Elias on Davis, contracts, Stewart, Mountcastle and more

SAN DIEGO - The Orioles are trying again with Chris Davis.

Trying to find a way to get him swinging more freely and making more consistent contact. Which again has led them to agent Scott Boras and the latest plan to nudge Davis closer to the form that prompted the club to hand over a $161 million contract prior to the 2016 season.

A hard shove is more like it.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias confirmed this afternoon that he spoke last week with Boras and "a member of his team that's sort of health and player performance oriented for their group and we just want to make sure we're coordinated in the plan for him this winter and making sure that Chris and the Boras Corporation and the Orioles all have an understanding of what we want to get accomplished."

"It sounds like we are," Elias said, "but being that Chris spends the winter in Dallas, we don't necessarily have the same people and same resources available to him that he has when he's with the Orioles organization. So we're trying to figure out how to replicate a lot of those things in Dallas and a lot of that is going to involve our people periodically flying out there and checking on him, but also setting him up with similar people in Texas."

The in-person updates on Davis won't happen with much frequency because time is running out before the start of camp.

"The offseason goes quick," Elias said, "so once a month really takes us ... that's the plan, but that takes us into January and we're talking about maybe reporting early for spring training or something like that, so it's really not that much. But we do plan on having a couple of our guys checking with him on a monthly basis."

Elias sat down with Boras at last year's Winter Meetings in Las Vegas and discussed ways to assist Davis, but the first baseman slashed .179/.276/.326 with 12 home runs, 36 RBIs and 139 strikeouts in 352 plate appearances.

Four years into the franchise-record contract and Davis still seemed lost.

"The nature (of the meeting) wasn't different," Elias said. "I think now that Brandon (Hyde) and I have been here a year and have experience here with Chris, we have a lot more feel for the situation, and obviously there was still some hope last year that 2018 was a little bit of an aberration and that new people, new environment, might have some effect and here we are again at the end of 2019.

"So we just want to ... the message is the same, that we all to figure out a way for him to get better. But we want to try some different specific things or some tweaks specifically to aspects of his program."

Elias didn't reveal much about Davis' program beyond how there's one in place.

"I don't want to get into the specifics of everything that he's doing," Elias said, "but on a number of fronts, there are areas where we're trying some different programs."

This isn't the first time that the Orioles have consulted with a player's agent in an attempt to improve performance. It isn't strictly a Boras thing.

"We have these types of collaborations with agents all the time," Elias said. "I think you guys heard this winter that for instance we had (Cedric) Mullins and (Chance) Sisco work with some private swing coaches, so this is the type of thing that's definitely growing in our business and it's in everyone's best interest for players to get better.

"So this is one area where teams and agents are on the same page, keeping them healthy and having them play well and so yeah, this is something we do. But the Boras Corporation is a large agency, they've got a lot resources at their disposal and they're good in this area, so it makes sense to plug in with them."

* Elias said the club hasn't been concentrating on working out new deals with the remaining arbitration-eligible players. Richard Bleier signed for $915,000, but the Orioles need to settle on contracts with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, infielder Hanser Alberto and relievers Mychal Givens and Miguel Castro.

"I don't know that we've poured too much work into it yet," Elias said. "I mean, we have a lot of time and Kevin Buck and Bill Wilkes and the guys sitting behind you are running point on that from our office standpoint. But I'm hopeful that we'll be able to do that. But that's kind of an item that we've got some time on left for sure."

* The Orioles are focused more on the rotation than bullpen, but Elias confirmed that he'd like to add a reliever on a minor league deal with a spring training invite.

* Elias provided an update on DJ Stewart, who underwent ankle surgery in October and won't be ready for opening day.

"The surgery went well," Elias said. "He's going to have an abbreviated spring training. The exact amount of time that he's going to lose is still a little TBD, and also whether that will bleed into April and whether he will have to hold back and stay at the complex or go on a little mini-rehab assignment or something, that's going to be TBD. But he's doing well and that was actually another topic we talked about with the Boras people because he's represented by them as well.

"We wanted to make sure he's able to stay in shape and lift and work out to the best of his ability with the ankle hearing."

The Orioles will turn to their internal options at the corner outfield spots and hold auditions in spring training because of the at-bats Stewart will be missing.

"Whether that's Dwight Smith, whether that's (Ryan) Mountcastle to the degree which we put him in the corner outfield, obviously Mancini doesn't need to win a job, but he's a corner outfielder, and (Anthony) Santander, we have plenty that deserve competition," Elias said.

"Yusniel Diaz is entering that mix and will continue to be a big part of spring training. There are guys that deserve those at-bats that we feel we can use them on. If we do a minor league spring training outfielder, I would wager that it would probably be more of a center field glove man, but you never know. If the right deal comes along, we'll look at corner guys, too."

* Elias said the Orioles will play Mountcastle at first base and third base and in left and right field in spring training. More left than right.

* The Giants signed former Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman to a one-year deal that guarantees $9 million.

A reunion with the Orioles wasn't a realistic possibility based on the salary. Being non-tendered by the Reds wasn't going to hold it down.