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Regarding Angelos...Wishful thinking...


andrewrickli

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About MASN

it has increased the ultimate value of the franchise is correct, although they are really two separate animals. MASN is partially owned by the Nationals, and the Nationals' interests will increase as the years pass by. For us, confronted with the immediate competition in what was our fan area, it's in many ways a lifesaver. And that was the purpose to see to it that, as I said, the O's franchise would have access to additional funds to remain competitive.
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Even more

Well, I don't like to lose…That's not my game. And then a team was introduced into D.C. along with the disparities I am talking about... the two teams of the five in the AL East who are generating the enormous streams of revenue with which Toronto, Tampa Bay and the Orioles have had to deal with for these last seven, eight, nine years. I would really say the past seven years or so we have been, along with the other two teams, at the bottom of the totem pole with New York and Boston at the top…both of which have RSN's like we just managed to accomplish, and have had them for years. So, their revenues have been so substantial by comparison to Toronto, Tampa Bay and the Orioles.

In answer to your question, now that we have an RSN and we can move forward with it…that is going get us on a more even plane with Boston and New York, and that was the purpose. It was even more desperately needed when a team dropped right into the area you have been drawing a very substantial number of fans from for many years.

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Why would he need to state that the time to spend money is "when we are close"?

It is common sense. Anyone with a brain can figure that out.

Oh and color me shocked that as the Nats have upped the payroll their success has improved, according to some around here you will have an automatic 70 win season the second you spend money on a free agent.

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Why would he need to state that the time to spend money is "when we are close"?

It is common sense. Anyone with a brain can figure that out.

Oh and color me shocked that as the Nats have upped the payroll their success has improved, according to some around here you will have an automatic 70 win season the second you spend money on a free agent.

The Nationals aren't really the best example to support your cause, as they went just as far as the Orioles in the playoffs in each of the last 3 years since they inked Werth to that crazy contract.

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The Nationals aren't really the best example to support your cause, as they went just as far as the Orioles in the playoffs in each of the last 3 years since they inked Werth to that crazy contract.

It isn't my cause you can believe that, the "some around here" clearly doesn't include myself.

Better players who cost more usually lead to more wins, regardless of the imaginary "value" that seems to be a requirement with some fans. Not really a hard concept.

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It isn't my cause you can believe that, the "some around here" clearly doesn't include myself.

Better players who cost more usually lead to more wins, regardless of the imaginary "value" that seems to be a requirement with some fans. Not really a hard concept.

You are right. I was wrong. Brendan Ryan got a 10 million dollar contract. Brendan Ryan.

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This is what I've seen posted here, from a Buster Olney Insider article.

Once the Orioles are playoff contenders, Peter Angelos says, the team will be looking to make a big deal, as Peter Schmuck writes. March 23, 2009

The trick is finding the referenced article from Schmuck.

ETA: and I found it. Schmuck doesn't give an exact quote.

Angelos counting on addition

ORIOLES NOTEBOOK

Owner expects to make splash in free agency for '10 or '11

Uehara throws to batters

March 23, 2009|By Peter Schmuck and Jeff Zrebiec | Peter Schmuck and Jeff Zrebiec,jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com and peter.schmuck@baltsun.com

JUPITER, Fla. - Orioles owner Peter Angelos confirmed the Orioles are planning to make a significant free-agent push when the team gets within range of contending for a playoff berth next winter or in advance of the 2011 season.

Angelos, who attended yesterday's game at Roger Dean Stadium and spoke briefly with reporters, also applauded the job Andy MacPhail has done since MacPhail took over as president of baseball operations.

"I think Andy has done a great job," Angelos said. "If we can maintain that impetus, things can be pretty good. I don't know about this year, but next year and the year after we have high hopes for."

Peter Schmuck, Mar 23, 2009
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This is what I've seen posted here

Once the Orioles are playoff contenders, Peter Angelos says, the team will be looking to make a big deal, as Peter Schmuck writes. March 23, 2009

That just made me sick and furious at the same time.

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14 months later Schmuck wrote this

"What's good for the Nationals is good for MASN," Angelos told The Baltimore Sun. "That makes me happy, and that makes [Nationals principal owner Ted Lerner] happy. They are partners in the MASN network. The better they do, the more interest it generates."

Now, there's nothing wrong with that statement from a business standpoint. The Orioles and Nationals co-own the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, though the Orioles own way more of it than the Nats. If the Nationals improve their MASN ratings, it actually benefits the Orioles — in terms of MASN profits — more than the Nats, so Angelos the businessman has every right to be pulling for them to have a good season.

