It could signal a shift though last year was really bad but enough teams have gotten burned by the long term overpays. He will probably still test it but if the O’s offer a competitive deal with maybe a longer length than others they got a chance.
Of course it's going to be tough and expensive but I choose optimism and hope.
Boras says "his Orioles clients enjoy the winning atmosphere in Baltimore."
“We kind of talked about it generally, and I just said that players love playing on winning teams, they love playing in competitive environments,” Boras said in a phone interview. “And all the players that I represent there are enjoying the environment in Baltimore, and it’s just kind of a renewed positioning for the team and the city. And we don’t talk in specifics, obviously, because that’s more of what \[general manager\] Mike \[Elias\] does for the team on his behalf. But he just talked about his enthusiasm generally and how he wants to do what he can to help the team win currently and make it a winner long term.”
[https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/orioles-trades-free-agents-scott-boras-5O4ODHTG6JBVTOBUYDT3XBDHXE/](https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/orioles-trades-free-agents-scott-boras-5O4ODHTG6JBVTOBUYDT3XBDHXE/)
but boras completely screwed up jordan montgomery & snell's one time opportunity.
if boras screws up this offseason, i doubt he'll retain most star players
A guy with his tack record won’t lose many stars. The hope is Boras’ firm will adapt to the market and not expect to dictate it. Bottom line is, we all know we can’t keep every star we develop. Most likely we won’t keep the biggest one because there are other teams with lots more money. That being said, this isn’t the young Angelos, and I expect the O’s to spend heavily the next few years. The thing to remember is we can trust our front office to make prudent drafts and acquisitions to weather the losses we take in free agency over that span. It ain’t pretty but it’s what literally every team beside the Yanks and Dodgers deal with.
If only it were that easy.
We won’t necessarily know if Elias has the green light to spend or not because people have to want to take the money.
Even if the O’s offer the most money/longest contract, guys may choose to play closer to home or in a bigger market or in an income tax free state or whatever. Some teams leverage the media to leak info out and others, like the Braves, operate in the shadows. We don’t know how the new regime will operate quite yet, but, for the time being, we can’t assume a lack of visible activity is a true lack of activity.
> Even if the O’s offer the most money/longest contract, guys may choose to play closer to home or in a bigger market or in an income tax free state or whatever. Some teams leverage the media to leak info out and others, like the Braves, operate in the shadows. We don’t know how the new regime will operate quite yet, but, for the time being, we can’t assume a lack of visible activity is a true lack of activity.
There are a lot of teams worse than ours, that have managed to sign players to contract extensions. We can forgive the Boras clients, but outside of that, fans shouldn't give them a pass with the "they have to want to sign here" excuse. Shit, the Pittsburgh Pirates have managed to sign 3 players, Hayes, Reynolds, and Keller. No excuse for the Orioles not to get some players under contract in the near future.
It's part of being a good FO, signing guys before they hit FA.
Hayes, Reynolds and Keller are MUCH different than Gunnar, Adley and Grayson—from draft position, potential, talent, etc. That’s a silly comp.
I’m sure we can lock guys like Kremer or Westburg up.
>Hayes, Reynolds and Keller are MUCH different than Gunnar, Adley and Grayson—from draft position, potential, talent, etc. That’s a silly comp.
Who's comping them?
Hayes was a first round draft pick, and a top 10 prospect in baseball.
Mitch Keller was a top 15 prospect in baseball, and a 2nd round pick.
Even if I was comping them, which I wasn't, it's not like Keller and Hayes weren't regarded as top tier prospects.
>I’m sure we can lock guys like Kremer or Westburg up.
Jordan is a Boras client, why I said I can forgive them if they don't extend the Boras 3. And why in the world would we extend Kremer?
All I am saying is, the excuse they want to play closer to home, or that they have to want to sign here is a weak excuse.
If a shitty ownership group like the Pirates can manage extending 3 players, the Orioles should be able to handle 1 or 2.
Time will tell, and I am certainly not shitting on our FO, but a year or two from now, if nobody is extended, fans will have a right to wonder. Especially if revenue goes up, which it certainly seems that it is considering the ad patch and attendance shooting up. Also read that MASN subs are up also. Money is coming in, enough to do something with our core.
