EricK

In other words, do you pay O'Hearn to be in the minors for $1.4M and pay Vavra the MLB league minimum or do you save some money and pay O'Hearn what you are obligated to pay him and send Vavra down to AAA at much less than the MLB league minimum. I think that is the question.

Based on the positional versatility and the upside potential, Vavra seems to be the choice (pending health issues). But the machinations that got O'Hearn here saddled Elias with a $1.4M guaranteed contract whether O'Hearn plays in AAA all year or not. To satisfy the contract, O'Hearn may have the advantage.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/02/orioles-ceo-john-angelos-discusses-camden-lease-ownership-payroll-extensions.html Orioles CEO/chairman John Angelos met with reporters (including The Baltimore Sun’s Nathan Ruiz and Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com) today to discuss a wide range of topics regarding the franchise, its offseason moves, and the bigger-picture question of the Orioles’ long-term future in Baltimore. To the latter subject, Angelos reiterated his family’s commitment to the ownership of the Orioles, saying “I would say that there’s not a plan to change the principal ownership or the managing partnership and there would be no reason to.” While a new minority owner might be brought into the ownership group, Angelos noted that such a move wouldn’t necessarily be unusual, given that some of the original investors in the group “have transitioned out” in the 30 years since Peter Angelos (John’s father) first brought the franchise and become majority owner. “It would be nice if we could attract strategic people who care about Baltimore, who care about the way we’re doing this now, who care about the example Camden Yards set and want to be part of it,” Angelos said. “That’s not necessary or a requisite, but we’re open to it. We have no plan to change or transition out of what we have today.” There may be more that I am unaware of. But these paragraphs cause me concern. If the question about the "latter subject" (i.e. "the long-term future in Baltimore) is responded to by stating that the Angelos family remains committed to own the Orioles while new owners may be added, this a non answer as to whether the O's remain in Baltimore. Further, the third paragraph states "It would be nice" if they would "care about Baltimore".

I don't see any "resolution" in the MASN case touching MLB's agreement as to MASN and the original move. They'll decide as to how much should MASN pay the Gnats and O's per year and leave it there. I think the MASN split was originally 90/10 O's/Nats going to 67/33 over time. But MLB may have placed a future sale condition on resolving their (MLB) created issue (ask Spiritof66). FWIW, I think any money currently at issue (i.e., the money that an arbitrator may dictate that MASN owes the Nats) should be in escrow. Perhaps as much as $20M per year from 2012-2017 (and presumably for later years with potentially similar numbers). Many issues may come to a head when PA passes away and the O's are sold. But until then, we won't know.

Signing Profar would let Elias send Stowers down to AAA to be a left-handed bat in the first base/corner outfield group. Spending 1.4M guaranteed on O'Hearn, signing Mazara, Cordero, and Lester to minor-league contracts, and picking up Diaz weren't enough to supplement Cowser (and sometime in 2023 Kjersted). We may not be enough LH bats at AAA.

The $5 million to CollegeBound Foundation was just a smokescreen. Maybe $10 million to country music singer/songwriters is next. That's not much of the $600 million.

"Clancy came in as a 24% owner of the team when Peter Angelos bought the MLB franchise from Eli Jacobs in 1993 for $173 million. That would put Clancy's investment at about $42 million. Wanda got half of the author's stake in the team as part of their divorce settlement in 1999." https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2013/10/03/tom-clancy-made-230-million-profit-on-investment-in-baltimore-orioles/?sh=75528a3c5f67 This is an old article. But unless part of the original 24% from Clancy (now split between Clancy's estate and ex-wife Wanda) was sold to Angelos, Angelos has at most 76%. The other listed owners appear to have small stakes for Angelos to have more than 70%.

