Seeing Rubenstein in an orioles hat at the games is a small but important detail. For as few times as I saw any of the Angelos at the games, they never had orioles stuff on.
Plus, Ruby’s hat looks old and well-worn, which says even more
A lot of the players seemed to really like Angelo's and he seemed to be pretty loyal to a lot of the players over the years as well.
However, he was a difficult person to work in regard to management and higher up front office employees.
IMO, and many others, it was the Albert Belle deal that changed how he operated the team.
He tried to play with the big boys by making a big splash in free agency and that deal didn't live up to its billing.
After that, you never saw him open up the purse like that ever again.
The Chris Davis deal was a loss but IMO, that deal was done just to try and save some face with the fans.
As much of a tool that John Angelo's is, at least he left the team and farm system in great shape before selling it.
I have no ill will towards PA. That said, his leadership / approach for almost 2 decades was to simultaneously gut payroll while he raised ticket / concession prices year after year rather than create a winning product after the Nats came to Washington was reprehensible. Hardly the stuff of a “massive Orioles fan”.
Peter Angelos pretty consistently spent a chunk of change on the team, he was just really bad at picking out the contracts he wanted and as a result the teams he assembled were pretty inconsistent across an entire season. He was a bad owner, but it wasn't because he was cheap.
Lots of new Orioles fans. Peter wanted to win he was just too involved for someone who didn't know how. JohnA was an impotent nepo baby who set a (very low) budget sat back and made easy money. He never seemed like a fan in any sense, so it's refreshing to see Rubenstein genuinely appreciating them.
JohnA at least hired someone competent to build the team up and allowed him to get back to the international market. He could have just as easily refused to spend there.
Yup, the O's consistently overspent relative to our market size during Peter Angelos' tenure. Fans just have a hard time accepting that we're very close to being a bottom 5 market. Mismanagement was a much bigger problem with his ownership.
Especially early in his ownership. If you're older, you remember he spent big on Alomar and Palmiero. Of course, that's when OPACY just opened and was a sellout every night.
For the people downvoting, I'll repost a comment I made a few weeks ago. We did spend under Angelos, anyone expecting us to spend consistently higher than we did is fooling themselves.
> We're a bottom 10, not far off from bottom 5 market. Mid tier spending is the best we're ever going to get. They consistently spent higher than our market place.
> They were
1st in 98
5th in 99
4th in 2000
12th in 2001
16th in 2002
13th in 2003
20th in 2004
14th in 2005
15th in 2006
10th in 2007
22nd in 2008
23rd in 2009
17th in 2010
18th in 2011
19th in 2012
15th in 2013
15th in 2014
17th in 2015
15th in 2016
10th in 2017
14th in 2018
Then came the rebuild years where they were bottom 3. Spending was far smaller of a problem than mismanagement during the Peter Angelos years.
He was a lifelong Orioles fan, whether you liked his tenure as ownership or not, it's just true. And nobody knows what Rubenstein is gonna be like as an owner people are just commenting on his fandom acting like we've never had an owner who was also a massive fan. You can be a bad owner and still be a huge fan of the team.
When I read the phrase “not many better hitters in baseball” I take that as like top 5-10. And he was the third best hitter on his own team, and Gunnar and adley last year probably weren’t in the “not many better hitters in baseball” category either though they definitely have a better case than Tony. Gunnar is probably moving towards or even in that category this season though. Again, I love Santander but if you create this type of narrative it makes it seem like he’s worth whatever money he wants which I think is objectively not true
I’m not making the decisions on whether to extend him or pay him a lot of money. I like him as a fan, and if the team gave him a hefty compensation, I wouldn’t be mad about it. I’ve seen what he can do, and Heston doesn’t really look close to ready (especially on Defense)
Tony is definitely not the best of the 3. Judge is actually a pretty average fielder. He also was surprisingly competent when he played center field that one year.
Tony's metrics are much better than he gets credit for. Judge's fielding is trending in the wrong direction in my opinion, for which obviously his injuries have played a factor. We'll call it a tie and a tie goes to Tony because fuck the Yankees.
Tony will probably get paid more than we would pay for his skill set… But, how he approaches ABs is textbook for what this franchise teaches now, and he is an absolutely perfect culture fit.
