Orioles' CEO John Angelos Says Concerts At Camden Yards Are A Higher Priority Than The Baseball Team They Place On The Field

Ole Johnny Angelos just can't help himself, can he? He spoke at length with Orioles beat reporters a few days back about the state of the club, and if he was ever going to open those books he told us he was going to a few weeks back. He rarely speaks to the media and now we know why, the guy talks a ton and says almost nothing. Some of the quotes I was able to pick out and decipher were head scratchers though. 

Let's kick it off with something positive! We're now looking at the All-Star break as a target date to have a lease signed for the Orioles to stay in Camden Yards until the sun blows up and we are all no more than a speck of dust. That is great news for all O's fans who somehow think the club is going to pick up and move like the Colts did. That doesn't happen in baseball, teams don't just move. Go look at how many teams have moved in the last 50 years. 

Angelos has the ASB circled and that would be a great present for the fans as we watch Adley Rutschman and others in the All-Star game, also would be a great time for MLB to announce an All-Star game in Baltimore sometime soon. Well overdue. 

He wants Baltimore to become Tampa….and not like a place where old folks go to retire. He wants to mimic their off the field ways in the front office. That is great, but they haven't exactly won anything? They are unreal at drafting and developing talent….and then trading them away before they get too expensive. That isn't what fans want to hear. They did give Wander Franco that big deal, but again, they are known for shipping guys out and basically being cheap while still maintaining a spot near the top of the division and basically always making it into October. They have a formula and it works. 

Baltimore doesn't need to be Tampa, they have the resources to not be Tampa. Tampa and Cleveland and Milwaukee shouldn't be the benchmarks that Angelos and the front office looks at. Kick it up a notch, spend the money your dad used to, John. Don't settle for Tampa. I get that those teams have had regular season success, but they're also in the bottom half of payroll every year, the Orioles don't have to be. 

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I get you aren't going to make the massive leap in payroll to $100 Million overnight, but you have to start somewhere. You know what helps that? Spending money. Handing out extensions to a guy like Adley Rutschman or Ryan Mountcastle or Gunnar Henderson. That helps! Multi-year deals for free agents, those help too. 

And this quote about how the young team overachieved and over performed and how it isn't his job to predict payroll….ya kidding me? Isn't that your exact job? How are fans supposed to take that. "We can't spend because we overachieved last year"…okay well take advantage of that and spend some cash to get pieces into the rotation so you can keep that same success you saw glimpses off last year! I get that he wants the Orioles to be involved in the community with partnerships and all that, but you know what would help those partnerships? Winning year after year. Extensions. Free agents. Just saying bud. 

I can't even begin to pretend I understand what this quote means. He was happy the team was bad during the pandemic? Huh? This is a real quote?

The other big takeaway people were talking about is how Nathan Ruiz tweeted that Angelos "listing his priorities, in order, as bringing concerts to Camden Yards, the partnership with the city, then the team."

You heard it here first folks, the CEO of the Orioles is more worried about bringing concerts to Camden Yards once a year than he is the team. Insane. That is just insane. If that doesn't prove to you that these owners don't care about the product they put on the field and winning then I don't know what to tell you. At least we have Bruce Springsteen coming to town soon.

Mind boggling how bad this guy is at talking to the media and the answers he gives. In high school we had a senior superlative for "Talks The Most And Says The Least" which looking back on it is a really mean thing to do to a high schooler, but I think I know who would win the award down in Sarasota. 

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83 wins last year in a season that surprised us all, but this year isn't going to be a surprise. People know who the Orioles are, a very young team with a TON of talent and more to come. If you're an owner of a team like that and you are more jacked up to bring musical acts to the ballpark than talented baseball players who want to win, I don't know if this is the job for you. Open a concert hall, open a musical theater if you want to see Bruce so bad. Very, very frustrating to hear if you're an O's fan. 

Just going to leave this here. Let me know when Bruce Springsteen hits a triple for his first MLB hit.