Virtually every team, including those in smaller markets, has extended pieces of their core. Those young players are the cornerstones of the hopes and dreams of the franchise, the players that will potentially lead them back to glory. Locking in those young stars is good business as well as those extensions could be bargains. Just don’t tell that to the Baltimore Orioles.
Team CEO John Angelos was interviewed on 105.7 The Fan ahead of Opening Day on Thursday. The topic of extensions, especially for youngsters such as Adley Rutschman, naturally came up. And naturally, Angelos complained about being a small market team in baseball.
John Angelos shows nothing will change with Baltimore Orioles
Angelos did attempt to backtrack after that complaint. He said that the Orioles would “do what they can within the system that they’re in.” Ideally, that would mean extensions for some of their younger players. But again, he referenced the economic model in Major League Baseball, insinuating that the Orioles do not have the financial wherewithal to make such moves.
This is not the first time that he has stuck his foot in his mouth about the Orioles’ finances. Angelos had promised to show reporters the team’s finances several times, but has yet to do so. This came on the heels of the Orioles declaring that the rebuild was over and that they were ready to add talent to the roster, but failing to do anything of note during the offseason.
It is also a troubling sign for the future. The Orioles homegrown talent will only take them so far. They are going to need to add pieces, and top end talent, to take that next step. Locking in their youngsters will help keep them competitive for the long term. But that involves spending money that ownership wants to claim they do not have.
The Baltimore Orioles are already making excuses about not extending their players. Their cries of poverty are a joke.
Leave a Reply