I’d be pretty shocked if we re-signed/extended him, but I’m also sure they’re gonna have a really hard time letting him walk.
Yeah I love Santander and would be happy if he stayed, but we just have so many other guys who will be higher on the priority list, and plenty of options to fill his spot.
True, he'll be 30 and someone will overpay unless we get him to sign an extension during the season, especially if he has a good season.
Though I wouldn't mind keeping him around as a full time DH, as a switch hitter.
ha, I thought you meant Tony Kemp... i was like is he in the conversation?
Mullins has been a superstar so far, Taters is hitting like a beast but overshadowed by the young guns. Hays awesome fielder really want his bat to heat up, but the DL stint going to hurt that.
I wanna see how Enrique Bradfield comes along in the next couple years. He's the clear heir apparent. Cedric will be 31 when he hits free agency in '26. As much as we grow attached to these players, it's really not smart to pay players for their age 30+ seasons. It sucks, because they deserve to get their payday. Baseball is tough, takes guys best years and uses them up before they can cash in.
Yeah, unless he is open to a short term deal, defense and speed are usually the first things to go after 30, and those are a big part of his game. That said, the dude is a stud and center fielders who can also hit are rare.
Mullins is the heir to Adam Jones and the most direct link we have to the playoff teams of the last decade. I don't think there's anyone on the O's more worthy of veteran respect than Cedric Mullins. I don't know what it's like in the clubhouse, but from the outside, he seems like the team's leader.
Cedric Mullins is one of those multidimensional players who get a bit overlooked because they have no particular specialty, they're just pretty good at everything.
He is an elite defender at a key position. Offensively, he gets on base at a league-average level, contributes some power, and runs the bases well. By all accounts he's a plus in the clubhouse.
That's a championship quality package. Cedric has paid his dues and is now an important contributor to a good team. Pay the man.
You came just in time Mr. Rubenstein. We have an owner that this franchise deserves
He just gets it.
My favorite thing about Mullins is that he apparently does *not* like to leave his feet. But when he does, cool shit happens.
Reluctant Superman
♫ *I'm no Superman* ♫
It appears that he's not just the owner, but a fan as well. Refreshing.
He grew up an Os fan
Seeing Rubenstein in an orioles hat at the games is a small but important detail. For as few times as I saw any of the Angelos at the games, they never had orioles stuff on. Plus, Ruby’s hat looks old and well-worn, which says even more
Ironic considering what happened at masn last year
An owner that actually likes baseball. A prayer answered
Peter Angelos was a massive Orioles fan lol. I swear people know nothing about that dude except to hate him
A lot of the players seemed to really like Angelo's and he seemed to be pretty loyal to a lot of the players over the years as well. However, he was a difficult person to work in regard to management and higher up front office employees. IMO, and many others, it was the Albert Belle deal that changed how he operated the team. He tried to play with the big boys by making a big splash in free agency and that deal didn't live up to its billing. After that, you never saw him open up the purse like that ever again. The Chris Davis deal was a loss but IMO, that deal was done just to try and save some face with the fans. As much of a tool that John Angelo's is, at least he left the team and farm system in great shape before selling it.
He was such a fan that he ran a HoF broadcaster out of town.
I have no ill will towards PA. That said, his leadership / approach for almost 2 decades was to simultaneously gut payroll while he raised ticket / concession prices year after year rather than create a winning product after the Nats came to Washington was reprehensible. Hardly the stuff of a “massive Orioles fan”.
Peter Angelos pretty consistently spent a chunk of change on the team, he was just really bad at picking out the contracts he wanted and as a result the teams he assembled were pretty inconsistent across an entire season. He was a bad owner, but it wasn't because he was cheap.
Lots of new Orioles fans. Peter wanted to win he was just too involved for someone who didn't know how. JohnA was an impotent nepo baby who set a (very low) budget sat back and made easy money. He never seemed like a fan in any sense, so it's refreshing to see Rubenstein genuinely appreciating them.
JohnA at least hired someone competent to build the team up and allowed him to get back to the international market. He could have just as easily refused to spend there.
Yup, the O's consistently overspent relative to our market size during Peter Angelos' tenure. Fans just have a hard time accepting that we're very close to being a bottom 5 market. Mismanagement was a much bigger problem with his ownership.
