The Orioles had a good week! They got their first walkoff, saw multiple exciting prospects make their debut and won 2 series against playoff teams. In the Sunday afternoon postgame after the Orioles had just bludgeoned the Astros 12-0 Jordan Westburg gave a quote to the Orioles beat reporters that caused quite a stir.
“Look, if we want to force the front office’s hand, or force things to happen in this organization, we’ve got to prove that we’re able to play winning baseball. That’s very important to this clubhouse. That’s very important to me. I hate losing, and I don’t care what the clubhouse looks like or what the record looks like, who we’re facing. My one goal when we step on the field is to play winning baseball, any way I possibly can. Some days that doesn’t work out, right? That’s baseball. But I think in saying that, the majority of guys, if not everybody in this clubhouse, feels the same way. Since June, we’ve got a winning record, playing some good ball. We’ve played two really good series. And it is important for us to keep stacking those together, to keep remembering that, yeah, this doesn’t happen this year, but we’re playing for the future.”
I love this quote. In a season like the one the Orioles are experiencing you hear a lot of different variations of the same quote. Things like “All we can do is take it one day at a time” and “We feel we’re better than our record shows” and stuff like that.
I call those kinds of quotes “Well of course you would say that quotes”. Westburg’s quote did have some of the elements of a “well of course you would say that quote” but what stood out to most people was the “force the front office’s hand” part of the quote.
When I first read the quote I interpreted Westburg’s comments as an intentional shot at the front office, that he was saying this front office didn’t do enough last offseason and isn’t going to do anything in the upcoming offseason unless they are forced to do so. However after some thought I now believe that that was not Westburg’s intention.
Have you ever been telling a group of friends a story about your job and you realize they are kind of looking at you funny and you ask “what’s wrong I haven’t even gotten to the funny part yet” and they say “what you’re describing is not normal”, and you say “no it’s fine that’s just how they do things” and your friends respond “Yeah that’s not good, what you’re describing is a toxic workplace” and then you realize that your job is kind of messed up?
I think that’s what happened with this Jordan Westburg quote.
A serious front office with access to the young talent the Orioles have on their roster would not have to have their hands forced to invest in their team and make moves to ensure that they would be competitive.
With the talent the Orioles have and the payroll flexibility they have this offseason a serious front office would be licking their chops at what they could do to turn this team into one of the best in baseball.
A few weeks ago Foul Territory did a short segment on how the Orioles need a GM like Dave Dombrowski and they could not have been more correct. If Dave Dombrowski was the Oriole GM he would say “You like Dylan Beavers and Enrique Bradfield Jr? I just turned them into Sandy Alcantara. You like those 4 first round picks we just drafted? I just turned them into Joe Ryan.”
Those are just some examples I’m firing from the hip, I don’t know if who says no on those trades but the point is that if the Orioles had a GM with some courage that nobody would doubt that serious moves would be made to ensure that the team is back on the trajectory that it looked like they were on a year ago.
As a thought exercise imagine a world where on November 1st it is announced that AJ Preller is taking over as the GM of the Baltimore Orioles.
If AJ Preller was the GM of the Orioles how certain would you be that either through free agency or through trades that come opening day 2026 the Orioles would have a legit Ace at the top of their rotation?
Now come back to reality and remember that Mike Elias is the GM of the Baltimore Orioles.
How certain are you right now that come opening day 2026 the Orioles will have an Ace at the top of their rotation?
My guess is less certain.
I don’t think it is impossible, Elias did make the Burnes trade ahead of the 2024 season so he certainly CAN do it but with Elias at the helm doesn’t it feel like there is a chance that the Orioles big offseason signing is Chris Bassitt or Tyler Anderson or someone equally uninspiring.
You’d like to think they learned their lesson from this past offseason but are we sure they learned their lesson or do we think they’re up in the warehouse doing high-fives for avoiding paying Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander and saying “We just got unlucky with injuries this year.”?
I know that there is a cost to the way that GMs like Dombrowski and Preller do things. With the Red Sox Dombrowski came in, made a bunch of moves, won the World Series and left the team with an expensive roster and the worst farm system in baseball, but guess what, the Red Sox had a couple lean years and today both their Major League team and their Minor League system are better than the Orioles’.
So yes the wheeling and dealing style of GM can lead to some bad years down the road but the scared to do anything GM style of the Orioles has led to a bad year right now and that’s worse.
Anyway, back to Jordan Westburg’s quote. There are two things that I think are especially sad about this quote.
- The idea that this core hasn’t proven they can play winning baseball.