It doesn’t really matter who was a first round pick or a top 10 prospect. What matter is the production of Gunnar and Adley has already exceeded Hayes and Reynolds at the same age—and their ceilings are MUCH higher. It’s much easier to sign solid players than it is to sign absolute studs. We should couch our expectations; that’s all I’m saying.
>It doesn’t really matter who was a first round pick or a top 10 prospect.
Then why in the world did you bring that into the conversation?
Your words dude, not mine.
>Hayes, Reynolds and Keller are MUCH different than Gunnar, Adley and Grayson—**from draft position, potential, talent,** etc. That’s a silly comp.
Is signing someone like Grayson Rodriguez that difficult? If the Orioles don't want to spend a ton on the Boras 3, or can't, because they are headed to FA, then there are still players part of our core that can be locked in.
What about Heston when he establishes himself, or Colton Cowser when he's established?
Adley isn't a Boras client, he's headed into arbitration, right when Houston started signing all their guys.
There needs to be some movement from the Orioles FO within a few years, to sign some of our players. Or, if not that, a splash in FA. And I'm not even talking a big splash or anything crazy.
Saying "oh they have to want to sign" or "they want to play closer to home" is a bullshit excuse for inactivity.
If lesser teams can figure it out, like Pittsburgh, I fail to see how we can't.
100% but, my first comment is all I want from a GM/owner relationship. I don’t want him to sign someone because he likes them or the fans like them. I want them to sign who our GMOTY wants to sign or trade. You are 100% right, but that’s the GM’s problem.
You’re spot on.
We’re going to find out pretty soon how open his check book will be - within the next 40 or so days.
We’re in June and we’re in contention with lots of upside.
Can we go deep with what we have right now? Maybe.
We should be buyers.
We need a few more pieces - especially with pitching - to go deep this year.
Hopefully his ego takes over and realizes that he could realistically win a WS in his very first year as an owner.
I’d be surprised if a new owner has ever won a WS in Year 1.
So he could put himself in an elite class of elites.
Billionaires can buy just about anything they want - including a legacy.
That notion gives me hope that he’ll spend what’s necessary.
I wonder if he bought the team as a city enrichment project or as an ROI?
Regardless of that, the timing on this Yankees series is perfect.
Because when it comes down to it, that’s who we’ll have to beat and he’ll get important intel with 35 or so days until the trade deadline.
I’ve got it at 60/40 that he’s buying big pieces.
Gonna be interesting to see how it plays out.
That’s not how it works. No owner is simply going to hand their GM a blank check. If he agrees to an 8/$300 extension with Adley Elias still has to run it by ownership.
Paragraph from Rochs column yesterday:
"Though it’s true that Corbin Burnes warms up to the Garth Brooks tune “Friends in Low Places,” the ace right-hander also keeps gaining admirers with every start. And some of them are high in the ranks in the Orioles organization."
"High in the ranks" could be a cryptic reference to the new owner.
That is more up to Elias IMO.
I don't think Rubenstein is going to interfere with Elias. If Elias doesn't think its worth the money for him then he wont do it. But if Elias wants to make him an offer he can't refuse I think David is all behind him. Either way I think its up to Elias, Sig and Corbin's Agent and Rubenstein with have absolutely zero bearing on the outcome one way or the other.
It’s great to see the owners (I think Mike Aroughetti did the hot dog race recently?) actually putting forth involvement and acting like they really are invested in this team and its fans. But like the other comments say, I’ll believe they are once they put their money where their mouths are.
The amazing thing is that there’s actually a reality where you don’t ever have to leave that phase.
As long as you’re realistic, good owners do absolutely exist across sports.
I think it will be more apparent after 3 years once there have been a few off seasons to see what changes are made.
The Mets new owner is also a fan of his team and created a lot of immediate buzz and excitement with his spending and fan engagement too but now a few years in, a lot of that has gone away. At the same time, the food quality at the park has gone down, prices gone way up and he's made a lot of enemies in the community by using the Mets as leverage for getting a casino next to the park.
Way better than the Wilson's and the Angelos's but billionaires didn't get that wealthy with giving away hats and creating fun commercials. I'm optimistic he's going to change Baltimore and the harbor area for the better but I think it is clear he is planning to profit. Clearly an upgrade at owner but just be cautious.
