin. And Baltimore’s 5.30 ERA from starting pitchers this season is the worst in the majors.

The Orioles faced competition on Burnes and many other top starting pitchers, and Elias said “we knew it wasn’t gonna be easy” to keep Burnes in Baltimore. But when pressed on whether he regrets not adding an ace to the staff given the struggles to begin the year, Elias said there is a greater juggling act at play.

“I think we attempted all manner of things throughout the offseason. It is not feasible to land and execute every single thing that you want to do, try to do, in the offseason,” Elias said. “And my entire job is balancing the needs of the team, the needs of the roster, versus the acquisition cost and what that might do to affect future seasons. That’s the job of being a general manager. That’s the job of being a front office. To the degree with which that works out, we’re certainly responsible for that and we’re aware of it.”

He went on to say the team has had some “unfortunate breaks here early on” but he believes the “the outlook for the rest of the season and for the organization continues to be really strong.”

In Arizona, Burnes said he was surprised the Orioles seemed set on offering him four years, although Burnes thought there might have been a chance to build up to five years.

The Orioles haven’t finalized a long-term contract under Elias. When asked whether that was by design, Elias said he doesn’t have a “hard-and-fast philosophy about contract lengths.”

Still, when it comes to negotiating with free agents or convincing a homegrown player to remain, the stability a long contract can offer is a plus.

“There are certainly a number of players in baseball, and I won’t get into more specifics than that, that you wouldn’t mind signing up for what appears to be the entirety of their careers,” Elias said. “It’s dependent on age, position, skill level, everything about their profile.”

Elias may be forced to act sooner rather than later to supplement the pitching staff.

Rodriguez still doesn’t have a timeline for his return; Eflin shouldn’t be out as long with his strained lat. The Orioles are also without right-handers Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells (both recovering from elbow surgery) until the summer, and right-hander Albert Suárez (subscapularis muscle in shoulder) will “take a while to heal,” Elias said.

As such, Elias said he has remained in touch with other general managers regarding trades. Those don’t generally come together in April.

“The motivation and sort of the clarity is not usually there. Doesn’t mean you don’t try. Doesn’t mean you don’t have the conversations, and certainly gathering the information helps,” Elias said. “We’re working. We’re always looking outside and inside to bolster the team. Inside, meaning bringing guys along to the minor leagues as best we can. Outside, whether it’s a major trade, which, again, it’s not typically something that happens in April, or it’s waiver moves, small trades, depth moves.”

Elias isn’t oblivious to the flurry of extensions that have occurred around the league. The Orioles have many young, talented players whom fans would welcome on a long-term basis.

“There’s guys on this team that we would like to have on this team longer than they’re currently slated for,” Elias said. “It’s not a point-and-shoot thing. It’s case by case. There’s different players, different skill levels, different representatives, different philosophies around how to handle players at different age levels. We’ve got some really good ones, and on top of that, we’ve had a very recent ownership change after a kind of protracted thing during a rebuild. These guys [owners] are great, but they’re relatively new. There’s only so much I can say about it other than it’s something we want to do if it makes sense, that we are working on it and if it happens, we’ll be out here talking about it. It’s certainly not something that I can or want to force unilaterally, so we’ll continue to work on it.”

The book wasn’t fully opened. But Elias was more open than usual when it comes to the ongoing focus on the pitching staff he assembled, the homegrown stars fans hope remain here and the lack of long-term deals.