Mike Elias wasn’t kidding when he said at the end of the season that the Orioles would be hard on themselves and look at everything to determine what can be changed to get over the playoff hump.

I believed him. I just didn’t think it would extend to the ballpark dimensions.

As a disclaimer, I didn’t care much about the initial decision to move the fences out. I understood why they did it, and thought it was kind of bold to address a hurdle to something they clearly needed to do — attract free agent pitchers. I also was in Camden Yards on opening day in 2022 for probably 15 minutes before I even noticed it.

It’s still a tough look to make that kind of change and then need to correct it a few years later. The logic behind the change is just as sound — it’s overly punishing to righties as it is now — and doing something about it instead of having a built-in obstacle to your team is better than just tolerating the issue for another year.

Elias’ announcement got me thinking about how fortunate he and the Orioles are to be able to get something resembling a do-over on such a major decision — and all the other things the Orioles might want to go back and reverse if given the chance. Considering how many roster moves he’s made in about six years in charge of the Orioles, I honestly thought I’d be able to come up with more. So, I expanded it to anything team-related during that time. That was a much more fertile patch of land.

A handful of rebuilding trades

Elias made a lot more good trades than bad ones. We have those deals to thank for Kyle Bradish, Yennier Cano, Cade Povich, Chayce McDermott and a handful of other still-promising names. I’d like to highlight two that backfired. One was an early move — trading Mike Yastrzemski for minor league pitcher Tyler Herb as camp wound down in 2019. It was defensible at the time: Yastrzemski was a 28-year-old who had seemingly plateaued in Triple-A, and was competing for outfield time with Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and DJ Stewart. In doing him a favor and moving him on, the Orioles kind of shot themselves in the foot. That season was spent with Santander and Stevie Wilkerson playing a lot of center field, and even though winning wasn’t the goal at the time, having Yastrzemski would have made things a bit more tolerable during the lean years.

In a similar vein, the Orioles had been plenty patient with reliever Tanner Scott, who was dynamically talented but inconsistent. He was traded to Miami ahead of the 2022 season along with Cole Sulser for three prospects and a draft pick that turned out to be Jud Fabian. Scott finally became an All-Star this year, and that’s what his ceiling was. It’s too bad he didn’t reach it here.

Whatever happened with Gary Thorne in 2020

I understand how incredibly fortunate I was to be at Camden Yards for most of the Orioles’ home games in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. I also had to cover a lot of games from my house, particularly the road games, and I spent most of that summer thinking that the longtime broadcast booth of Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer would have been really nice to help get through that experience. Palmer’s absence made sense given the pandemic and inherent health risks, but Thorne’s came down to a contract dispute, and he never called an Orioles game again after that.

The MASN booth is in a good place now with Kevin Brown (whose own issues with his employer are part of the recent history of the Orioles seeking out every rake in the field and promptly stepping on it), so it really comes down to wishing that year had gone differently.

OK, it can have its own category...

The end of the Angelos family’s ownership was full of controversies that just didn’t need to happen, from the lawsuits over control of the team between John Angelos and his brother, Louis, to John’s unflattering media sessions. The latter included The New York Times story in which he warned that the core of the team about to win a division title wouldn’t stick around because long-term extensions would require the team to dramatically raise prices. (Honestly, just go back and read that now. It’s beggar belief.)

Needless to say, things are different now.

The hour or so before the 2024 trade deadline

If the Orioles’ trade deadline haul this summer was just Zach Eflin and Seranthony Domínguez, it would have stung a little given what they dealt away, but it also would have been a completely acceptable outcome. I’m not just saying that now — it’s what I felt in the moment.

They proceeded to go on and give up a lot more, notably Kyle Stowers and Connor Norby for a clear reclamation project in Trevor Rogers, then pitchers Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace for reliever Gregory Soto. Not having those hitters really affected the Orioles in the second half, and Elias has acknowledged that, but it just feels like even if Rogers becomes good and Soto is a meaningful part of the bullpen in 2025, the trades were still against the value-based framework and emphasis on quality depth that the Orioles rely on.

Again, it’s understandable to go above and beyond to fortify a pitching staff that really needed it. Similar to the wall, it feels like there was an overcorrection here.

Free agent of the week

We’ll find out how the pitchers the Orioles are pursuing in free agency react to the wall coming in, but for someone like Yusei Kikuchi, another left-handed option, that may make a big difference. His stock is up after he pitched well for the Astros down the stretch, but he’d have been a beneficiary of the wall as it was before; even a neutral park might hurt him. I think he’s a decent mid-tier option who the Orioles can probably get a lot out of for a reasonable price, but there are a lot of names above him on my own starting pitcher wish list. With the wall coming in, let’s see if he’d even take a meeting with the Orioles.

For further reading

🦸‍♂️ Cowser’s superpower: This was a nice look at Colton Cowser from Andy before Cowser finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. I probably would have voted for Cowser, but I put more fault on the handful of writers who left him off the ballot than I do on those who voted for the eventual winner, Yankees pitcher Luis Gil. (The Baltimore Banner)

🧙‍♂️ Ripken’s sage advice: Cal Ripken Jr.’s opinion on franchise players staying in one place isn’t particularly unexpected but it’s a unique perspective to put out there, given his role in the ownership group. His and the rest of the group’s job is to ensure the Orioles can play in the financial ballpark such players require, though, and his perspective on whether they can do that based on a season inside the ownership group would perhaps be more telling. (The Baltimore Banner)

⚾ Offseason activity: When Elias announced the ballpark dimension changes Friday, he had some good updates for those hoping for an active offseason of additions for the Orioles. He also had a bit to say about the new hitting staff, which would have sounded familiar to those who read that morning’s column. (The Baltimore Banner)