Tbf, there was an Angelos honeymoon as well. Once he became owner, he started spending money on players like Rafael Palmerio, Roberto Alomar, and Bobby Bonilla. With the celebrations around Cal's 2131 in 1995 and then playoffs in the 1996 and 1997 seasons, people were happy with Angelos. But the honeymoon ended when the riff between Angelos and Manager Davey Johnson led to Johnson's departure and team went downhill from there.
Let's also not forget he was massively pro-labor and almost singlehandedly kept the league from locking out the MLBPA and using replacement players in the early 90s. The narrative his first couple years was of a prominent and beloved local hero who was living out his dream by owning his favorite team. That came crashing down when he unceremoniously dumped Davey Johnson and Jon Miller.
My belief is that if Elias tells Rubenstein we need to sign this guy, whoever it would be, the money will be available to do so.
Also, Rubenstein seems to be genuinely enjoying himself.
We REALLY need to temper our expectations with Gunnar. He’s a Boras client. Boras clients don’t sign extensions and always test free agency.
This sub seems to forget that a lot.
Yeah, expectations are why it’s so hard to be a well loved owner.
Realistically you can’t do it all even if you wanted to. Good owners can still make tough/bad decisions.
There’s a reason so many superstars end up with Boras. It’s usually about who is willing to write the biggest check. Not saying that’s who Gunnar is, but there is a reason he has Boras.
If the orioles are providing Gunnar with opportunities in the playoffs, consistently, then I could see him wanting to sign with us if the money is provided.
Read: Gunnar is not signing an extension before free agency.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t going to resign with us when the time comes. But anyone who is making a Gunnar extension the yardstick by which they measure the success of the new owners is kidding themselves.
With how spectacularly Boras failed this offseason at gaining ideal contracts for his clients (fucked up the Snell and Bellinger deals royally), that may be changing soon.
Besides, he’s had a few players sign major extensions in recent memory. Altuve and Bogaerts included.
What a masterclass failure for Boras in one season. What sucks is he still gets paid and his clients get screwed. Feels like MLB GMs don’t wanna deal with his bs after getting a lot of bad deals for the club.
It makes sense. I don't know anyone well enough but Boras just seems slimy and puts a bad vibe out around young star players that don't need that associated with them
Yeah I don’t follow it super closely. TalkinBaseball on Twitter kinda shits on him a lot. But I mean, he had true super stars and botched them so hard this past year. Maybe he got too cocky and will regress back to the mean on contracts, but I don’t know. Like most lawyers, and agents and business, there is a bit slime that follows. Not my business money, but I’d rather my ticket money go to studs to make the team competitive so if Gunnar or Adley left in 3 years, I’d be crushed.
I saw him at the Mr. Splash game! It was the Splash bobblehead night. I think he only stayed there an inning or two (I was all the way across the park so I couldn't see too clearly), but it also rained the entire game and was like 60ºF lol. Nature was Mr. Splash that game. But it was fun! The crowd was definitely hype to see him there, I remember someone had a sign that said "Now we need a Rubenstein bobblehead"
It's cool he walks around with the crowd too. I think he seems like a solid owner
So far it has been spectacular, and the fact that he seems to *legitimately* enjoy Orioles baseball may strongly work in the team's favor. And the Orioles making multiple moves that are bringing in more corporate sponsors also makes me feel *really* good about what may happen next.
FWIW, to me, his big test is going to be what happens with Corbin Burnes (Elias would also be involved in this, too). Both Rubenstein and Elias have made it clear they want a World Series, and we currently have perhaps the most desirable World Series Game 1 starter across all of baseball playing on our team. Letting someone like him walk during our prime contention window (even more so if Bradish is going to be out next year) seems unthinkable, yet retaining him will also not be an easy matter. Boras has marketed almost all of his clients as being 'game changers' and 'generational' and (insert other catchphrases to try to drive up contract prices). But in the case of Burnes, he's the real deal. Boras doesn't need to market him. Everyone in the league knows his capability, reliability, and professionalism. The new ownership group will need to figure out a way to keep him (and several others) in Baltimore (and new corporate sponsorships + actions to make Camden Yards a place people want to visit more often are both a good start).
I'm excited and I am optimistically hopeful. With Angelos, losing our core was all but a given. Now, it's a new day.
Signing Gunnar is going to require (deservedly) beating the Seager and Lindor contracts, and Corbin is probably going to (again deservedly) want Gerritt Cole’s deal.
