Pickles

I'm sure plenty of Canadians on non-Japanese descent will be purchasing his jersey, etc.

I predict Rubenstein is going to become a minority owner with an option to buy some time down the line.

Hahaha.

When do they hold the "true talent" parade? I missed it this year.

I had to google what poutine was. My first thought was very different.

Dec. 7 didn't work out so well for them.

Well, don't forget, that's just the mid-part of the deal. And frankly, imo, that's pretty wishful thinking. I honestly think if you really wanted to maximize his value, you'd just give up on the pitching and have him be an every day right fielder. Now, he doesn't want that, so that's not really an option, but the pitching confines him to DH, and it keeps getting him injured.

Sure, but short term gain long term pain is a terrible way to build an organization so I encourage them to do so. Ohtani is an amazing player. Clearly the most talented player in my life time. It's still not going to be good for your team to be paying him 50 million dollars in 2029.

Guaranteed. I actually like it when the Yankees or Red Sox, or in this case the Jays, make these "big splash" moves. They so rarely work out in favor of the club.

Rubenstein is significantly more wealthy than the Angelos family, so from that perspective, he would seem to be better positioned to invest in the team, whatever that may look like. I don't expect him, or any other owner for that matter, to operate at annual losses. So from my perspective the biggest obstacle to the Orioles ML payroll increasing dramatically, is the revenue the Orioles generate. Now, that's imo what would make this guy a great owner: Does he have a plan to dramatically increase the O's revenue, including opening new streams of income, and is he willing to in turn reinvest that into the club? That's what a great owner would do imo. Now, we don't need to go back down the rabbit hole about who and what this guy is, but his background doesn't inspire me with massive faith in that's what he's going to do. As unbelievable as it is to some, and even to my past self of only a few years ago, I'm in a wait and see mode with this guy. I don't think ANY change is automatically an improvement over the Angelos family, and, frankly, the club has been well ran for the last few years and I'd hate to see anything mess with that.

I'm glad we can agree. That makes me feel good we have the same projection. We always knew they had to sell because the Angelos kids can't generate the independent income necessary. I'll say this: If new ownership plans on running an annual profit, things aren't going to change radically in terms of major league payroll. Other than, and this is very important, the natural salary progression of a young, successful team. But it would take ownership being willing to take a very modest annual profit to run 150 annual MLB payroll.

There's macro stuff involved of course, but I'd say 150. People comparing it to Cohen are way misguided. 1) Cohen is worth a lot more money. 2) The Mets are a much better money stream. Edit: And I should add: running it at 150 annually is probably not the best way to make money for the shareholders.

None of this is in any contradiction to what I have stated.

That's what I'm saying. Elias didn't want to do that contract. I would have in face of the alternatives.

I personally would have been willing to give E-Rod that contract. And it seems likely, if we had been, he would have taken it. I think this is a legitimate differing point for me from what Elias chose to do.

You know, people keep saying this, but this dude, for all the money he has "massaged" (was that the term), can't buy this team in cash, or get anywhere near it. He's planning on running them for a annual profit. You better believe that.

The pampered babies having nice amenities in their locker room as they lose 90 games is not the kind of organization I want.

How's Cohen running his organization?

I'd rather have the first scenario and it isn't really close.

Getting rid of Angelos and losing Elias is a net loss for this organization.

Sure, but I find building electric cars and rocket ships to be less odious than profiting off bombing foreign countries. Somebody else said, hate the player don't hate the game. I feel like I got enough hate to go around.

I won't say my mind is made up, as I have serious misgivings about this guy. I hope he turns out to be an amazing owner. He may well become just that.

1. I don't have concrete evidence of his corruption. I am free to speculate though. We do have direct evidence, indisputable, that this guy has made a lot of money in the "defense" industry. He also happened to be in a meeting on 9/11/01 with a member of the Bin laden family, who was the "guest of honor" at their investors gathering. I can't help it if you're not as curious a cat as I am. 2. He works for the government. He starts a company and makes a lot of money, often off government contracts. He turns around and "donates" some of that money back to the government. That's interesting to me. You don't have to find it so, but I do. 3. It doesn't seem unfathomable at all. Seems to happen a lot. 4. Public money being given to a private individual who then in turn funnels it back to the bureaucrats who handed it to him in the first place is the tidy little loop. Again, you don't have to be curious about these things, but I am.

Or maybe he just wants the prestige and an investment opportunity that is almost impossible to lose. He might turn out to be a great owner; he might turn out to be an awful owner. I'm simple agnostic, and not going to celebrate what I'm not convinced is a positive development, though it may well be.