Elias Interview on Baltimore (local) radio station

[Frobby]

I listened to the interview this morning.  I don’t think Elias was any more definitive than before about Holliday making the team out of spring training.  The one point he did make was that Jackson bats left-handed and could complement the LHBs the way Frazier did last year.  

[wildcard]

Couple of the things that are talked about in this thread that are not what I heard in the interview.   I listened a 2nd time to make sure.

1) Elias did not talk about Westburg at 3B.    He said Westburg is up and established.  That is all.  The announcers talked about 3B.  Elias did not.

2) Elias said that Basallo got through AA.   I think that was notable because I think most of us expect him to begin the season at AA.   It may be AAA.  Only because of that comment by Elias.

3) Elias mentioned that they like players to play more that one position.  He mentioned Holliday at 2B/SS.  Basallo at C/1B.   Gunner SS/3B.  Mateo SS/2B/OF.   It did not sound like Elias was saying any of these players would play one position.

[wildcard]

35 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

Oh my apologies. The number that I read was 17.1 billion. Either way the pockets are very deep with this group.

I just saw another report that Bloomberg is worth 96B.

[SemperFi]

41 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

I don't anticipate they'll sign all four of those guys to extensions. My guess is anything between 1-3 extensions for Adley, Gunnar and Holliday happen, but I'll take a wait and see approach. Burnes at 30 years old will probably carry too high of a risk profile to out-bid the big players.

But comparing the cost of purchasing a team to the cost of payrolls isn't really applicable IMO; the cost will be spread over the years of the deals and offset by yearly revenue. Plus, I imagine the organization would gain additional value versus not extending those players by becoming as successful as we should expect that team would be over 10 years.

Even going into the numbers though, I'm assuming you projected four 10-year, 350m deals to reach the $1.4b number. I think that's pretty unrealistic with Witt just receiving about $26m/year over 11 years because of the current club control. For this exercise let's just give that to all three of Adley, Gunnar and Holliday over 10 years for simplicity and give Burnes 10/$300m. That'd be $1.08b spent over a decade, or $108m/year. Do I think they'll run that type of payroll ($108m on four players and +/-$80m on the rest of a team for $190m)? No, but if you take out the Burnes deal, I don't think $150m-$160m would be too unrealistic at all. Not saying it's likely, just looking at hypotheticals. Never mind the fact that in 10 years, $25m-$30m a year for these guys will almost certainly be a bargain.

I think as fans we often look at the value/cost of a contract in current day dollars-what also needs to be considered is that the industry is growing at more than 10% per year, the Orioles likely much faster.  

[emmett16]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Nothing personal so don’t take it that way, but just because you’re worth $25 billion doesn’t mean you should spend $25 billion. 

Just think how ridiculous the headlines would be…

Rubenstein spends $1.725 billion to purchase the O’s and then spends $1.400 billion to sign Burnes, Holliday, Adley, and Gunnar, to extensions. 

So those players over 7-10 years cost just as much as the team?

Expecting extensions for everyone is nuts and will lead to disappointment. 

The Dodgers spent on players close to what Rubenstein et all paid for the O’s this off-season.  Crazy town. 

[Safelykept]

7 hours ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

Not necessarily. The Mateo of April 2023 could show up and actually play that well most of the year. It would be great for the team. But I wouldn't bet on that happening. It's such a small outlier of his overall sample size.

What OPS north of 1000 for the year, nobody's going to bet that. At this point Mateo is a platoon player against LHP, a late inning Defensive sub and Elite Speed Pinch running late in games (which has more value in post season)

[deward]

25 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I just saw another report that Bloomberg is worth 96B.

I'd be curious to know what percentage of the team Bloomberg is actually going to own. I doubt he would feel like it's a good investment to shell out a ton of money to help cover operating expenses if he's only a 5% owner. I don't see his personal wealth being a big factor in how the team is run.

[Frobby]

34 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I just saw another report that Bloomberg is worth 96B.

There comes a point where it’s irrelevant.  We don’t even know how much of the ownership share he’s taking.  My supposition is that it’s not a very big one.

[jabba72]

3 minutes ago, deward said:

I'd be curious to know what percentage of the team Bloomberg is actually going to own. I doubt he would feel like it's a investment to shell out a ton of money to help cover operating expenses if he's only a 5% owner. I don't see his personal wealth being a big factor in how the team is run.

Any payroll investments will likely happen with the top 2 or 3 owners involved. I dont see major decisions going further down the list. I could be wrong but I dont see Bloomberg saying "Go sign that Free Agent!" That typically isnt how minority owners operate on other teams.

[interloper]

19 minutes ago, Frobby said:

There comes a point where it’s irrelevant.  We don’t even know how much of the ownership share he’s taking.  My supposition is that it’s not a very big one.

Yeah, they've presented it as kind of a duo of Rubenstein and Arougheti, and then everyone else, who I assume are just in it to get a little kickback from investing. 

[wildcard]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

There comes a point where it’s irrelevant.  We don’t even know how much of the ownership share he’s taking.  My supposition is that it’s not a very big one.

Its more if the O's need an infusion of money Rubenstein has a very deep pocket part owner to turn to.

[RZNJ]

7 hours ago, wildcard said:

Couple of the things that are talked about in this thread that are not what I heard in the interview.   I listened a 2nd time to make sure.

1) Elias did not talk about Westburg at 3B.    He said Westburg is up and established.  That is all.  The announcers talked about 3B.  Elias did not.

2) Elias said that Basallo got through AA.   I think that was notable because I think most of us expect him to begin the season at AA.   It may be AAA.  Only because of that comment by Elias.

3) Elias mentioned that they like players to play more that one position.  He mentioned Holliday at 2B/SS.  Basallo at C/1B.   Gunner SS/3B.  Mateo SS/2B/OF.   It did not sound like Elias was saying any of these players would play one position.

Elias did say Basallo got through AA but I don’t think he meant he was done there after 4 games late last year.  I will be totally shocked if he does not start the season at Bowie.   Everyone plays multiple positions including Westburg who plays 2B and 3B.   Assuming Holliday makes the team, he’ll get the majority of starts at 2B, Henderson will get the majority of starts at SS, and Westburg will get the majority at 3B.   Elias didn’t say that exactly but that’s my take.

[interloper]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Its more if the O's need an infusion of money Rubenstein has a very deep pocket part owner to turn to.

That's not how it works.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

It’s more if the O's need an infusion of money Rubenstein has a very deep pocket part owner to turn to.

I’d love to know how many shares each owner will have and how they will handle capital calls.  

[Billy F-Face3]

^Me too. The new ownership group inspires me to make more money.