Is Angelos quietly shopping the Orioles?

[Can_of_corn]

O's have zero $$$ committed after 2014.. http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=823C89CF6071D100445B.3221?site=newsday&view=mets_item&feed:a=newsday_5min&feed:c=mets&feed:i=1.3531845&nopaging=1

Perhaps a sale is in order.

That isn't true. They still owe Vlad 3 million in deferred money. They might have one last payment on Bonilla (500K) in 2015.

[atomic]

I would rather have my own fans that come to all of the games religiously and buy my team's merchandise instead of another team's fans that come here for a couple series a year. And if/when the Nationals get better, it's only going to continue shrinking the Orioles fanbase. Younger people have very little emotional attachment to this team- They've only seen the dark times.

If the Orioles put together a couple of 90+ win seasons with a bunch of star players the camden yards would be packed every night. The capitals couldn't give tickets away before Bodreau became their coach and helped them play exciting hockey with young star players. Now they sell out every game at ridiculous prices.

So fanbase can grow pretty quickly. I would prefer own fans as well but any fans that pay for tickets are good for the franchise. And when they are paying premium prices for the tickets that is good for the team as well.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

If the Orioles put together a couple of 90+ win seasons with a bunch of star players the camden yards would be packed every night. The capitals couldn't give tickets away before Bodreau became their coach and helped them play exciting hockey with young star players. Now they sell out every game at ridiculous prices.

So fanbase can grow pretty quickly. I would prefer own fans as well but any fans that pay for tickets are good for the franchise. And when they are paying premium prices for the tickets that is good for the team as well.

If the Nationals have 3 or 4 winning seasons before that happens(and I see no reason to think that won't happen...they're pretty much there now), the Nationals will be filling their stadium every night.

And a lot of those fans will be Orioles fans that aren't coming back. Ever.

My point was that a new owner might decide that it would be easier to build a winner by starting more or less from scratch elsewhere. Because it would be. The AL East is the toughest division in pro sports, and the Orioles are probably 5 or 6 years away from winning 90 games- minimum. In another division, say the NL West or NL Central or even the AL Central, you could cut that down to 2 or 3 years.

Hell, this team would probably be a 3rd place team in the AL Central right now and maybe even a contender in the NL West or NL Central.

[Camden_yardbird]

Absolutely no chance the Orioles ever move out of Baltimore. None.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

Absolutely no chance the Orioles ever move out of Baltimore. None.

I hope so, and I think that it's very unlikely for now. But I'm not so sure that there's "no chance."

[Kinvan]

I don't know if anyone posted this earlier but I watched Wall to Wall today and they addressed a twitter question regarding this subject. Tome Davis didn't even let Dave Johnson or Mark Viviano even address it. He basically dismissed the question and said that the Orioles emphatically deny it.

Who knows maybe there are some legs to this. You would have to imagine that Tom Davis is playing the company line.

[Todd-O]

It's nothing but rumor... at this point more would have come out.

[Dipper9]

It's nothing but rumor... at this point more would have come out.

My house is not on the market, but if by chance someone drives by, knocks on my door, and offers me market value, its sold.

Just sayin'.

[btownoriole]

I hope so, and I think that it's very unlikely for now. But I'm not so sure that there's "no chance."

It is extraordinarily unlikely that the Orioles would move out of Baltimore in our lifetimes. First, there's no other viable market. Second, MLB has an anti-trust exemption so an owner couldn't pull an Irsay and just leave a city on a whim. Third, there are other teams with major stadium issues that would need to move before the Orioles (Oakland & Tampa).