Grantland Front Page Article - Jonah Keri on Orioles, revenue factors, and the Quest for Greatness

[furryburres]

http://grantland.com/features/baltimore-orioles-offseason-spending-al-east/

Jonah Keri writes an interesting read on motives for spending less.

Among some interesting perspectives:

" A committee of representatives from the Rays, Mets, and Pirates is brainstorming ways to resolve the MASN dispute, and if MLB eventually forces the Orioles to pay out considerably more in rights fees without receiving any financial consideration in return, it would significantly affect the team?s finances. While Angelos and his representatives on Baltimore?s business side declined to comment for this story, that would be the most logical defense to offer critics who say the team is raking in MASN cash but refusing to increase payroll.

?That?s the other side,? said Tella. ?That [Angelos] has been cautious with his approach to the team, not knowing what could happen given the massive shift that could go against him.? "

[fearthenoodle]

A couple small mistakes in the details, but overall a very good read, and yet another place where DD says the payroll will be north of $100MM by Opening Day.

Most interesting is the revelation that fear of a ruling against the Orioles in the MASN dispute is a major reason why they've been reluctant to put much of that money back into the team.

[mcgraw238]

What's frustrating is the embedded assumption that the O's will eventually have to give back some of the terms hammered out which allowed the Nats to come to town. Also, noteworthy is the blurb where MLB is sending the Nats a subsidy check.

[El Gordo]

Excellent article. Can any one translate DD's response to the big question almost never asked, "what about the 27 M TV money?"

[Redskins Rick]

Excellent article. Can any one translate DD's response to the big question almost never asked, "what about the 27 M TV money?"

Thrown in with JJ's money, called it "resource allocation."

[MrOrange82]

A couple small mistakes in the details, but overall a very good read, and yet another place where DD says the payroll will be north of $100MM by Opening Day.

Most interesting is the revelation that fear of a ruling against the Orioles in the MASN dispute is a major reason why they've been reluctant to put much of that money back into the team.

Still, it?s hard to escape the feeling that by settling for Bud Norris and Jemile Weeks instead of chasing players like Tanaka and Cano, the O?s are selling themselves short; that by spending like the Royals when they can afford to shell out more, they?re letting down their fans; and that in a division that demands greatness, they?ve resigned themselves to merely being good.

I start to see red when potential, future decreases to MASN revenues are used, in part, to justify the team's current spending habits. As of today, the Nationals have spent approximately $40 million more on their ML payroll than the Orioles have on theirs. Last year, the gap was $25 million. In fact, in the midst of the MASN dispute, the Nationals have gone from spending $20 million less than the Orioles (2011), to spending almost exactly the same amount (2012), to spending significantly more (2013/2014).

As the article points out, regardless of the MASN issue, MLB is giving the Orioles an extra $25 million to play around with this year. The Orioles are getting much more from MASN than the Nationals are (i.e., the O's are crying poor, yet taking in a lot more cash than the team that's far outspending them). Before those who love hyperbole accuse me of disappointment over not signing Cano or Tanaka, I'll reiterate that I did not want Cano, and I seriously doubt that Tanaka will be worth the contract he got. I don't want the O's st spend stupidly, but they absolutely should be spending a LOT more than they have been.

And really, if Peter Angelos is such a marginal "wealthy" person that he literally cannot afford to have the Orioles be slightly less profitable, then he has no business owning a MLB team.

[Can_of_corn]

A couple small mistakes in the details, but overall a very good read, and yet another place where DD says the payroll will be north of $100MM by Opening Day.

Most interesting is the revelation that fear of a ruling against the Orioles in the MASN dispute is a major reason why they've been reluctant to put much of that money back into the team.

And why didn't they spend that money between MASN's inception and the dispute?

[Rene88]

Angelos is cheap regardless, keep digging but just the way he is. The guy is how old? C'mon...

[fearthenoodle]

That national TV revenue # is always mis-reported. Yes, the annual number increased by that amount, but a sizable portion of each team's goes into MLB's general fund, to pay down MLB debts, etc.

It's not like MLB actuall handed over a $27MM check to the Orioles.

[fearthenoodle]

And why didn't they spend that money between MASN's inception and the dispute?

I thought that was handled in the article- throwing money at bad teams with little to no core talent is not smart.

[El Gordo]

And why didn't they spend that money between MASN's inception and the dispute?

I suppose they would say it didn't make sense at that time because the team was so far away from contending then. Had we say signed Teix, e.g., it would have made little difference in our record forward.

[Can_of_corn]

I thought that was handled in the article- throwing money at bad teams with little to no core talent is not smart.

But investing that money into the draft (pre-slots) and the international market (pre-slots) would have been smart. Instead of spending for first round talent AND going overslot in the later rounds they went with OR.

[Br10n]

And why didn't they spend that money between MASN's inception and the dispute?

Do you know what it costs to start up a business like MASN? In first three years the Nats ratings were just awful. I am guessing there was nothing to spend.

[fearthenoodle]

But investing that money into the draft (pre-slots) and the international market (pre-slots) would have been smart. Instead of spending for first round talent AND going overslot in the later rounds they went with OR.

I think the team went overslot a fair amount in the draft starting with the MacPhail era.

[MrOrange82]

I thought that was handled in the article- throwing money at bad teams with little to no core talent is not smart.

I've posted this multiple times over the last several weeks, and it's easy to find the numbers among these threads: since the Orioles led baseball in ML payroll (1998 with a payroll of approximately $70 million) Angelos' spending has never strayed out of a roughly $20 million margin of $70 million (i.e., he's raised payroll into the very low 90's (twice), and reduced payroll into the low 50's). His spending habits have not changed in response to MASN disputes or a paucity of talented free agents. His spending habits have never changed...period. He's simply made his GMs stretch the same amounts of money further and further, despite the fact that average salaries have increased substantially over the same time period.

Your comment makes it sound like Angelos' reticence to spend is a wise business decision, which is infuriating. Maybe it's true that the "right" players (i.e., those worth spending on) weren't available. Maybe it's true that there weren't enough "right" players to augment whatever talent the O's had at the time. And maybe it's true that the Orioles could not have (1) made intelligent trades for young talent AND (2) acquire additional talent through free agency to shorten the amount of time the O's had to wait to reach the playoffs. But none of that has anything to do with the amounts of money that Angelos has shown himself willing to spend on the team.