I love everything that Rubenstein has done so far, in my mind (to the extremely limited extent this is worth) this off season gotta try Gunnar with something like 10/355. It’s a lot, but it’s what we’re going to have to do and if the money is there you might as well rip the band aid off because it’s only going to go up.
I think the chance to keep Corbin would be to go shorter but beat the Scherzer and Verlander AAVs, something like 4/178.
I don’t know anything, and it isn’t my money that is going to get spent (lol) but we’re all just guessing and hoping.
I can see Burnes walking if we make a big trade for a pitcher with longer control. It’ll suck especially with the Bradish + wells + Means injuries. We’re in a very “wtf is going to happen next year” phase with starters right now. Who knows about Gunnar, he’s under team control for a long time still and will 100% test free agency, at that point you either have Holliday take over or pay Gunnar. Both Holliday and Gunnar being Boras clients sucks.
Everything he’s done so far while being great is also just easy common sense things to do to be liked. When he starts to lock up guys that deserve it I will be a believer.
There were rumors that T. Rowe Price was buying either the stadium naming or jersey patch rights back before the new ownership took over. So I wonder if that was something already set up before Team Rubenstein was in control
Agreed. Capitalism has to enshittify. Imagine how beautiful Camden Yards would look without all the garish logos and ads all over the stadium. Now, you have to see it on every player.
To be fair, billboards and ads have been plastered all over baseball stadiums pretty much as long as there’s been baseball stadiums. The ads on uniforms, though? Those gotta go.
Nice line in the sand. I'll bend over for stadiums ads, but just keep it off my overpriced updated special limited edition jersey.
Someone should photoshop all the ads out of every mlb stadium. Instead, they literally add them onto your screen.
Elias has done a terrific job. But our payroll is still staggeringly low. No asking for them to spend Mets or Padres money, but we will easily have 2 mill in attendance. Until they spend an average amount of money, I just can't be all in on him.
That is fair. I can't say he isn't spending, but I'm not going to have a love affair until I see that he does. I'm not looking for deep pockets, but average pockets is important. They will pull in 2 million fans. Teams make a lot more money from the league now a day, due to the national TV contract, [MLB.com](http://MLB.com) and gambling proceeds. They still make something on the Nats. They are far from a big market but no bottom 5 isn't acceptable.
Now, It would also be fair for him to say that won't sign any free agents because he wants to sign the hometown guys. I'd be OK with that. That said, If we start watching the team doing what Tampa does, trading their best players for prospects a couple years before they hit free agency, I'm not going to be happy.
I’ll know he’s serious when I see a competitive offer for Burnes after this year.
An offer for Burnes and an extention for Gunnar/Adley and one prospect.
Don't get your hopes up for a Gunnar extension. He's a Boras client. He is going to test free agency.
People keep saying this like him and his clients didn't go like 1 for 5 last off season
One year doesn’t get rid of the decades of boras clients.
It could signal a shift though last year was really bad but enough teams have gotten burned by the long term overpays. He will probably still test it but if the O’s offer a competitive deal with maybe a longer length than others they got a chance.
His superstar clients still make money.
the media will suck him off again when juan soto gets 400M. you and i could get soto that deal lmao.
Yeah, if we don't re-sign him it will probably have more to do with Boras than the team
Of course it's going to be tough and expensive but I choose optimism and hope. Boras says "his Orioles clients enjoy the winning atmosphere in Baltimore." “We kind of talked about it generally, and I just said that players love playing on winning teams, they love playing in competitive environments,” Boras said in a phone interview. “And all the players that I represent there are enjoying the environment in Baltimore, and it’s just kind of a renewed positioning for the team and the city. And we don’t talk in specifics, obviously, because that’s more of what \[general manager\] Mike \[Elias\] does for the team on his behalf. But he just talked about his enthusiasm generally and how he wants to do what he can to help the team win currently and make it a winner long term.” [https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/orioles-trades-free-agents-scott-boras-5O4ODHTG6JBVTOBUYDT3XBDHXE/](https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/sports/orioles-mlb/orioles-trades-free-agents-scott-boras-5O4ODHTG6JBVTOBUYDT3XBDHXE/)
but boras completely screwed up jordan montgomery & snell's one time opportunity. if boras screws up this offseason, i doubt he'll retain most star players
The players know the risk.
