More from Elias' media session at the Winter Meetings

SAN DIEGO – For Orioles media gathered at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, the most important 20 minutes of yesterday’s Winter Meetings unfolded in Mike Elias’ suite.

Unlike the 20 minutes that passed later at the packed hotel bar before a drink could be ordered.

The club’s executive vice president/general manager shared the details of pitcher Kyle Gibson’s one-year, $10 million contract. An amount deemed too steep for Jordan Lyles at the time of the deadline for exercising options.  

Elias expressed hope that another starter could be signed or traded for, without the caveat that it must be an opening day arm. And multi-year offers have been floated, which keeps the Orioles in play for the top pitchers on the second tier.

They won’t avoid pitchers who received a qualifying offer. They won’t narrow their focus to only left-handers.

They are using the new left field dimensions as a major selling point, as they should, but also an improved defense and a pitching program and analytics department that are tremendous sources of pride and potential separators from other clubs.

“Getting pitchers on good one-year contracts has always been difficult for the Orioles, mostly because of the ballpark,” Elias said, “and now we find that this is a very attractive place for a guy like Kyle Gibson, who maybe didn’t feel like he lived up to his potential ERA-wise last season, and wanting to rectify that, we were his top choice.”

Gibson’s ability to serve a leadership role also influenced the decision to offer him $10 million.

“I think it was a must for us,” Elias said. “You saw what Jordan did last year in that same role, and I think we needed to come into the season with at least one player like that again.”

The Orioles believe their pitching program can improve Gibson’s results, as it did with Austin Voth and others on the staff. He has a six-pitch mix and Elias said the Orioles will work on his sequencing.

“I think he had a lot of bad luck last year,” Elias added. “We’ve got a great defense and a more forgiving home ballpark. I think that’s going to help him.”

Elias said again that he expects John Means to pitch this summer after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Exactly when is the mystery. Maybe June? Not until July? No one knows.

“Doing great,” Elias said. “Throwing on flat ground, looks great physically. He’s in Sarasota. Fingers crossed and knock-on wood, it’s going as good as it could go right now in December.”

Elias closed out his media session by explaining his “liftoff” quote from Texas, which has been misinterpreted for months. Perhaps because he used the word and then talked about an increased payroll next season.

Two separate topics that somehow became entangled.

Liftoff is the team getting better from this point forward with its young nucleus and the No. 1 farm system in baseball. And yes, the Orioles are able to focus on improving the major league roster after previous years of sacrificing to infuse talent into the minors. They can spend more, take on bigger contracts. But not go bonkers – my word, not his - in one offseason.

“We’re on the upswing,” Elias said. “That’s what I mean when I say that.”

Yesterday’s session also provided Elias with an opportunity to talk about Friday acquisitions Lewin Díaz and Franchy Cordero, two left-handed hitters who potentially could fill a need. Díaz is a waiver claim who’s on the 40-man roster and provides plus defense at first base. Cordero is on a minor league deal – a split contract – who is a corner outfielder trying to get comfortable at first.

“It’s good fits for us,” Elias said. “We’ve got Ryan Mountcastle at first base, a big right-handed bat, obviously. He’s not going to play 162 games out on the field, so we’re kind of looking for some left-handed depth bats, guys who will be able to come into camp and have a shot to compete and break, or provide depth during the season, provide us some flexibility if there’s injuries.”

The bullpen also is an area that could be addressed, but it isn’t a big priority.

“I think right now we’re definitely checking into any opportunities in the bullpen market, but it’s something that we’re a little bit more comfortable waiting and seeing how the market develops and concentrating on some other targets, specifically the starting rotation, kind of seeing if we do get another starter, how that ripples for the rest of the staff,” Elias said.

“We’ve got some young pitchers that could possibly, if they don’t make the opening day rotation, could slide into the bullpen. So, definitely would not rule out a bullpen acquisition, particularly of the veteran variety with our young group, but fair to say as I sit here today, we’re probably having more conversations about position players and starting pitchers.”

Did Trea Turner’s 11-year, $300 million contract with the Phillies convince everyone that the Orioles aren’t bidding on the top free agent shortstops?

Turner received a full no-trade clause. The Orioles are in full no-way mode when it comes to deals of that magnitude.

Again, checking in on a player isn’t the same as aggressively pursuing him. The Orioles don’t identify shortstop as a pressing need. The teams that do have much deeper pockets.