Last October, after a magical season ending with a postseason sweep, Mike Elias said it was too early to discuss offseason plans when asked about payroll. “I’m just in Day 1 of our offseason,” Elias said a year ago.

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.

Elias said he might have prioritized pitching too much and will have to approach the trade deadline differently in future seasons.