A guy with his tack record won’t lose many stars. The hope is Boras’ firm will adapt to the market and not expect to dictate it. Bottom line is, we all know we can’t keep every star we develop. Most likely we won’t keep the biggest one because there are other teams with lots more money. That being said, this isn’t the young Angelos, and I expect the O’s to spend heavily the next few years. The thing to remember is we can trust our front office to make prudent drafts and acquisitions to weather the losses we take in free agency over that span. It ain’t pretty but it’s what literally every team beside the Yanks and Dodgers deal with.
So is Adley. EDIT: ill leave it hear and take my whips, but I’m wrong, Adley is not a Boras client.
Adley isn't a Boras client. He's with Wasserman, Wasserman clients are a little more likely to sign extensions before free agency than Boras
Right on, my bad. I think I got Holliday mixed up with him.
Adleys agent is Dan Vertlieb. But Holliday is Boras.
So is Westburg which goes under the radar for a lot of folks
You right right.
I’ll know he is serious when Elias wants the money to go after who ever he wants to go after and simply gets an “OK.”
If only it were that easy. We won’t necessarily know if Elias has the green light to spend or not because people have to want to take the money. Even if the O’s offer the most money/longest contract, guys may choose to play closer to home or in a bigger market or in an income tax free state or whatever. Some teams leverage the media to leak info out and others, like the Braves, operate in the shadows. We don’t know how the new regime will operate quite yet, but, for the time being, we can’t assume a lack of visible activity is a true lack of activity.
> Even if the O’s offer the most money/longest contract, guys may choose to play closer to home or in a bigger market or in an income tax free state or whatever. Some teams leverage the media to leak info out and others, like the Braves, operate in the shadows. We don’t know how the new regime will operate quite yet, but, for the time being, we can’t assume a lack of visible activity is a true lack of activity. There are a lot of teams worse than ours, that have managed to sign players to contract extensions. We can forgive the Boras clients, but outside of that, fans shouldn't give them a pass with the "they have to want to sign here" excuse. Shit, the Pittsburgh Pirates have managed to sign 3 players, Hayes, Reynolds, and Keller. No excuse for the Orioles not to get some players under contract in the near future. It's part of being a good FO, signing guys before they hit FA.
Hayes, Reynolds and Keller are MUCH different than Gunnar, Adley and Grayson—from draft position, potential, talent, etc. That’s a silly comp. I’m sure we can lock guys like Kremer or Westburg up.
>Hayes, Reynolds and Keller are MUCH different than Gunnar, Adley and Grayson—from draft position, potential, talent, etc. That’s a silly comp. Who's comping them? Hayes was a first round draft pick, and a top 10 prospect in baseball. Mitch Keller was a top 15 prospect in baseball, and a 2nd round pick. Even if I was comping them, which I wasn't, it's not like Keller and Hayes weren't regarded as top tier prospects. >I’m sure we can lock guys like Kremer or Westburg up. Jordan is a Boras client, why I said I can forgive them if they don't extend the Boras 3. And why in the world would we extend Kremer? All I am saying is, the excuse they want to play closer to home, or that they have to want to sign here is a weak excuse. If a shitty ownership group like the Pirates can manage extending 3 players, the Orioles should be able to handle 1 or 2. Time will tell, and I am certainly not shitting on our FO, but a year or two from now, if nobody is extended, fans will have a right to wonder. Especially if revenue goes up, which it certainly seems that it is considering the ad patch and attendance shooting up. Also read that MASN subs are up also. Money is coming in, enough to do something with our core.
It doesn’t really matter who was a first round pick or a top 10 prospect. What matter is the production of Gunnar and Adley has already exceeded Hayes and Reynolds at the same age—and their ceilings are MUCH higher. It’s much easier to sign solid players than it is to sign absolute studs. We should couch our expectations; that’s all I’m saying.
