David Rubenstein in the Booth, Opening Day

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, foxfield said:

Like the Mets?

Obviously teams can spend money and not win.  But 6 of the top 10 payrolls made the playoffs, including the WS Champion Rangers, who had the 2nd highest payroll.   So what’s your point?

[spleen1015]

33 minutes ago, foxfield said:

Like the Mets?

Like the Rangers?

[Warehouse]

17 hours ago, LookinUp said:

The one thing that [slightly] raises my antenna from both ownership groups though is some of the political language I've heard. Don't get me wrong, I'd love if he gives back in the form of supporting youth leagues, ticket giveaways, etc., but I really dislike when my sports teams become connected to political movements. I'm not trying to make any political statement other than I'm happiest when I can view sports and exchange high fives with people who look at the world differently. 

And yes, I did mean this is a slight concern. Just something I fear in general. 

I wouldn’t be too concerned. Rubenstein personally gets along with people across the political spectrum.  He worked in the Carter administration, hosts the Bidens for Thanksgiving, is close to Larry Hogan who suggested that he buy the team, is close to Wes Moore, was invited to Trump’s first state dinner, has a daughter who was on the Trump campaign committee for Alaska in 2016.  

[ThisIsBirdland]

Not sure why it’s always the Mets, Pirates and Rangers listed as teams for us to draw positive or negative comps from. You don’t have to spend money the way those teams do in order to reach respectable payroll levels. Atlanta should be the model we most attempt to emulate IMO. I realize they’ve gotten well into the top 10 in payrolls and I don’t see that as likely, but I think the vast majority of our spending should/will be on retaining players as opposed to pursuing free agents.

Rubenstein has now said multiple times that Elias is the best GM in the AL, maybe all of baseball. The fact that he keeps qualifying it that way makes me curious if he’s specifically impressed by an NL GM like Stearns or Anthopoulos. 

 

[Just Regular]

45 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

Not sure why it’s always the Mets, Pirates and Rangers listed as teams for us to draw positive or negative comps from. You don’t have to spend money the way those teams do in order to reach respectable payroll levels. Atlanta should be the model we most attempt to emulate IMO. I realize they’ve gotten well into the top 10 in payrolls and I don’t see that as likely, but I think the vast majority of our spending should/will be on retaining players as opposed to pursuing free agents.

Rubenstein has now said multiple times that Elias is the best GM in the AL, maybe all of baseball. The fact that he keeps qualifying it that way makes me curious if he’s specifically impressed by an NL GM like Stearns or Anthopoulos. 

 

That AL qualifier sounded odd to me too.

Maybe Friedman is chalk as much as Anthopoulos.    The fun one is Dave Dombrowski!

[ThisIsBirdland]

1 minute ago, Just Regular said:

That AL qualifier sounded odd to me too.

Maybe Friedman is chalk as much as Anthopoulos.    The fun one is Dave Dombrowski!

Hard for me to give Friedman, with an actual unlimited budget, too much credit I think

[foxfield]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

Obviously teams can spend money and not win.  But 6 of the top 10 payrolls made the playoffs, including the WS Champion Rangers, who had the 2nd highest payroll.   So what’s your point?

My point is that I hope we don’t put the cart before the horse and expect the new ownership to spend simply because they can. 
 

I fully expect the teams expenses to go up from here. But I do not really see the Orioles being tremendously active in FA market. 
 

[Frobby]

Just now, foxfield said:

My point is that I hope we don’t put the cart before the horse and expect the new ownership to spend simply because they can. 
 

I fully expect the teams expenses to go up from here. But I do not really see the Orioles being tremendously active in FA market. 
 

Neither do I.   And to be clear, I’ve never been too hung up on payroll.  Spend intelligently when you need to, and if you don’t need to, don’t just spend for the sake of showing the fans you’re “trying to win.”   

[Can_of_corn]

1 hour ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

Hard for me to give Friedman, with an actual unlimited budget, too much credit I think

Yes, he's never had to deal with a small payroll...

[foxfield]

31 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Neither do I.   And to be clear, I’ve never been too hung up on payroll.  Spend intelligently when you need to, and if you don’t need to, don’t just spend for the sake of showing the fans you’re “trying to win.”   

Right. And I think new ownership gives us a commitment to winning but I think it would be a mistake to say expect say …all of he the kids to be extended and an ACE or two signed as FA. 

I am not looking to necessarily follow any other teams blueprint. I think the Orioles will cut their own trail. And I think the big difference will continue to be that they look for talent everywhere. But look to be seekers of value. 
 

But we will have to see. I am certainly very pleased with all of the events and have not been as excited to be an Oriole fan since my youth. I am trying to not get too worried about how they do it. Or with who. 
 

For me it’s just about winning. There really isn’t much we lack. So measuring success from here should be and for me will be about winning. Games, series, playoffs, titles. 

[foxfield]

2 hours ago, spleen1015 said:

Like the Rangers?

Yeah this is true just reminding that for every Rangers success there is a Met or a Padre that spent and went for it all and sunk their franchise. 
 

But as Frobby pointed pointed out the playoff teams were some of the largest spenders save for a few examples like the orioles. 
 

And look, as our min salary guys get paid more even in arb. Our payroll is going to climb higher. That was going to happen with or without new ownership. 
 

We are incredibly well positioned to be successful for quite while. And John Angelos deserves more credit than he is probably going to get for that. 
 

These are great times and I am gonna try and savor the ride. Not because I feel certain that a World Series title is assured. It’s not. 
 

I want to enjoy this time and notice it all because when we were last one of the best and expected to stay that way. I took it for granted and then 1984 turned into 1999 and then 2018 and I went from being a college sophomore to an old man with grown kids and with very few exceptions the chance to relive 1983 has evaded us. 
 

Imagine the possibilities from here and trying to just hang on for the ride and not take any of it for granted. It’s a great time to be an Oriole fan. 
 

Let’s go O’s. 

Edited March 30 by foxfield

[ThisIsBirdland]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Yes, he's never had to deal with a small payroll...

Ugh, completely memory holed his pre LAD tenure. It has been a bit.