Mike

Elias

The 42-year-old Albernaz had also interviewed with the Nationals. Last year, he interviewed with the Marlins and White Sox before pulling himself out of contention and getting a title promotion from the Guardians. Albernaz, who served as a minor league catcher in the Rays system for several seasons, spent the last two years in Cleveland the first as bench coach and the second as associate manager. He’ll take over an Orioles team that should have high expectations after an extremely disappointing year. We’ll have to wait and see whether interim manager Tony Mansolino or bench coach Robinson Chirinos, who was bypassed in favor of the third base coach when Brandon Hyde was fired, are offered the chance to stick around.

The 42-year-old Barfield, who played in 309 big-league games for the Padres and Guardians from 2006-09, has also served as the Diamondbacks’ director of player development. The Orioles are looking for a No. 2 to serve under POBO Mike Elias in their front office.

What’s the point of the fancy new title if you don’t wany anyone to know about it? This comes out now because the Orioles are apparently planning to hire a GM to work under Elias. There’s no word yet on who is on their list.

The Orioles have until the end of 2023 to negotiate a new agreement with the Maryland Stadium Authority. The club’s 30-year lease, which began in 1992, expired back in 2021. The two sides agreed to a stopgap two-year extension at that point, which will run out at the end of this year. Orioles CEO and chairman John Angelos said last month that there are no plans for the team to leave Baltimore. There’s optimism that there will be a new long-term lease agreement at some point during the 2023 season.

It’s a short-term guarantee for the players, but it’s another team that has agreed to continue to pay minor leaguers at least through the end of June. So far, the only team that has announced that they will stop paying prospects after May 31 is the Athletics.