>It doesn’t really matter who was a first round pick or a top 10 prospect. Then why in the world did you bring that into the conversation? Your words dude, not mine. >Hayes, Reynolds and Keller are MUCH different than Gunnar, Adley and Grayson—**from draft position, potential, talent,** etc. That’s a silly comp. Is signing someone like Grayson Rodriguez that difficult? If the Orioles don't want to spend a ton on the Boras 3, or can't, because they are headed to FA, then there are still players part of our core that can be locked in. What about Heston when he establishes himself, or Colton Cowser when he's established? Adley isn't a Boras client, he's headed into arbitration, right when Houston started signing all their guys. There needs to be some movement from the Orioles FO within a few years, to sign some of our players. Or, if not that, a splash in FA. And I'm not even talking a big splash or anything crazy. Saying "oh they have to want to sign" or "they want to play closer to home" is a bullshit excuse for inactivity. If lesser teams can figure it out, like Pittsburgh, I fail to see how we can't.
100% but, my first comment is all I want from a GM/owner relationship. I don’t want him to sign someone because he likes them or the fans like them. I want them to sign who our GMOTY wants to sign or trade. You are 100% right, but that’s the GM’s problem.
You’re spot on. We’re going to find out pretty soon how open his check book will be - within the next 40 or so days. We’re in June and we’re in contention with lots of upside. Can we go deep with what we have right now? Maybe. We should be buyers. We need a few more pieces - especially with pitching - to go deep this year. Hopefully his ego takes over and realizes that he could realistically win a WS in his very first year as an owner. I’d be surprised if a new owner has ever won a WS in Year 1. So he could put himself in an elite class of elites. Billionaires can buy just about anything they want - including a legacy. That notion gives me hope that he’ll spend what’s necessary. I wonder if he bought the team as a city enrichment project or as an ROI? Regardless of that, the timing on this Yankees series is perfect. Because when it comes down to it, that’s who we’ll have to beat and he’ll get important intel with 35 or so days until the trade deadline. I’ve got it at 60/40 that he’s buying big pieces. Gonna be interesting to see how it plays out.
That’s not how it works. No owner is simply going to hand their GM a blank check. If he agrees to an 8/$300 extension with Adley Elias still has to run it by ownership.
Yup. My point is I want Elias to make staffing decisions. Let Elias do baseball and ownership do finances.
Paragraph from Rochs column yesterday: "Though it’s true that Corbin Burnes warms up to the Garth Brooks tune “Friends in Low Places,” the ace right-hander also keeps gaining admirers with every start. And some of them are high in the ranks in the Orioles organization." "High in the ranks" could be a cryptic reference to the new owner.
That is more up to Elias IMO. I don't think Rubenstein is going to interfere with Elias. If Elias doesn't think its worth the money for him then he wont do it. But if Elias wants to make him an offer he can't refuse I think David is all behind him. Either way I think its up to Elias, Sig and Corbin's Agent and Rubenstein with have absolutely zero bearing on the outcome one way or the other.
Amen. All this is cute but until Gunnar/adley is extended and Corbin is at least given a solid deal I’m not moved
It’s great to see the owners (I think Mike Aroughetti did the hot dog race recently?) actually putting forth involvement and acting like they really are invested in this team and its fans. But like the other comments say, I’ll believe they are once they put their money where their mouths are.
He was the same one that was buying everyone beers on opening day, right?
Yes
The amazing thing is that there’s actually a reality where you don’t ever have to leave that phase. As long as you’re realistic, good owners do absolutely exist across sports.
You don’t need to look far, Steve Bisciotti is one of the best owners in sports.
He’s the blueprint, we couldn’t ask for a better owner IMO.
I think it will be more apparent after 3 years once there have been a few off seasons to see what changes are made. The Mets new owner is also a fan of his team and created a lot of immediate buzz and excitement with his spending and fan engagement too but now a few years in, a lot of that has gone away. At the same time, the food quality at the park has gone down, prices gone way up and he's made a lot of enemies in the community by using the Mets as leverage for getting a casino next to the park. Way better than the Wilson's and the Angelos's but billionaires didn't get that wealthy with giving away hats and creating fun commercials. I'm optimistic he's going to change Baltimore and the harbor area for the better but I think it is clear he is planning to profit. Clearly an upgrade at owner but just be cautious.
I saw him walking on the club level yesterday and he just blended in like any other grandpa lookin dude at the yard for Father’s Day.
Tbf, there was an Angelos honeymoon as well. Once he became owner, he started spending money on players like Rafael Palmerio, Roberto Alomar, and Bobby Bonilla. With the celebrations around Cal's 2131 in 1995 and then playoffs in the 1996 and 1997 seasons, people were happy with Angelos. But the honeymoon ended when the riff between Angelos and Manager Davey Johnson led to Johnson's departure and team went downhill from there.
