SAN DIEGO — Orioles general manager Mike Elias repeatedly has said every possible avenue of talent acquisition will be tapped to get the organization back to sustainable competitiveness.



That includes opening the dormant international pipeline, being laser-focused on the amateur draft and trading big-league commodities for minor leaguers who may help down the road.



In one year, Elias and his group have jumped knee-deep into all of those areas.



But there’s another avenue, a less-traveled road maybe, that it appears Elias has sidestepped. Something that, according to sources, the young executive wanted to explore a year ago and hasn’t been able to make happen. Something, frankly, that appears to be out of his control — which is not a good sign.



And that avenue is adding a bad contract from another team in order to acquire a legitimate prospect in return.



The best guess here is that Orioles’ ownership has tied...