Oriole’s owner Peter Angelos is constantly under the heat of Baltimore fans, many of whom blame the O’s owner for the failures of the organization. Angelos has become a scapegoat by fans for the 11 straight losing seasons the Orioles have had since 1998.
Image Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun
In 2008 Angelos hired Andy MacPhail to be the Orioles’ President of Baseball Operations. MacPhail told fans that he would not take the job if he did not feel that he had control in Baltimore. Since his time here, the O’s traded Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada for much of their current talent including Adam Jones, Luke Scott and George Sherrill, as well as several prospects in the minors. Whether you like it or not, he also made a legitimate offer to slugger Mark Teixeira, he resigned Nick Markakis to a 6 year deal making him the face of the franchise and he brought back Brian Roberts.
Recently, Angelos said that he would be willing to take the necessary steps to ensure that Baltimore keeps the Preakness Stakes, which has recently been threatened due to the owner’s bankruptcy.
“I’m an interested citizen that wants to see that the Preakness retained in Maryland because it is a fundamental element to the history of the state,” Angelos said. He has been outspoken in his support for slots in Maryland. “It relates to horse racing and horse breeding, which has been part of Maryland since Colonial days,” he said.
Angelos recently traveled to Florida to check out the Orioles’ proposed spring training complex and he attended a game in Jupiter against the St. Louis Cardinals. According to the Baltimore Sun, Angelos “confirmed the Orioles are planning to make a significant free-agent push when the team gets within range of contending for a playoff berth next winter or in advance of the 2011 season.”
With all of the news I think that it is crazy for any Baltimore fan to be upset with Peter Angelos. Do you think that he has done everything in his power to put the Orioles’ on the right track?
I can’t begin to tell you the verbal abuse I absorb because I support Peter Angelos despite some very difficult years. Sometimes I feel like I am the only person in town that understands there is alot more to the Orioles difficulties than his decision making.
To get this out of the way, if there is one thing I can call Angelo’s out on, perhaps its running Davey Johnson out of town years ago, but that’s done, it was a bad move, but otherwise, good move or bad since, his intent to improve the ball club has been genuine, it just has not worked out.
Factors to consider. First, the O’s are in the AL east competing against the two biggest markets in all of baseball. Baltimore will never outspend NY and Boston. Angelos has money, but he has a business to support, there is a cost to keeping reasonable ticket prices (which we are fortunate to have, go online and see what a good seat in NY costs). Also, the TV and the merchandise revenue is never going to compete with those big markets, even if the O’s field an amazing team, we will always be facing an uphill climb. Its the leagues fault for not placing any value in parity and fairness like the NFL does. You can’t pin this on the Orioles owner.
One of the complaints I hear, is “he is cheap, he does not spend enough”. That is not fact, just look at the payroll history of the club during the loosing years. Angelos routinely spends well ahead of the league median average. Usually by a wide margin of tens of millions of dollars. Typically the O’s payroll is one of the dozen or so highest in all of baseball, but with the unbalanced schedule (which is a crock), and with the two biggest markets to contend with as a result, what it equals is an unfair condition that Oriole fans have had to cope with. Peter Angelos is a smart business man, but he can’t just snap his fingers and have another hundred million for talent appear on the field. New York and Boston have the revenue, they have a fan base in towns that have very wealthy people that dont mind overpaying for a ticket. You can’t blame Peter for this.
How do the Orioles get back to where they need to be you ask? I think Macphail has a solid plan, its simple, get young talent, nurture it, treat them with courtesy and bring them up to have respect for the organization that places stock in them, and hopefully we gain some loyalty and guys will stay for a little less than they might be able to make elsewhere, knowing its not because the Orioles undervalue them, its just where the realistic numbers are to play in the town you grow to love. Nick Markakis may have made more elsewhere, but he is loyal to Baltimore, lets hope the Orioles find more of the young talent taking that stance when free agency looms a few years down the road.
Any way you slice it, its going to be an uphill battle with the skewed unbalanced and unfair schedule in the AL East. As long as the schedule is not balanced, and you have no salary cap, its going to take some real Orioles magic to put a winner on the field. Angelos wants it as much as you do, if not more so.
I completely agree Cliff. You really nailed it with your response. Angelos does spend money, even during losing seasons and unfortunately for the Orioles turning around their team takes a lot of time.
Not only is Major League Baseball an entirely different beast than the NFL, where a team can go 1-15 and then win the division…but the O’s are trying to go from zero to hero in arguably the toughest division in all of baseball.
If you were upset with Mr. A before you can’t be now. He has done everything to put the right pieces in place now. It’s time to be patient.
I agree with both of you. There was a time in the late ’90s when I was very upset with Mr. Angelos. Coming off two playoff seasons and then watching Davey Johnson leave, it left a sour taste in my mouth, and much of my anger was directed at the owner, for what I thought was too much meddling in baseball decisions.
But now that he has hired Andy MacPhail to turn the team around and has bascially let him do what he needs to do without meddling while providing him a reasonable amount of funds to work with…I have to say I don’t have any beef with Mr. Angelos any more. I’m only hoping that the time it takes to turn around the team shows some consistent progress.
I think a lot of people felt that Mr. Angelos was micro-managing when we had an influx of front office personnel/managers and let go of some good people. The O’s became a sort of laughing stock in the world of baseball and that was not fun to live through.
I still have that as a concern- let the baseball guys make the baseball decisions (granted it is his money). Andy MacPhail has seemed to reign him in, so I’m hopeful. I dig Macphail.
The Davey Johnson thing- so long Manager of the year- major pricker for me as well.
The thing with Petey is he is a lawyer who has made a killing off other people’s misery, I don’t think that qualifies him as a smart business man. It qualifies him as a smart lawyer. There is only one lawyer I like- but know plenty- and it is becuase we are related. My point is, I think that profession is generally viewed by the public with a negative attitude.
He doesn’t like to lose either. And in our runs in 96, 97, and the bust in 98 his wallet was def. open! Definitely open!!!
I have a whole lot of reason to be optimistic though, like you all have pointed out.
O-R-I-O-L-E-S, Orioles magic!
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