John Angelos’ latest tomfoolery puts another damper on Orioles’ bright future

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde watches his team’s young stars with the same sense of appreciation fans do.

“I feel extremely fortunate just to be able to watch them every day in my seat,” Hyde said.

If one believes Orioles CEO and Chairman John Angelos — a bold proposition in itself — those days are limited. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Angelos suggested that the only way for the club to keep its core players beyond their guaranteed years of team control would be to “dramatically” raise prices at Camden Yards, saying the organization could otherwise not afford to do so.

“Let’s say we sat down and showed you the financials for the Orioles,” Angelos told The Times. “You will quickly see that when people talk about giving this player $200 million, that player $150 million, we would be so financially underwater that you’d have to raise the prices massively. Now, are people going to come and pay that? I don’t know if we’re at the limit, to your point. I don’t know if we’re in equilibrium elasticity, supply and demand. Maybe we are. But really that’s just one team. What I’m really trying to think about is macro.”

Angelos’ unwillingness to actually open the Orioles’ books — despite his repeated unprompted offers — makes it difficult to verify his claims of financial difficulties. But Angelos should have plenty of funds set aside given that the Orioles have ranked in the bottom four among MLB’s 30 teams in opening day payroll each of the past five seasons while raking in millions from the league’s revenue sharing and television contracts.

There are more expenses involved with operating a baseball team than player payroll, and under Angelos, the Orioles have invested in improved technology, player development practices and the international marketplace. But Baltimore’s collective opening day payroll over the past four years is about $300 million below the league average.

What was the point of saving money fielding awful teams if it won’t be invested in the good ones? What’s the point of being the billionaire owner of a baseball team if you’re going to cry poor at every opportunity?

These Orioles rank 28th in payroll, skyrocketing up after beginning the season 29th thanks to a couple of modestly priced additions ahead of the trade deadline. That lowly status is largely because most members of their core are early in their career and thus relatively inexpensive, while only one of their veteran supplements has an eight-figure salary. Six of Baltimore’s 10 most valuable players, by FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement, are not yet eligible for arbitration, meaning they are effectively paid the league minimum. Baltimore’s two leaders in that measure are catcher Adley Rutschman and infielder Gunnar Henderson, respectively the runner-up for last year’s American League Rookie of the Year honor and the favorite for this season’s.

“They’ve just been absolutely amazing,” Hyde said. “And not only that, they’re incredibly high-character guys and unbelievably easy to coach.”

He’ll presumably coach them for the next several years, Angelos’ comments aside. Rutschman won’t be a free agent until after the 2027 season, Henderson until after 2028, the same year as fellow prized rookies Grayson Rodriguez and Jordan Westburg. But several other teams — including some of those considered “small market,” as Angelos has repeatedly noted the Orioles are — have locked up their young stars, showing a level of commitment absent in Baltimore. The Atlanta Braves, the only team with a better record than Baltimore, have nine players on guaranteed contracts beyond 2024. The Orioles have none. They don’t even have a lease to play at Camden Yards after this season.

Of course, the odds are high Rutschman, Henderson and the like will still be with Baltimore come 2025, though outfielder Anthony Santander and left-hander John Means will have reached free agency by then and All-Star outfielders Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays will be on the cusp. But this being a talking point with the Orioles atop of the American League is the latest example of Angelos’ tomfoolery taking away from an on-field product that he himself has admitted isn’t his top priority.

To his credit, Angelos has been relatively hands-off on the baseball side beyond, alongside his brother Louis, hiring Mike Elias as executive vice president and general manager, avoiding interference as Elias has built a farm system universally considered baseball’s best underneath a major league team that leads the AL East. That prospect depth suggests the Orioles could weather the eventual losses of popular players, but there are no guarantees the next crop of top talent matches up with the current one.

After the trade deadline, Elias said the Orioles had the financial flexibility to make significant additions to their payroll if such a deal presented itself. That alone suggests Baltimore’s current $70.6 million payroll is below the budget the organization is capable of. It’s unclear how far underneath, though, with Angelos yet to go over the Orioles’ finances with reporters despite volunteering to do so in January, doubling down in February and making note of the topic again to The Times.

“When I say something — like I’m gonna sit down with you guys, explain the business from my perspective — I’m gonna do it,” Angelos said at the Orioles’ spring training complex in February. “I’m not gonna say it and walk away from it.”

That was clearly false, and perhaps the same will prove to be the case with Angelos’ latest comments. Maybe the Orioles will soon start handing out extensions.

Until then, Hyde and fans alike should savor these days before they’re left with overpriced hot dogs and thoughts of what could have been.

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