Angelos Claims He's Not Selling

[jabba72]

10 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

I'm too lazy to look up direct quotes, but I thought Angelos has communicated in the recent past that the O's would increase payroll if fans returned to the ballpark (and downtown generally). Seems to be to be a bass-ackward way of running a baseball team. It should be... invest dollars in a better on-field product, and fans will come.  

I read that on the hangout but I never looked up the source link for it. Im remembering Elias as the one who said it. 

[Going Underground]

1 minute ago, jabba72 said:

I read that on the hangout but I never looked up the source link for it. Im remembering Elias as the one who said it. 

You are correct sir 

[Going Underground]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Kind of a chicken and egg thing, no?   It will be interesting to see what attendance is like this year, after the Orioles’ unexpectedly good 2022 season.  

Speaking of eggs as that one politician running once said. " The price of eggs and rent are too damn high.".

[Low Country Bird]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

We get, you're an Angelos guy, but I think you are short selling what he actually said. He's always allowed Elias to run things which is good, but he absolutely is a part of setting the budget. No owners gives a blank check to their GMs. Now, can Elias spend within that budget, sure.

Frobby is an Angelos guy?  Funny, in the many years I have been on this site (lurking or otherwise), I've never thought of him as an Angelos apologist.  

[Sports Guy]

50 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I'm talking about an income stream outside of the baseball team.  The only way the family has to make money is through the team.  That isn't the case for many (most?) franchise owners who are independently wealthy and/or own successful businesses.  The source of the Angelos' family wealth is the law firm; apparently, the firm is dead.

They need to operate the team to turn a profit annually.  Most teams don't operate like that.

Ok but I’m guessing they are doing ok.

[Moose Milligan]

26 minutes ago, Frobby said:

 

By the way, I don’t consider myself to be an Angelos guy.   I just don’t see the need to draw a negative inference every time he opens his mouth.  We’ll see how the team operates the next 2-3 years.  It will tell us a lot about how the team will operate in the long term. 
 

It is particularly lazy and requires no effort to bash anything Angelos related.  There are a lot of people who need to draw a negative inference every time he opens his mouth and I believe that won't change.  From that perspective, he's damned if he talks to the media and he's damned if he doesn't.  

On the other hand, it takes a bit of strength and humility to give credit to someone when it's due if your initial reaction to them is one of disdain.  

[Frobby]

54 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I'm talking about an income stream outside of the baseball team.  The only way the family has to make money is through the team.  That isn't the case for many (most?) franchise owners who are independently wealthy and/or own successful businesses.  The source of the Angelos' family wealth is the law firm; apparently, the firm is dead.

They need to operate the team to turn a profit annually.  Most teams don't operate like that.

Most teams do operate at a profit, actually.  I looked in 2019 and the average operating income was in the $40 mm range.   

What I’ve noticed is that teams aren’t metronomes.   They don’t stay in the same narrow operating profit band every year.   They don’t stay in the same narrow payroll band every year.  These things go up and down and a lot of times it depends where a team is in its competitive cycle, and also how many of its top players happen to be in the cheaper phases of their career.   If you’re doing a 5-year projected budget for the Orioles right now, you need to know that Adley costs $700 k in 2023 but is likely to cost $15 mm+ in 2027.   
 

[deward]

42 minutes ago, Too Tall said:

 

My interpretation of what JA said, is he relies on Elias and Co. to tell him what they project they need going into a budgetary year. I did not get the impression he arbitrarily sets a budgetary figure void of their imput. I believe, most companies/organizations are run that way. Elias has never inticated he's been short changed. Hasn't he said when he needs the resources, he's been told they will be there? Got a feeling we will know if that is not true. 

Look forward to the budgetary press conference. And, if I am seen as a JA Apologist, allow me to take this time to apologize for his personnal trainer and dress code. 

I can tell you from personal experience that many companies will determine at the top what they want their total opex figure to look like and then tell everyone else to figure out how to make it work. Sometimes that number is realistic, sometimes....not so much.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

Watching the interview, I don't have a problem with anything he said.  Rambles a little bit, a little longwinded.  

Doubling down on showing the financials, which will be interesting.  

Maybe JA is on his way to being more accessible to the media.  Maybe not.  But this this by far and away the most accessible that an Angelos has been in 20+ years.  

 

 

 

I think what JA is going to do is give his vision of the public-private partnership for Camden Yards.  I doubt we see much detail about the O's financials.

Something not talked about much:  I would not be surprised if Elias is incentivized based on how much profit the O's bring in.

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by wildcard

[Frobby]

Just now, wildcard said:

I think what JA is going to do is give his vision of the public-private partnership for Camden Yards.  I doubt we see much detail about the O's financials.

It’ll mostly be a bunch of generalities about how the team operates.   I’ll be surprised if we learn anything meaningful.  

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

I think what JA is going to do is give his vision of the public-private partnership for Camden Yards.  I doubt we see much detail about the O's financials.

I'm inclined to agree but I am not sure.  I think he knows what he's said and what he's promised so if he tries to venture off that, he knows he's going to get slammed in the media.  But maybe he doesn't care about that.  It'll certainly be interesting, that's for sure.

Like I said, I'm inclined to agree with you.  

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

Very clearly looks like he's give them X to spend but they get to determine how to spend X.  Which is exactly what we've been asking them to do for decades now.

Again, it appears that he does stay out of the baseball side of things which is a good thing. We agree here then.

[Tony-OH]

5 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I think what JA is going to do is give his vision of the public-private partnership for Camden Yards.  I doubt we see much detail about the O's financials.

Something not talked about much:  I would not be surprised if Elias is incentivized based on how much profit the O's bring in.

 

I sure hope not. I want my GM incentivized by how much he wins at the major league level, not how much money he makes ownership.

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'm inclined to agree but I am not sure.  I think he knows what he's said and what he's promised so if he tries to venture off that, he knows he's going to get slammed in the media.  But maybe he doesn't care about that.  It'll certainly be interesting, that's for sure.

Like I said, I'm inclined to agree with you.  

Angelos is in negotiation with the State on what Camden will evolve into.   It will probably be a sales pitch for what he want to see happen.

[wildcard]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

I sure hope not. I want my GM incentivized by how much he wins at the major league level, not how much money he makes ownership.

I think it would be in character for Angelos to ask Elias to do both.  Maximize profit and win baseball games.  Actually winning baseball games is a way to increase profits.