The Orioles didn’t rush through the process of hiring a general manager. They were deliberate in beginning the search but then became immersed in it.

President of baseball operations Mike Elias went through about a dozen candidates over the past year before zeroing in on Cubs assistant GM Jared Banner. Elias pointed to Banner’s “skill sets, the experiences that he had, but also his personality to his leadership skills.”

“I think this whole president/GM setup that started, I don’t know, 10 years ago in this business, it came about because there is so much work to do now to run a front office,” Elias said. “It is really 24/7 every day. We have such big operations, we have so many communications that we need to do internally and externally. It’s really hard for one person, one front office, to lead all that. But this has also become a method for keeping and recruiting outside front office talent and utilizing these titles for that.

“We didn’t want to use it on (just) anyone. We had to make sure that we found the right person and we talked to a lot of people over a very long period of time before we landed on Jared.”

Banner got the job after meeting with control owner David Rubenstein, president of business operations Catie Griggs, and members of  the ownership group that included Mike Arougheti, Mitch Goldstein, Michael Smith and Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. The session with Ripken lasted about 90 minutes, and they’re having lunch later today.

Who picks up that check?

Banner also has talked to another Cooperstown inductee, Jim Palmer, and Orioles Hall of Famer Adam Jones, who serves as a special advisor and community ambassador.

“It’s my turn to listen and learn the organization,” Banner said, “and then hopefully we can do some damage here.”

The conversations and meetings with ownership and the front office enlightened Banner to the culture that the Orioles want to build. What he hoped for is confirmed.

“But most importantly, they want to win, everyone wants to win, and that’s what we’re gonna do,” he said.

A deep background in player development drew Banner to Ripken and Mike Shildt, who was hired last November as upper-level minor league coordinator of instruction. Among the many topics over the past week is how individual success can become intertwined with winning.

“I like him,” Ripken said yesterday. “He’s a good baseball guy that’s been involved in many different things. I like his player development background because I think that’s what we’re looking to improve on.

“I spent a lot of time with the minor league guys last year, just trying to put some of the old fundamentals back into place and kind of teach them a little situational baseball and all that good stuff. You only have so much time to work on things and you’ve to prioritize what things you want to develop. Jared certainly has a good player development background, so I’m looking forward to getting to know him.”

Elias said he’d like Shildt to return next season. Banner said Ripken will remain “very involved.”

“We want smart, talented people around us, no matter what form or shape they come in,” Banner said. “In his case, he’s the Iron Man. That’s awesome. So looking forward to that.”

Banner also has spoken several times with manager Craig Albernaz. Banner will incorporate some of his player development practices without disrupting Albernaz’s autonomy to run the team.

It requires a certain amount of balance.

“I can tell he’s hungry for information. He wants to make the team better, just like we all do. So we’re going to find a way to figure it out,” Banner said.

“It’s a puzzle, and we’re problem solvers.”

*The MLBPA Players Choice Awards will be revealed later today.

Chris Bassitt joins Nico Hoerner and Pablo López as finalists for the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award.