I imagine everyone is tired of hearing different variations of this stat but from 2023 to 2024 the Orioles had the most wins in the American league by 14. I know that some of the players who were big contributors in those seasons are gone now but there are still 13 players currently on the roster who played in both of those seasons.
If it were actually possible to force a front office’s hand by proving you can play winning baseball then the front office’s hand would have already been forced, but instead of thinking “Wow look how good our team is we should add more talent to the roster and try to get deeper into the playoffs next year!” they thought “Wow look how good our team is, we don’t have to make any risky moves and they’ll just keep making playoffs and eventually break through!”
If the Orioles fight and claw their way back to a respectable record and the front office is able to look back and say “We were a really good team from June on and we just got a little unlucky in April and May.” their main takeaway will be that they don’t need to make any major moves.
This is not a hand that can be forced by anything other than it’s own job security and the worst part is that they view that as a good thing. If you could give this front office truth serum they would tell you that the fact that they are cautious and won’t make moves just because the players, fans and media think they should is a strength of theirs.
- The fact that the players recognize that this front office trying to win is not a given
Ideally the players on the team would not have to live with the uncertainty that their front office might just not do anything to make the team better. You’d like to imagine that the players could say “This year didn’t go our way but this offseason we’re going to get some reinforcements and make another go at it.” and from this quote it is clear that the players have realized that it is not a given that the front office is going to try to improve the team and help them win.
Athletes are different from normal people, they will sometimes go to great lengths to create motivation for themselves. You hear tales of athletes making up stories about how their opponents insulted them or hurt their families just to gain that extra edge they need to compete.
I think that currently Westburg and the guys on the team are taking this as a challenge and trying to use it to motivate themselves. Thinking “If we just hit more homers and make more diving plays, we’ll show the front office that we deserve a better pitching staff.”
I hope that it works and it helps them come together and play well and all of that but hearing them talk about having to earn buy-in from the front office is kind of like hearing someone say that they have to prove themselves at their work so that they can get an extra bathroom break.
It’s like I’m glad you’re working hard but that’s kind of messed up don’t you think? Shouldn’t it be a given that your work lets you go to the bathroom if you need to go to the bathroom?
How long before someone like, I don’t know, Scott Boras gets in Jordan Westburg’s ear like some sort of dark vizier and starts whispering things like:
“Young Master Westburg, I must tell you that in other much larger and richer kingdoms their warriors are given adequate support before being thrust into battle. I’ve heard the Kingdom of Philadelphia yearns for a man of your caliber at their hottest of corners.”
All it takes is an awkward arbitration hearing where the Orioles try to get away with paying Jordan a little less because of his injuries and suddenly that motivation can easily turn into disillusion.
You go from “I’m going to prove myself to this front office!” to “Where does this front office get off blaming my health for our losing season when their biggest free agent acquisition was Tyler O’Neill!”
This front office is playing a dangerous game. They have not rewarded a single home grown player with a contract extension and there is an actual book about how Elias and Mejdal want to just churn through players on their cost controlled seasons and then cut them loose when they get expensive.
At what point will players stop trying to force the front office’s hand and start just biding their time until free agency?
Anyway this ended up being more of a bummer than I intended so as a pick me up here are all the different things I imagines Dark Vizier Scott Boras saying to young Master Westburg:
“Young Master Westburg, I have gotten wind of the offer made to young Master Henderson, it is a considerable fortune with years of security. No such offer on your behalf as of late, but I’m sure they haven’t overlooked you my lord.”
“Young Master Westburg there are rumours that Lord Cohen of House Mets has grown dissatisfied with one Mark Vientos at the hot corner and could be looking to enrich his court with yet another warrior by way of free agency. He has paid a great fortune for the hands of Masters Soto and Lindor and has the treasury to lay great wealth at your feet.”
“Young Master Westburg, word has reached me of yet another promotional giveaway in honor of one Colton Cowser. Curious how he is subject to such lauding and your steady production is disregarded. I’ve heard that House Dodgers has offered over 3 dozen bobbling heads to highlight their various warriors greatest achievements.”
“Young Master Westburg I feel I must point out how the Orioles of Baltimore went to such lengths to preserve Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers eligibility for the rookie of the year award but gave no such considerations to you in the year 2023. They conspire against you my lord!”
“Young Master Westburg have you noticed how other up and coming warriors get a position of their own and yet you are forced to split time between second and third base as if you were Freddy of house Galvis. Surely a warrior of your standing merits more consideration.”
The Dishwasher 
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