Early notes and quotes from Elias and Hyde

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde spent about 30 minutes this morning fielding questions on the main stage from season plan holders to kick off the latest FanFest event at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Elias repeated that his primary goal in 2019 is to increase the level of talent up and down the organization. The overall record seems like a secondary concern, though improvement would be a welcomed development. And he said the club is ready to react if an international player becomes available to them, but most of the upper-tier talent already is spoken for and the club won't spend just for the sake of spending.

Elias drew laughs when a fan noted how the previous regime tended to be "wishy-washy" with responses to specific inquiries about the team.

"How about if I'm not wishy-washy, but I'm still indirect? Will that work?" Elias replied.

"We're actually forbidden to discuss free agents by name, that type of thing," Elias added. "It's not really allowed in our business for a number of reasons. There are certain questions that an executive and a manager just aren't able to answer directly in that regard.

"I really want to make clear the types of organizational strategies that we have, the activities that we have going on, to whatever degree possible behind the scenes. Talk about the sort of things that we're working on and make sure that all of you have a very clear idea of the plan and the direction. Even if we can't get into specific players and things like that."

It only took until the fifth question for a fan to ask about the possibility of bringing back free agent outfielder Adam Jones. Elias repeated that he's monitoring the free agent market and appreciates what Jones has meant to the organization and community. He wished Jones the best, however it works out, and said the veteran always is welcome here.

Pressed again about Jones in the media workroom, Elias said it isn't a dead issue and he appreciates the veteran's popularity with fans. He also said no thought has been given to Jones' no-trade clause.

Hyde said he wants an athletic group of guys on the team. Players who can move around to different positions and create runs. And he won't tolerate anyone who doesn't run out a ground ball, saying it's a "pet peeve."

"You don't need to applaud," he told the crowd. "It should be pretty easy to do."

Hyde said he saw Double-A outfielder Yusniel Díaz a few weeks ago at minicamp in Sarasota and was impressed. Said Díaz is a "big-time prospect."

Elias said it's "less likely" that the Orioles will sign a free agent to a multi-year deal. And pitching is the top priority.

"We could look at a lot of different areas," Elias said. "Pitching is always something that you want to make sure you have enough of."

Where do the Orioles stand in free agency?

"We still have a lot of time left," he said. "You can see that the market in general is moving kind of slow the last couple of years. I don't really have an answer for why that is. We're monitoring everything, we've got some ideas in mind for what make sense for what we're trying to do for improving this club this year and also possibly advancing some of our longer-team strategic goals, but I don't know what's going to happen. We'll see what happens.

"Certainly, if the group we have now or a group close to this group shows up to spring training, we're going to have what we need to work with in terms of putting together a team and putting together a competition for spots that we want. But we're certainly watching and hoping something happens."

Elias said the Orioles are close to completing their minor league staff. There are a few spots that remain open.

As for the absence of a designated bench coach on Hyde's staff, Elias said, "Our main focus in putting together the staff was getting the right instructors for all the various parts of the sport. So the different positions - pitching, outfield, infield, baserunning. We wanted to get people that have demonstrated expertise in these areas. And so the title isn't necessarily important.

"I think that Tim Cossins and his role will be taking on a lot of bench coach duties. He's got a very close working relationship with Brandon already through their past. There's going to be a lot of guys in that dugout that have already had a lot of major league coaching experience, and talking to Brandon and his style, he likes to talk throughout the game and he likes to talk to all of his coaches. I think he'll be relying on three or four people for advice on in-game moves rather than just one person, but we'll see how the structure evolves going forward."

Elias said the Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb absences from FanFest were excused. No controversies this year.