MLB.com has Bemboon outrighted to Norfolk yesterday. Fangraphs has him off the 40-man as well. https://www.mlb.com/transactions/2022/11/04 11/04/22 Baltimore Orioles sent C Anthony Bemboom outright to Norfolk Tides. https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/orioles

Me too. I've got a set going back to the 60s. They're online now. https://www.mlb.com/orioles/history/media-guides

I'm neutral as to Melanie. But she sounds great in comparison to the male announcer. He's horrible. Apple needs to get reasonable announcers if they're serious.

The AR decision is based on whether the next CBA is in place or not. If there is a stop work stoppage, it makes sense to leave AR down. AR could have at lot of experience with DL Hall, Gray Rod and others in the minors when the majors may be shut down. OTOH, if there is no work stoppage , AR gets called up when he is ready.

I wonder how much it costs to insure Davis' contract. If he is cut, the O's can cancel the insurance policy and save money by not paying premiums. Cutting him might be close to a wash in terms of money. I don't think the money the O's would pay someone else is the issue in keeping Davis around.

Reggie Jackson (1976) 27 HR 28 SB Brady Anderson was close in 1999 with 24 HR 36 SB

The NHL 27 or 7 for free agency is along those lines. NHL teams only have one or two affiliates; so the long player-development process of MLB is different. But I could see the next MLB CBA being closer to the current NHL model than the counting days of MLB's current CBA. https://www.liveabout.com/nhl-free-agents-explained-2778995

http://www.welovedc.com/2011/02/10/looking-back-the-arlington-nationals/ Moving the Expos to Arlington, VA would have helped a little compared to DC (maybe with the Montgomery and PG county areas). The below link has a rendering of a Norfolk stadium. http://www.stadiumpage.com/stpages/virginia.html

If there is a strike and Davis strikes with the other players, he won't be paid. But what happens if he is released before a potential strike? Would he still be on strike with the other players even if the O's released him? Or would the O's be on the hook for the guaranteed contract?

MILB.com has Wells signing on August 29, 2015 http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=649144#/career/R/pitching/2019/ALL August 29 was also the last day of the GCL Orioles season https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/3201/gcl-orioles/schedule/?year=2015 Assuming he signed later in the day after the season ended, 2015 does not count as the first of five years. So, he won't be eligible until after the 2020 season. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/explaining-the-rule-5-draft/ Also any players who have not been professionals long enough are also ineligible for the Rule 5 draft. For any pro who signed his initial contract as an 18-year-old or younger is eligible for the Rule 5 draft after their fifth professional season. Anyone who initially signed at 19 or older is eligible after their fourth professional season. The wording of that is precise for a reason. If a player's first contract is signed where they are assigned to a team whose season has already ended, than that player's first counting season does not begin until the next season.

I'm not sure where you are coming from. Are you trying to say that the current MASN agreement is the equivalent of the O's only owning their own broadcast rights and the Nats owning their own with the ability to sell them to anyone?

If the Nationals broadcast rights were available on the open market, the Nats could create their own regional sports network and "over pay" for those broadcast rights by 1% and come out very much ahead. Such a new RSN would still be profitable and the Nets would own all of it. The current MASN agreement is an advantage over the Nats having control over their own broadcast rights with any reasonable calculation of the broadcast rights. The real question is whether the current MASN agreement adequately compensates the O's for the relocation of the Nats taking away a portion of the O's revenue.

Because MASN is still profitable and the O's get a larger portion of the profits. Paying fair market value for the rights does not mean that MASN has to pay so much that it turns into a break-even corporation. Plus they can pay themselves a salary out of the MASN pot of money before determining the profits that are to be shared.

They brought up recently acquired John Andreoli to take a look at him for an extra 12 days before Sept. 1. And conveniently drop Rickard to 2.120 when the super 2 cutoff has been in the range of 2.122 to 2.134 for the past few years.

Rickard was 13 for his last 41 with 7 extra base hits when he was sent down in the middle of August.

We did it to Rickard last year to leave him with 2 years and 120 days of service time (just below the super 2 cutoff).