The end-of-season press conference Monday with president of baseball operations/general manager Mike Elias and interim manager Tony Mansolino covered such a wide range of topics that it’s going to be referenced for weeks.

The copy during a down period for non-playoff teams is stretched like leftovers. And every sentence gets dissected in the search for clues. 

Here are a few more items: 

* Don’t mistake a desire for veteran leadership for a fractured clubhouse.

The Orioles didn’t quit on Brandon Hyde or Tony Mansolino. They weren’t bickering. They weren’t demanding trades.

The frustration was a natural and desired reaction to losing. No team wants its players to casually accept defeat and become numb to it.

“I wouldn’t say things (were) wrong behind the scenes,” Mansolino said in direct response to a question posed about it. “I think when you’re losing games and especially when you have massive expectations, it feels like the world is falling apart around you. But no, in terms of the players, the staff, our preparation, hard to say that there were things standing out that were blatantly wrong.”

* Though it should be obvious that Mansolino wouldn’t shove a bunch of demands at the Orioles if they offered him the full-time position, he was asked about it anyway.

Mansolino wouldn’t expect to have full control over personnel moves. He knows how to stay in his lane unless the Orioles jerk the wheel.

“I think we’ve got really good personnel here. So no, I have all the faith and the trust in the leadership in the warehouse here to put the right group together, whatever that may be,” he said.

“It’s a really smart group, they’ve done it. You look back at these last two years, I don’t think people were complaining about the group that Mike put together. I think this year there’s a lot of extenuating circumstances that are well documented. As for me, I’m probably not super qualified in terms of looking at projections and I guess developing projections and putting the whole thing together, how modern front offices work.

“I do have a strong opinion on what a good team looks like, and Mike is really good about asking us all our opinions on that. And if asked, yeah, I will absolutely give my opinion on what a winning team looks like and how that goes, as opposed to which players are available and who’s out there and who’s internal. That’s more for a general manager or a president to decide.”

As long as Mansolino brought it up, what does a winning team look like?

“I think he’s got a lot of the pieces here right now, so I’ll just say that,” Mansolino said. “I think that’s fair to say. I think he’s got a lot of the pieces. And I think it’s probably going to look similar to a couple of the teams he built the last couple of years.”

* A team expected to make the playoffs couldn’t make it out of last place, and attendance suffered  because of it.

The Orioles drew 1,803,655 fans to Camden Yards, compared to 2,281,129 in 2024, for a decrease of 477,474. Only 22,267 fans on average attended home games this season.

The cure, of course, is winning. If you build a playoff team, they will come.

“I understand, we’ve got to do better,” Mansolino said.

“Baltimore is a blue collar city and they expect a lot out of their teams. And they rightfully should. We just need to do better as a team. We need to win more games and we need to give them a reason to want to come to the field and watch our games. Now, with that being said, I do think it’s important to kind of reach out and thank the city and let them know how much we do appreciate the support that they gave us in a lot of ways.

“This was a tough year and there were big expectations. I do still feel like there were a lot of nights where this place was full, and in spite of a losing record, and our players are thankful for that. I’m thankful for that. They made this as good as this could have been for us.”

Any moves made by the front office will be motivated by the desire to improve, regain winning status, make a run at a championship. If the Orioles are more aggressive spenders, it won’t be solely to appease the fan base. But again, the two go hand-in-hand.

More seats will be filled to cheer a contender.

“This was a very disappointing season,” Elias said. “There’s a lot of fallout from that and it affects your attendance in this business we’re in. We’re aware of that. We’re going to put together a team that we and our owners are excited about going into next season. I think that things will take care of themselves if we do what we need to do on the field and win.”

* The bar isn’t lowered to mere contention or the Wild Card or even the division. Teams just want a chance to roll the dice in October, but the Orioles aren’t letting this year’s crushing disappointment create doubts about their ability to hoist a World Series trophy for the first time since 1983.

They love a parade.

“It’s a goal for every organization,” Elias said. “Our group of players … we feel like we’re platforming ourselves to do that. We have the chance to do that in 2026. I speak that way because first things first, the regular season, you’ve got a 162-game regular season and winning the division is a huge accomplishment and then the playoffs come after that. But I feel like if we build a team that’s going to win the AL East, that’s a pretty good team for World Series aspirations, too.” 

In his opening statement Monday Elias referred to his “fixation” on improving the team and the results and “bouncing back to where this group of players and this organization can and should be.”

“There's a lot of work ahead of us,” he said. “Our goal for this offseason is when we start in Sarasota, to have a team that we all believe and that the baseball world believes and the rest of the division believes, is of equality to compete for the division title in 2026. So we're going to try to put that team together this winter and I will be laser focused on that work.”

* An injection of talent in the farm system after the trade deadline and draft makes it easier for Elias to find upgrades for his roster. He’s just got to be willing to part with certain players who might be deal breakers. In the past, he dug in his heels with players like Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo.

“I think we like where it is,” Elias said. “We think it’s in a better spot than the beginning of the season. … I really like our upper level pitching depth right now. We’ve got a number of guys that can factor into 2026, which is exciting. A lot of guys that can pitch in major league camp but then sort of start the year in Double- or Triple-A instead of being on the radar screen. That’s exciting for me.

“I believe we’ve got a Top 10 farm system right now, which is good currency for us in the offseason, not to mention what those players will do for this organization in the future.”

* The payroll keeps climbing and Elias keeps reminding media that he’s got more freedom to spend than in the past. A blatant example is the four-year, $180 million offered to starter Corbin Burnes, though his desire to pitch in Arizona prohibited him from accepting. But there’s also the self-imposed restrictions based on market size.

The Orioles want to beat the big-payroll teams but they won’t operate the same.

“I’ll say what I’ve been saying very consistently, I’m extremely impressed with this ownership group, the people that are in it, the way that it’s set up, the wherewithal financially but also business acumen that they have,” Elias said. “And I’ve been a part of a lot of good ones - St. Louis, Houston. I’ve seen a lot of high-performing, well-regarded ownership groups, and this group has a chance to be very elite and impactful for Baltimore. So I’m excited about it.

“It’s a plus, and they’re going to make available everything that we need to responsibly invest in the team and the baseball operation and the stadium and the facilities. You don’t want to be wasteful and you don’t do it for its own sake. But these guys are a huge positive for us, and I’m very blessed to have that behind me.”

* Here's a minor league note that doesn't come from the presser:

Triple-A Norfolk relievers Cionel Pérez, Corbin Martin and Scott Blewett, infielders Terrin Vavra and Vimael Machín and outfielder Jordyn Adam elected free agency.

Pérez was gone and mostly forgotten this season, a strange end to his Orioles career if he isn’t re-signed. He was a high-leverage lefty out of the bullpen, going 7-1 with a 1.40 ERA in 66 appearances in 2022 and surrendering only two home runs in 57 2/3 innings. A dip in 2023 still produced a 3.54 ERA in 2023, though his WHIP jumped from 1.162 to 1.556.

The ERA climbed to 4.53 in 62 games last season and the Orioles designated him for assignment on May 23 after he appeared in 19 games and allowed 20 earned runs and 22 total with 28 hits and 18 walks in 21 2/3 innings. Right-handers hit .358 with a 1.081 OPS.

The Orioles used 41 different pitchers, one shy of the club record set in 2021, but Pérez didn’t get another call.

Machín was a hitting machine in spring training and at Triple-A, but he went 1-for-11 with a home run in a brief trial with the Orioles and his defense wasn’t at a level that would keep him on the roster.