Category: Baltimore

Mr. Trash Wheel will be in a book!

I welcome the new Orioles owners

They have to be an improvement over John Angelos who is a stingy liar. Now we will see if the new owners spend the money to keep the Orioles’ best young players or sign a free agent starting pitcher. I am a little concerned that these are private equity guys but we’ll see if they apply tough tactics to the Orioles finances. I sure hope not.

If they want to sell naming rights to the stadium, I am fine with that if they use the money on player salaries.

The Baltimore Sun has been sold to an extreme right-wing owner

This is terrible news. I encourage everyone to read the Baltimore Banner.

My take on the John Angelos fiasco

The Orioles are having a great season on the field but a terrible one off the field thanks to John Angelos who now runs the team.

They haven’t signed an extension to the lease which runs out at the end of this year. Both the Orioles and Ravens get $600 million from the state for stadium upgrades if they sign the extension which the Ravens have done.

Baltimore fans worry about moving the team because we are scarred by the move of the Colts almost 40 years ago. It’s not likely but here’s a scenario I haven’t seen discussed: How about the Orioles moving to Nashville and Baltimore getting an expansion team? Something similar happened in 1961 when the Senators moved to Minnesota and Washington got a new team (that is now the Rangers). I don’t think MLB would leave Baltimore without a team but this is a small market.

Angelos’s ideas are not realistic and asking for another $300 million is outrageous. There is not enough room downtown for what he wants to do. Why make unreasonable demands? Is this an excuse to move the team?

Camden Yards looks great but I think the next Baltimore stadium will be in the suburbs because of the perceived safety issues. I also think it will have a dome because of global warming.

Then there’s the apparent suspension of broadcaster Kevin Brown and Brown’s tweets, which as others have noted, read like a hostage video. Angelos was wrong on this, too. Brown’s contract is up and I wouldn’t be shocked if he left after this year. We have been through this before too when Angelos’s father forced Jon Miller out of town.

The Pepsi sign on I-83 has been replaced

I wrote about it before:

Baltimore’s Pepsi sign

My take on the 2023 Orioles

The 2022 Orioles won 83 games after winning only 52 in 2022. Will they fall back in 2023? Most predictions I have seen predict they will only win in the 70s. I predict they will win 87.

There is a precedent for the Orioles’ big jump.

1988: 54 wins

1989: 87 wins

1990: 75 wins

This time is different. The farm system is much better than it was in 1990. There are lots of players close to being ready for the majors that they can bring up or trade. They will have full seasons of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson.

I do think they didn’t do enough in the offseason but their minor moves do make the team slightly better.

It will all come down to pitching. Can the bullpen repeat their excellent performance of last year? That will be tough but it’s possible,. I think there will be improvements in the starting pitching especially if Grayson Rodriguez and D L Hall come up and John Means does well whenever he returns.

I am looking forward to the season. I think the Orioles will be good and enjoyable to watch.

The Athletic

The Orioles have enough money to keep their young players

A few weeks ago, John Angelos, who runs the Orioles, held up the Rays as his role model. The Rays do not spend a lot of money. Now, we learn that the Orioles were the fourth most profitable team in baseball. They also have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.

It was obvious that the Orioles were not going to keep Manny Machado in 2018. The team was bad and they didn’t want to spend the money.

The situation now is different. The team is good and they should find a way to lock up players like Adley Rutschman on long-term deals. Other teams have done it with their young stars. It would be terrible for the Orioles to accumulate all this young talent and let it leave. They can afford to keep the players.

History of Orioles payroll amounts