My take on the Orioles

I've lived in Baltimore, I was 11 years old the last time they went to the playoffs.  I'm frustrated, I don't go to games anymore, I'm trying to be faithful.  It's hard not to jump ship, but I'm trying real hard.  I was listening to 105.7 on Saturday and heard the radio announcers of the flagship station say that we need new ownership.  I agree.  I feel better because of that.  Here is what I have to say:

We all had hope that Buck would turn this team into competitors.  He is a very smart manager and highly schooled in the game.  Unfortunately, the Angelos/MacPhail machine set him up with crap.  His pitching rotation are call ups from AAA who were probably brought up to early.  Personally, I want to know how much the O's front office really is involved with the farm system.  It could be like what the Warden in Cool Hand Luke said: "What we got here is...failure to communicate."  But anyway, Buck was also set up with questionable hitters as well:

Mark Reynolds:  He is, literally, hit or miss.  He is the first player to have 200+ strikeouts in a season, which should be a red flag.  On the other hand, he can hit a lot of homeruns.  Glad to see the homeruns increase, and the strikeouts decrease.  However, he is awful at base. 20 errors by the break?  He shouldn't have that many in a season.  I'm still very questionable about him.

J.J. Hardy:  He's worked out for us, both on plate and on base.  However, it's been a couple of years since he's had a full season.  He should stay if he stay's healthy.

Derrek Lee and Vlad Guerrero.  Both are very great players...Five years ago.  Derrek Lee is outstanding at 1st, but he can't hit anymore.  Vlad is 37 years old and getting paid $8 million by the organization.  He's lost his power.  Both are one year rentals, so they're just getting one last pay before retirement and possibly Cooperstown credentials.  They would've been great acquisitions in their prime, but ballplayers don't age like wine.  I swear, Andy MacPhail must have copies of Sports Illustrated magazines that are older than the ones in my dentist's office.

In essence, MacPhail gave Buck the keys to a Yugo and said, "Here, drive it like it's a Porsche."  MacPhail's philosophy of "buy the bats, grow the arms" has not worked.  The bats, Angelos low-balls the players, hence allowing players like Mark Teixiera to go to the Yankees for an extra $20 million contract.  The man HAS money.  MacPhail is buying bats made from Balsa Wood over Oak.  Grow the arms?  Let me put it to you this wait, Philadelphia is an NL East powerhouse now, because they BOUGHT the arms.  They can win five more World Series with Halladay, Oswalt, and Lee. 

Andy MacPhail's contract expires.  If anything, this team is worse under him, and it should not be renewed.  Bring in a younger GM who knows a thing or two about how modern baseball politics work.  MacPhail still thinks he's with the small-market Minnesota team that had Kirby Puckett and won the 1987 and 1991 World Series.  That said, let's get to the meat and potatoes.

Help Wanted: New Owner

I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but Peter Angelos is the WORST owner in baseball.  I absolutely loathe everything he has done with this team, and I can't stand the fact that he's not taking any responsibility, just once I would like to see him say "you know what, I low-balled too many players that would salvage this team; I admit trading a bunch of seasoned guys like BJ Surhoff for minor league prospects was a bad idea; I shouldn't have argued with Davey Johnson; I should have let Pat Gillick spend the money necessary to bring a World Series; I should have connected with the fans better; I fucked up big time." The managers and players lose the games, but PA signs the checks that build a team. 

Let's be honest: the MLB organization is very flawed.  There is no salary cap, thus only the teams that spend the most money win.  And when ballplayers are in their prime, they will want more money and more publicity, generally speaking.  Yes, I know about Tampa Bay, their payroll, and their road to the World Series in 2008, but that was because they were incredibly smart with trades.  That's how they were able to get Carlos Pena, who was incredible.  Also, their AAA team is the Durham Bulls, one of the most highly marketed minor league teams.  Hell, Kevin Costner made a movie about them.  And Texas, their path.  Texas' story is they brought in Josh Hamilton, nobody wanted him because of his former alcoholism and drug usage.  The Rangers paid him a mere salary, and Josh became a team leader.  The rest is history.  But anyway, there is no salary cap, the Yankees have the ability to outspend everybody.  The Orioles just have to work with it.  The players union is way too strong, so you won't be seeing a salary cap anytime soon I'm afraid.  Pete wants a winning team, he's going to have to spend the big bucks because REAL. PLAYERS. COST. REAL. MONEY.

Here's the part of Angelos I find most disgusting.  He bought the MASN network to make sure that when the Expos moved to D.C, that they wouldn't hinder on the market too much.  This is a huge market cable network.  Think of the mathematics, if you're a cable subscriber living between Southern PA and North Carolina, MASN makes money off of you.  Peter makes anywhere between $40 and $60 million a year from MASN.  If I were to see that money based on my salary (by the way, I do work for a living), it would take me 1,000 years to do so.  The Orioles team salary has only increased marginally since 2005, very marginally.  PGA HAS the money from MASN, which is a different asset.  What in God's name is he pocket that kind of money for? If he ain't fixing the Orioles, at least donate it to city schools, fund a drug-rehabilitation program, form a youth center dedicated to keeping inner-city Baltimore kids from joining gangs and getting mixed up in drugs, do something.  And the worst part, he tries to control what the media says on the air, which is basically just play-by-play.  Why do you think Jim Hunter and Mike Flanagan are the most wooden sports analysts on the radio? Can't criticize the team.  Peter Angelos is controlling the Orioles media like how Hu Jintao controls the Chinese media.

Maybe we need non-local ownership:

I don't why this town is so apprehensive about outsiders buying our team.  Maybe it's because there was an alcoholic businessman from Chicago named Robert Irsay, who bought the Baltimore Colts?  Well, I don't need to explain what happened there.  We're afraid of teams moving.  Well, Robert Irsay was just one guy, and he was a drunk.  News flash, the O's still have a long time to go before their lease runs out at Camden Yards, another ten years at least.  Peter Angelos is 82 years old and may be dead by then, and somebody responsible will own the team, provided he doesn't leave it to his sons Sonny and Fredo Corleone.  But let's look at non-local owners who've done wonders for their teams.

Mark Cuban (Pittsburgh native, owner of the Dallas Mavericks).  When he bought the Mavs in 2000, they were NEVER a good team.  They just won the NBA Finals, and they've come close to it in recent years.  Cuban sits in the stands with the fans and gets passionate about his team.  Do you see Peter doing that?

George Steinbrenner (Cleveland native, deceased owner of the New York Yankees).  Not too much explaining here.  Spent the money to get good players.  You have to respect an owner who allowed "Seinfeld" to create a caricature of him, and made him look like a rambling idiot.  If that show were set in Baltimore, and George worked for the Orioles, do you think Peter would be okay with that?

John Henry (Illinois native, owner of the Boston Red Sox).  Increased spending of the Red Sox, got the players necessary to compete with their old-school rivals.  Is Peter doing that?

Ted Leonsis (Bronx native, owner of the Washington Capitals).  Look at how he's built up my favorite hockey team (by the way, I was a Baltimore-based Captials fan back when Dale Hunter and Olaf Kolzig were with them).  I love that he has a blog where he answers the fan's questions. Does Peter even know the internet exists?  If he saw the kind of things people were saying about him on Facebook, he would shit a brick.

I close with a question for Angelos haters who want local ownership, (besides Ripken or Biscotti) can you think of someone based in Baltimore with mega million dollars who can not only buy the team, but be competitive and put the fans' best interest first?  Because I'm coming up with nothing.