Puck News: Orioles sold to Rubenstein

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

On National Manatee Appreciation day?

Well, they're out of Florida now...

[spleen1015]

Does anyone know how the rest of this transaction takes place?

What I mean is....

The owners are going to approve Rubenstein as the new owner on Wednesday. Is he and JA sitting with their lawyers in a conference room in the Warehouse waiting to get word that he's the owner? Once they get that word, papers get signed, checks get handed over, then BAM he's now the owner?

[One eyed Bird]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s very common when acquiring a business to give a consulting agreement to former management in case the new group needs historical information or wants to know if a particular thing was done or attempted previously, who was involved, etc.   Usually these things are of short duration, 6 months or a year.  A friend of mine just sold his business and had a 6 month consulting gig like this.   The new owners hardly called on him at all during the consulting period, but he was available if needed.  Pretty typical, I’d say.  

JA would be great as a consultant, consult him and do exactly the opposite of what he recommends, damn sure to work. Or maybe JA could be in charge of media relations, his strong point.

[Satyr3206]

24 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Does anyone know how the rest of this transaction takes place?

What I mean is....

The owners are going to approve Rubenstein as the new owner on Wednesday. Is he and JA sitting with their lawyers in a conference room in the Warehouse waiting to get word that he's the owner? Once they get that word, papers get signed, checks get handed over, then BAM he's now the owner?

Everything has already probably been handled by the Lawyers and Accountants and has been sitting in an Escrow account.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, One eyed Bird said:

JA would be great as a consultant, consult him and do exactly the opposite of what he recommends, damn sure to work. Or maybe JA could be in charge of media relations, his strong point.

I just want to point out that JA has the Orioles in a far better position than his father ever did.  101 win team, best farm system, new Latin American facility, tons of payroll flexibility.   Sure he’s a disingenuous guy, is terrible at PR and has pinched pennies, but he hired the right GM, bought into the recommended spending priorities, and let his GM do his thing with basically no interference.   Really, the only things Rubenstein can do better are to be more straightforward with the public and the media and give Elias a bigger bankroll.   But I’m really not that unhappy with JA.  He got us to where we are.  

[Fiver6565]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I just want to point out that JA has the Orioles in a far better position than his father ever did.  101 win team, best farm system, new Latin American facility, tons of payroll flexibility.   Sure he’s a disingenuous guy, is terrible at PR and has pinched pennies, but he hired the right GM, bought into the recommended spending priorities, and let his GM do his thing with basically no interference.   Really, the only things Rubenstein can do better are to be more straightforward with the public and the media and give Elias a bigger bankroll.   But I’m really not that unhappy with JA.  He got us to where we are.  

I think people are leaning way too much into Rubenstein jacking up the payroll as owner. We have no indication from him other than his actual wealth that he’s going to do that. Able to, yes. Willing to is TBD though. Lot of assuming it’s going to happen, whether in the form of Montgomery, extensions, or anything/anyone else. I’ll believe it when I see it. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

I think people are leaning way too much into Rubenstein jacking up the payroll as owner. We have no indication from him other than his actual wealth that he’s going to do that. Able to, yes. Willing to is TBD though. Lot of assuming it’s going to happen, whether in the form of Montgomery, extensions, or anything/anyone else. I’ll believe it when I see it. 

I expect it to go up, but not greatly.  I think it's going to hover around 20th, with some fluctuations.

[Sports Guy]

Rubenstein hasn’t been able to discuss things as of yet.  I’m guessing once this becomes official, there will be a press conference and things will get answered then.

[ThisIsBirdland]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

I just want to point out that JA has the Orioles in a far better position than his father ever did.  101 win team, best farm system, new Latin American facility, tons of payroll flexibility.   Sure he’s a disingenuous guy, is terrible at PR and has pinched pennies, but he hired the right GM, bought into the recommended spending priorities, and let his GM do his thing with basically no interference.   Really, the only things Rubenstein can do better are to be more straightforward with the public and the media and give Elias a bigger bankroll.   But I’m really not that unhappy with JA.  He got us to where we are.  

On the issues that matter most, I agree.

People who post on here are pretty die hard Os fans though; I think for the most part we see almost every story surrounding this team. Condensing the numerous JA public incidents, especially in the last 12-18 months, down to just PR and being disingenuous I think undersells how frustrating it was to support a team he owned. It felt like an unnecessary barrage of PR BS would show up every 3 months. Add on top of that the lease extension nonsense, the questionable land development pursuits, the family lawsuit, and it just distracted from an otherwise solid track record as Owner.

I always just wanted him to look across the parking lot at the example Bisciotti and the Ravens set. Seems like his ego just couldn’t allow him to do that. Did it significantly impact the team in a negative way? No, but it was a pain as a fan more often than it should have been.

[Satyr3206]

Remember that Rubenstein has said he wanted to buy the Orioles for years. He went to school across the street from Memorial Stadium. I definitely think he wants to win. Not often you get to buy the team you grew up rooting for.

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

I think people are leaning way too much into Rubenstein jacking up the payroll as owner. We have no indication from him other than his actual wealth that he’s going to do that. Able to, yes. Willing to is TBD though. Lot of assuming it’s going to happen, whether in the form of Montgomery, extensions, or anything/anyone else. I’ll believe it when I see it. 

Aside from his wealth, the other thing suggesting more spending is the extent to which Rubenstein has given away money to many public causes.   Peter Angelos did this too, but Rubenstein’s spending on public-minded projects dwarfs Angelos’s.  

[dystopia]

16 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

I think people are leaning way too much into Rubenstein jacking up the payroll as owner. We have no indication from him other than his actual wealth that he’s going to do that. Able to, yes. Willing to is TBD though. Lot of assuming it’s going to happen, whether in the form of Montgomery, extensions, or anything/anyone else. I’ll believe it when I see it. 

I think this is true, but our payroll is so low right now that at least a modest increase should be expected.

[Bemorewins]

17 minutes ago, Fiver6565 said:

I think people are leaning way too much into Rubenstein jacking up the payroll as owner. We have no indication from him other than his actual wealth that he’s going to do that. Able to, yes. Willing to is TBD though. Lot of assuming it’s going to happen, whether in the form of Montgomery, extensions, or anything/anyone else. I’ll believe it when I see it. 

One thing that we know from his limited public comments thus far, compared to John Angelos, is he actually expressed a desire to win a championship. Something that I never heard John Angelos state as a goal or even something that he was interested in.

[Frobby]

24 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

One thing that we know from his limited public comments thus far, compared to John Angelos, is he actually expressed a desire to win a championship. Something that I never heard John Angelos state as a goal or even something that he was interested in.

Every owner wants to win a championship.  It’s a matter of what they are willing and able to to do to make that happen.   I have no doubt John Angelos wanted to win.  

[Satyr3206]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Every owner wants to win a championship.  It’s a matter of what they are willing and able to to do to make that happen.   I have no doubt John Angelos wanted to win.  

I have a lot of respect for you so take this the right way. I don't think JA cared about anything but money. If he wanted to win he could have waited a few years to sell. And take his chances.