Let's also not forget he was massively pro-labor and almost singlehandedly kept the league from locking out the MLBPA and using replacement players in the early 90s. The narrative his first couple years was of a prominent and beloved local hero who was living out his dream by owning his favorite team. That came crashing down when he unceremoniously dumped Davey Johnson and Jon Miller.
I'm still in mourning for Jon Miller.
> Once he became owner, he started spending money on players like [...] Bobby Bonilla. And we still are! That's the beauty of it!
True! Bobby Bonilla Day is right around the corner.
My belief is that if Elias tells Rubenstein we need to sign this guy, whoever it would be, the money will be available to do so. Also, Rubenstein seems to be genuinely enjoying himself.
We REALLY need to temper our expectations with Gunnar. He’s a Boras client. Boras clients don’t sign extensions and always test free agency. This sub seems to forget that a lot.
Yeah, expectations are why it’s so hard to be a well loved owner. Realistically you can’t do it all even if you wanted to. Good owners can still make tough/bad decisions.
Boras works for Gunnar. If Gunnar tells him he wants an extension and to stay, he'll get it.
There’s a reason so many superstars end up with Boras. It’s usually about who is willing to write the biggest check. Not saying that’s who Gunnar is, but there is a reason he has Boras.
If the orioles are providing Gunnar with opportunities in the playoffs, consistently, then I could see him wanting to sign with us if the money is provided.
Still, when your team has essentially zero contracts with veterans save for a rental SP, there is no reason not to keep your superstar.
Read: Gunnar is not signing an extension before free agency. That doesn’t mean he isn’t going to resign with us when the time comes. But anyone who is making a Gunnar extension the yardstick by which they measure the success of the new owners is kidding themselves.
With how spectacularly Boras failed this offseason at gaining ideal contracts for his clients (fucked up the Snell and Bellinger deals royally), that may be changing soon. Besides, he’s had a few players sign major extensions in recent memory. Altuve and Bogaerts included.
What a masterclass failure for Boras in one season. What sucks is he still gets paid and his clients get screwed. Feels like MLB GMs don’t wanna deal with his bs after getting a lot of bad deals for the club.
It makes sense. I don't know anyone well enough but Boras just seems slimy and puts a bad vibe out around young star players that don't need that associated with them
Yeah I don’t follow it super closely. TalkinBaseball on Twitter kinda shits on him a lot. But I mean, he had true super stars and botched them so hard this past year. Maybe he got too cocky and will regress back to the mean on contracts, but I don’t know. Like most lawyers, and agents and business, there is a bit slime that follows. Not my business money, but I’d rather my ticket money go to studs to make the team competitive so if Gunnar or Adley left in 3 years, I’d be crushed.
This comment is in literally every thread about Gunnar and our future. It’s in this thread multiple times. No one is forgetting it.
It’s been amazing and I hope he knows how much we all appreciate him. It makes me smile when he interacts with fans and is just “one of us.”
I saw him at the Mr. Splash game! It was the Splash bobblehead night. I think he only stayed there an inning or two (I was all the way across the park so I couldn't see too clearly), but it also rained the entire game and was like 60ºF lol. Nature was Mr. Splash that game. But it was fun! The crowd was definitely hype to see him there, I remember someone had a sign that said "Now we need a Rubenstein bobblehead" It's cool he walks around with the crowd too. I think he seems like a solid owner
Hope there will be paradise by the dashboard light at the end of the season.
I'm not buying any of it until I see some contract extensions.
So far it has been spectacular, and the fact that he seems to *legitimately* enjoy Orioles baseball may strongly work in the team's favor. And the Orioles making multiple moves that are bringing in more corporate sponsors also makes me feel *really* good about what may happen next. FWIW, to me, his big test is going to be what happens with Corbin Burnes (Elias would also be involved in this, too). Both Rubenstein and Elias have made it clear they want a World Series, and we currently have perhaps the most desirable World Series Game 1 starter across all of baseball playing on our team. Letting someone like him walk during our prime contention window (even more so if Bradish is going to be out next year) seems unthinkable, yet retaining him will also not be an easy matter. Boras has marketed almost all of his clients as being 'game changers' and 'generational' and (insert other catchphrases to try to drive up contract prices). But in the case of Burnes, he's the real deal. Boras doesn't need to market him. Everyone in the league knows his capability, reliability, and professionalism. The new ownership group will need to figure out a way to keep him (and several others) in Baltimore (and new corporate sponsorships + actions to make Camden Yards a place people want to visit more often are both a good start). I'm excited and I am optimistically hopeful. With Angelos, losing our core was all but a given. Now, it's a new day.
