Another Orioles postseason flame-out could have fans taking a long, hard look at Mike Elias

For the last few seasons, the Baltimore Orioles rebuild has been trending in quite the perfect direction. I mean, even the Orioles couldn't have predicted that their rebuild would be working out as well as it is.

Just about every top prospect has panned out for the most part. Baltimore is built behind the young core of players like Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman. The team is just absolutely loaded with talent and the expectations have never been higher.

But Orioles General Manager Mike Elias has made some pretty questionable decisions that could come back to bite the Orioles in the behind if they aren't successful in this year's postseason.

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Mike Elias will be under fire if Orioles underperform in 2024 postseason

In 2024, the Orioles come up short in the AL East, ultimately finishing in second place behind the New York Yankees. For a majority of the season, the Orioles were a threat to finish with the best record in baseball, but they ended up finishing just behind the Yankees in the division.

But Mike Elias had the opportunity to make some big changes at the deadline and he opted not to. He made a few different mistakes and each of them could come back to haunt him and the Orioles this postseason.

Elias relied too heavily on Craig Kimbrel, opting to not go out and get a great high leverage reliever at the deadline. Kimbrel is now off the roster and Baltimore is left with nobody reliable to close down games in October. This issue could have been solved months ago if Elias would have been more aggressive at the deadline.

Elias also opted to trade two of his better prospects, Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers, to the Miami Marlins in exchange for starting pitcher Trevor Rogers. Rogers threw a bit for the Orioles, but just wasn't good enough and ended up being optioned to Triple-A. This deal was a headscratcher at the time and it remains one to this day.

Baltimore can eliminate all of these question marks about Elias' decision making if they have some postseason success this October. But the pressure is on the roster to keep Elias from coming under fire.

Not to mention, Corbin Burnes is set to enter unrestricted free agency in a few months. Baltimore wasn't able to land a contract extension with him and they are now at risk of losing him altogether.