The problem is more one of appearances. Fans of the Orioles have always been led to view MASN as a revenue-generator for the O's, but Angelos' comment appears to be an admission that he thinks it's the other way around. I don't think that's really what he meant, but the MASN partnership does create the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Give Angelos credit for being a shrewd businessman who made the most of a bad situation when Major League Baseball decided to move the Expos out of Montreal. He leveraged a number of economic concessions from MLB, including a guarantee of the value of the Orioles franchise and the lion's share of the regional sports network.

Ultimately, that will give the Orioles a huge advantage in the Baltimore-Washington market, which protects the future of the team in Baltimore no matter how few fans are willing to show up at Oriole Park, but it is small consolation for an Orioles fan following that has endured the deterioration of the franchise over the past decade or so.

Even though Angelos was stating what should be obvious, it was a statement that is going to stick in the craw of every fan who has bought into the notion that the Orioles have become one of baseball's perennial bottom-dwellers because their billionaire owner is too cheap to buy them out of oblivion.

Never mind that Angelos spent very liberally in the late 1990s to build the team that went to the American League Championship Series in back-to-back years (1996-1997) or that he overruled cooler heads by giving $65 million to Albert Belle to — he believed — keep the troubled superstar away from the New York Yankees. This is about perception more than reality.

Orioles fans are tired of the subpar product they've been asked to support for all these many bad years, and they've grown prematurely weary of the Andy MacPhail rebuilding plan because they view it as an excuse to hold down the payroll.

Angelos can very easily present the case that the MASN deal secured the financial future of the Orioles in the face of a new competitor that was set to absorb a large chunk of its market, and he would be correct. He can also try to reassure Orioles fans that the revenue generated by MASN through the various cable networks and ratings-dependent advertising will eventually be spent to turn the club back into a legitimate year-in-year-out contender in the American League East.

Of course, there's only one way to prove that, and the Orioles have yet to take a real swing at the free-agent market during the MacPhail era, so Angelos needs to understand that an enthusiastic endorsement of the Nationals might not be received by the fans in the exact spirit that it was intended.

source - Peter Schmuck, May 23, 2010
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I've never seen a direct quote from Angelos about "when we're close" but several weeks ago, someone here posted an article that inferred that was the plan. Not the same, but if someone can find that, great.

It implied, you inferred. ;)

I should get Grammar Nazi on my title. :D

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The quote can from PA after our 2012 season. It was on MASN during a video interview. You can watch it under MASN Media Lounge searching for Angelos. Enjoy it.

This is what he said after the last playoff game in NY.

When it was suggested that Angelos had to be happy with how the season unfolded, he said, "Especially for the Orioles, which we all know is an institution in Maryland. And for a long period of time, as you gentlemen and ladies have stressed frequently, there was a long, long arid period. I hope this will be the case this year, that we mean business, and in the future you can depend on this kind of a performance and hopefully much better."
source - Roch Kubatko

video

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MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko did a piece on Nationals GM Mike Rizzo and discussed the payroll flexibility he was granted. Here is the quote:

The bolder is my favorite part.

Buck implies all the time that he and Dan are backed by ownership, and uses Roberts, Markakis, Jones, and Wieters signing bonus as examples. I want to see us spend on an impact FA to help us get over the hump. It is time.

With our front office, imagine if we had the support in ownership that the Nationals are blessed with...

I don't see how singing impact free agents are going to put us over the hump. More likely have us pay huge amounts of money to players long after they quit playing baseball productively. As others point out you it cost 5.2 million per WAR. No way or shape is that a way to effectively use your money.

The Orioles tickets are much cheaper than the Nationals tickets. And Angelos isn't asking for Camden Yards to be roofed. Angelos has been willing to pay for players in house. The team has a budget for major league player salaries. Probably around 100 million this year. Seems DD has used more money on developing players than past GM's on the O's.

Peter Angelos runs the Orioles as a business just like the Nationals do. There are other teams that run it as a toy. That isn't going to happen under Angelos so there is no reason to get yourself upset over it. That is the way it is.

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Of course, this is an opinion based on 15+ years of watching him operate. He's not even very good at disguising it. But, ironically, he's lucked into a situation where spending money on free agents is almost universally detrimental to the long term health of a major league franchise. So, he can sit back, collect his profits and appear wise. What's not to like? Meanwhile, those on this board spend hours of wasted time debating the obvious. He's a bad owner who won't spend a lot of money because he enjoys profiting from his investment more then he enjoys winning. The only reason we are competitive is that the structure of major league baseball has changed dramatically against spending big money on free agents. So, the answer to all posts about expensive free agent signings is a double no. Should we, no. Will we, no. Let's move on...

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