Letters to the Editor about the Orioles

[paulcoates]

I can't speak for everyone but it isn't about defending or condemning ownership for me. It is about looking at what appears to be rational and then making a plan based on that rationality. I will ask you or anyone willing to answer a few simple questions:

- what good will it do to wring our hands continuously over the fact that the Orioles aren't going to spend $150M plus on payroll in 2016? I have no issue with either letter. They are reasonably well written and courteous, but now what? Do we actually think PGA is going to adjust his budget based on appeals in The Sun?

- how much spend is enough for anyone in the "spend more" category before your satisfied? A number, not some generalized "whatever it takes". We are adults. Set a number for a budget and we will make a team.

- The Orioles budget this year placed them between 13th and 17th in spending. An analysis of our market would place us between 15th and 22nd. In all honesty, where should we rank in spending in the majors compared to the other 29 teams? Again, a number, not a generalization.

- if the number that you set requires more revenue to get there, are you willing to pay it?

If someone will just actually say a number, I will do the heavy lifting to see what it would take to get there and assemble a roster. I can't actually get someone to quote a number. They just want to say more or whatever it takes to retain the players they want. Those are the answers of children.

Finally, someone citing equity in a franchise as money available to spend is like you buying a house for $200K, living in it for 30 years, having it currently appraise for $500K, and a friend saying you should be willing to lend them $100K without an issue since you have a $300K profit. It is just paper, not cash, and it doesn't count for anything until the asset is either sold or refinanced to "get" the equity. That refinance thing is the primary driver for personal bankruptcies over the past 15 years. Banks were doing it willy-nilly and people were spending it, but they were so leveraged that when home prices fell or when an emergency arose, the people weren't solvent. It is a very bad idea to take money out of paper profits from real estate or a business to any significant degree.

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I think Peter should get himself a reverse mortgage.

[paulcoates]

The thing I just don't get is the Dan Duquette is cheap argument. Do people believe if Brian Cashman was our GM that we would spend more? Or if DD was the Yankees GM they would tighten the budget? If people think Angelos can or should spend more then don't drag DD into the conversation. That doesn't mean that DD didn't have to answer for his moves, he does.

This is a good point. Do people honestly think that Angelos says to Duquette :"I want the payroll to be $150MM" and then defies him?

Or Duquette says "I am going to make the payroll $150MM Mr Angelos" and Angelos simply agrees?

The buck (literally) starts and stops with Angelos. He is Duquette's boss. He is the one who approves, signs off, and pays those contracts.

I am no fan of Angelos, but if he doesn't get Machado under contract very soon, the Orioles are going to pay very dearly, either in terms of money, or in terms of customer criticsm.

[paulcoates]

Patrick R. Lynch, Nottingham

Is a serial Letter to the Editor writer. This is not his only cause.

This looks to be very true

http://www.baltimoresun.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=Patrick+R.+Lynch&target=all&spell=on

[weams]

This looks to be very true

http://www.baltimoresun.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=Patrick+R.+Lynch&target=all&spell=on

Sell the team since 2006. http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/sun-magazine/bs-sm-sun-letter-writer-20120513-story.html

[El Gordo]

And, mostly posters like you who defend Ownership at every turn

Usually people who take pride in never having a doubt aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Nothing about this post contradicts that notion. I think any one who cares to look at my history here would not call me a defender of ownership. PA is what he is. Nothing is going to change that. We have to work within the limits he sets. That's just reality, something that I guess you aren't all that familiar with.

[weams]

I think Peter should get himself a reverse mortgage.

You can only do that on a primary residence. Or do like Art Modell did, sell it but keep it in the new town for a few years. To enjoy it before you go.

[Can_of_corn]

You can only do that on a primary residence. Or do like Art Modell did, sell it but keep it in the new town for a few years. To enjoy it before you go.

So if he puts a cot in the warehouse?

[weams]

So if he puts a cot in the warehouse?

He does not own the stadium. Or the Warehouse attached to it.

[gmelson26]

o

Between 1965 and 1984, Jerold Hoffberger and Edward Bennett Williams were even cheaper than Angelos has been throughout his tenure as team owner.

Peter still doesn't get it.

Stop paying the Orioles players like they are a mid-market team.

Be ultra-cheap, and the Orioles will return to the glory days of the mid-60's through the early-to-mid 80's.

It all came unglued when the Orioles finally loosened up their pocket strings and gave free agent Fred Lynn a lot of money (for that time) and 5 years, just prior to the 1985 season.

Obviously there is sarcasm here, but free agency becoming what it has has a bit to do with it.

[OFFNY]

o

Between 1965 and 1984, Jerold Hoffberger and Edward Bennett Williams were even cheaper than Angelos has been throughout his tenure as team owner.

Peter still doesn't get it.

Stop paying the Orioles players like they are a mid-market team.

Be ultra-cheap, and the Orioles will return to the glory days of the mid-60's through the early-to-mid 80's.

It all came unglued when the Orioles finally loosened up their pocket strings and gave free agent Fred Lynn a lot of money (for that time) and 5 years, just prior to the 1985 season.

Obviously there is sarcasm here, but free agency becoming what it has has a bit to do with it.

It has to do with the time period between 1965 and 1974 or 1975, but the Orioles' dynasty/glory years continued into the early-to-mid 80's, which was also the prime period for free agency (1977-1985) ...... and as I stated in my previous post, the Orioles continued to spend nowhere near what the high-payroll clubs were paying their players. And when they finally did start kicking some money into the free agent market (between the 1984 and 1985 seasons), the dynasty/glory years rapidly became unglued.

[OFFNY]

o

Between 1965 and 1984, Jerold Hoffberger and Edward Bennett Williams were even cheaper than Angelos has been throughout his tenure as team owner.

Peter still doesn't get it.

Stop paying the Orioles players like they are a mid-market team.

Be ultra-cheap, and the Orioles will return to the glory days of the mid-60's through the early-to-mid 80's.

It all came unglued when the Orioles finally loosened up their pocket strings and gave free agent Fred Lynn a lot of money (for that time) and 5 years, just prior to the 1985 season.

Obviously there is sarcasm here, but free agency becoming what it has has a bit to do with it.

It has to do with the time period between 1965 and 1974 or 1975, but the Orioles' dynasty/glory years continued into the early-to-mid 80's, which was also the prime period for free agency (1977-1985) ...... and as I stated in my previous post, the Orioles continued to spend nowhere near what the high-payroll clubs were paying their players. And when they finally did start kicking some money into the free agent market (between the 1984 and 1985 seasons), the dynasty/glory years rapidly became unglued.

And I'm not implying that if the Orioles had continued to be cheap instead of loosening up their pocket strings when they finally in the mid-80's that their' glory years would have continued ...... there were other reasons why the Orioles rapidly went downhill and had 3 straight losing seasons from 1986-1988. I'm simply pointing out that occasionally some people will inaccurately point out that Angelos not opening up his wallet more than he has is something new to the Orioles' organization and its history (one poster stated that Angelos had "pissed on the history of the Baltimore Orioles" in regard to him not allotting a higher budget for Dan Duquette to work with.)