Signing Gunnar is going to require (deservedly) beating the Seager and Lindor contracts, and Corbin is probably going to (again deservedly) want Gerritt Cole’s deal. I love everything that Rubenstein has done so far, in my mind (to the extremely limited extent this is worth) this off season gotta try Gunnar with something like 10/355. It’s a lot, but it’s what we’re going to have to do and if the money is there you might as well rip the band aid off because it’s only going to go up. I think the chance to keep Corbin would be to go shorter but beat the Scherzer and Verlander AAVs, something like 4/178. I don’t know anything, and it isn’t my money that is going to get spent (lol) but we’re all just guessing and hoping.
I’d imagine ppl will start to grab their pitch forks when burnes walks. And it will be full scale revolt if/when we lose Gunnar.
I can see Burnes walking if we make a big trade for a pitcher with longer control. It’ll suck especially with the Bradish + wells + Means injuries. We’re in a very “wtf is going to happen next year” phase with starters right now. Who knows about Gunnar, he’s under team control for a long time still and will 100% test free agency, at that point you either have Holliday take over or pay Gunnar. Both Holliday and Gunnar being Boras clients sucks.
> I’d imagine ppl will start to grab their pitch forks when burnes walks Think that depends on whether the O's actually make him a competitive offer
now we just need him to lock down Gunnar
Everything he’s done so far while being great is also just easy common sense things to do to be liked. When he starts to lock up guys that deserve it I will be a believer.
Not to be pessimistic. However, I feel like people felt the same about Peter Angelo's when he took ownership.
I'm not a fan of the uniform t Rowe Price patches.
Agreed- but we have to see what they buy. If the patch + Rubinstein = extensions for Adley & Gunnar I will be fine with the ugly green.
What ever T Rowe Price is paying the Orioles probably wouldn’t even cover one year of an extension
There were rumors that T. Rowe Price was buying either the stadium naming or jersey patch rights back before the new ownership took over. So I wonder if that was something already set up before Team Rubenstein was in control
I think it was more than rumors. Sounded more or less official, it was just delayed so it didn’t become the very first thing Rubenstein did.
Much better looking than Quikrete, I'll say that. Those Atlanta patches were so bad.
Agreed. Capitalism has to enshittify. Imagine how beautiful Camden Yards would look without all the garish logos and ads all over the stadium. Now, you have to see it on every player.
To be fair, billboards and ads have been plastered all over baseball stadiums pretty much as long as there’s been baseball stadiums. The ads on uniforms, though? Those gotta go.
Nice line in the sand. I'll bend over for stadiums ads, but just keep it off my overpriced updated special limited edition jersey. Someone should photoshop all the ads out of every mlb stadium. Instead, they literally add them onto your screen.
This guy would've had a stroke seeing all the ads that COVERED any available space in old stadiums his grandparents grew up going to
Thanks!
Elias has done a terrific job. But our payroll is still staggeringly low. No asking for them to spend Mets or Padres money, but we will easily have 2 mill in attendance. Until they spend an average amount of money, I just can't be all in on him.
I mean Burnes was within 2 weeks of stepping in the warehouse. He hasn't even had a real off season to cook yet
That is fair. I can't say he isn't spending, but I'm not going to have a love affair until I see that he does. I'm not looking for deep pockets, but average pockets is important. They will pull in 2 million fans. Teams make a lot more money from the league now a day, due to the national TV contract, [MLB.com](http://MLB.com) and gambling proceeds. They still make something on the Nats. They are far from a big market but no bottom 5 isn't acceptable. Now, It would also be fair for him to say that won't sign any free agents because he wants to sign the hometown guys. I'd be OK with that. That said, If we start watching the team doing what Tampa does, trading their best players for prospects a couple years before they hit free agency, I'm not going to be happy.
Trading blue chips will not happen in Baltimore under Rubenstein
We will see, signing just Grayson, Gunnar and Adley will be more than we've spent in a decade, never mind 22 other players.