Hey, hey, fellow Baltimore Orioles fans!
You, loyal subjects of your cherished club who have suffered so much in recent years, including three 100+ defeats in the most recent six campaigns (not to mention the 115-loss season of 2018)!
Your favorite team is finally enjoying success and Oriole Park at Camden Yards is filling up, just as the wins are piling up. Your birds are flying towards a first division title since 2014 and you tell yourself that the future is good for a long time. Who knows, it is even allowed to dream of a World Series, a first since 1983.
There’s something to be happy about, right? Well now your landlord, John Angelos, has come to ruin the party. Indeed, the latter quoted, in an interview with the New York Times, that to keep the core of the team intact for the coming seasons, the only solution would be to dramatically increase the price of tickets! According to him, besides that with this maneuver, it would not be profitable and sustainable to keep together the Rutschmans, Mountcastles, Hendersons and Rodriguezs of this world.
A small market team
To justify himself, Angelos released the tape saying that the Orioles were a small market team. #Classic
The young guns of manager Brandon Hyde are doing miracles on the field, and this, with a payroll of only $70 million, which places them 28th in the league in this regard. Baltimore is far from the A’s, but that’s another story! We really have to tip our hats to the Maryland Recruiting and Roster Development team when explaining the team’s successes.
To return to John Angelos, he should be reminded that San Diego is not the biggest market, and yet the Padres are not afraid to take out the checkbook without wanting to pass the bill to the fans. This small market excuse is no longer valid in 2023. With TV contracts, revenue distribution, etc., there is no excuse. The only valid excuse in my opinion is to be stingy and to be an owner for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, it smells of fire sales in the years to come and Angelos is already testing the waters…
A questioning is necessary
If I were a Baltimore reporter, I would honestly question the team owner as to whether he fundamentally enjoys owning the Orioles.
Why go there from such a statement when the club is doing more than well on the ground, considering that Baltimore is ranked first in the American League and second in the MLB? Why would you want to add another layer of negative after the scandal surrounding the unfair suspension of Kevin Brown?
I even allow myself to add that the lease binding the team to their stadium expires on December 31 of this year, which is never a good sign and which only fuels rumors of a possible relocation. Is he the kind of man who doesn’t like when things are going well, suddenly?
One thing is certain, Baltimore Orioles fans deserve better!