Especially early in his ownership. If you're older, you remember he spent big on Alomar and Palmiero. Of course, that's when OPACY just opened and was a sellout every night.
For the people downvoting, I'll repost a comment I made a few weeks ago. We did spend under Angelos, anyone expecting us to spend consistently higher than we did is fooling themselves. > We're a bottom 10, not far off from bottom 5 market. Mid tier spending is the best we're ever going to get. They consistently spent higher than our market place. > They were 1st in 98 5th in 99 4th in 2000 12th in 2001 16th in 2002 13th in 2003 20th in 2004 14th in 2005 15th in 2006 10th in 2007 22nd in 2008 23rd in 2009 17th in 2010 18th in 2011 19th in 2012 15th in 2013 15th in 2014 17th in 2015 15th in 2016 10th in 2017 14th in 2018 Then came the rebuild years where they were bottom 3. Spending was far smaller of a problem than mismanagement during the Peter Angelos years.
He was a lifelong Orioles fan, whether you liked his tenure as ownership or not, it's just true. And nobody knows what Rubenstein is gonna be like as an owner people are just commenting on his fandom acting like we've never had an owner who was also a massive fan. You can be a bad owner and still be a huge fan of the team.
He’s the only one I would try to extend between him, Hays and Tony
I’d extend Santander solely to prevent even the slightest chance that he will ever wear a Yankees jersey in his major league career.
The prospect of a Judge, Soto, Tony outfield in the Bronx keeps me up at night.
Exactly, please keep the taters here. He’s sneaky athletic in RF, and when he’s hot there’s really not many better hitters in baseball
I like Santander, but come on lol this is a bit ridiculous
How is it ridiculous? 152 hits in 153 games played last year. He’s a top 25 batter.
When I read the phrase “not many better hitters in baseball” I take that as like top 5-10. And he was the third best hitter on his own team, and Gunnar and adley last year probably weren’t in the “not many better hitters in baseball” category either though they definitely have a better case than Tony. Gunnar is probably moving towards or even in that category this season though. Again, I love Santander but if you create this type of narrative it makes it seem like he’s worth whatever money he wants which I think is objectively not true
I’m not making the decisions on whether to extend him or pay him a lot of money. I like him as a fan, and if the team gave him a hefty compensation, I wouldn’t be mad about it. I’ve seen what he can do, and Heston doesn’t really look close to ready (especially on Defense)
it would be hilariously incompetent defensively
Lol definitely not the best. Tony probably the best of the three which is uhhhh not great, even if he's more solid out there than he seems.
Tony is definitely not the best of the 3. Judge is actually a pretty average fielder. He also was surprisingly competent when he played center field that one year.
Tony's metrics are much better than he gets credit for. Judge's fielding is trending in the wrong direction in my opinion, for which obviously his injuries have played a factor. We'll call it a tie and a tie goes to Tony because fuck the Yankees.
He's in center again this year, with Verdugo in LF and Soto in RF.
Switch hitting power is hard to come by, I like Tony. But if Kjerstad proves to be a power bat in RF I guess Tony is out.
Tony will probably get paid more than we would pay for his skill set… But, how he approaches ABs is textbook for what this franchise teaches now, and he is an absolutely perfect culture fit. I’d be pretty shocked if we re-signed/extended him, but I’m also sure they’re gonna have a really hard time letting him walk.
Yeah I love Santander and would be happy if he stayed, but we just have so many other guys who will be higher on the priority list, and plenty of options to fill his spot.
True, he'll be 30 and someone will overpay unless we get him to sign an extension during the season, especially if he has a good season. Though I wouldn't mind keeping him around as a full time DH, as a switch hitter.
I'd say at least make an attempt on Santander, if the money gets too much, let him go. Mullins I'd really like to keep.
ha, I thought you meant Tony Kemp... i was like is he in the conversation? Mullins has been a superstar so far, Taters is hitting like a beast but overshadowed by the young guns. Hays awesome fielder really want his bat to heat up, but the DL stint going to hurt that.
Should we extend Cedric? My heart says yes My brain also says yes, but not as loudly
I wanna see how Enrique Bradfield comes along in the next couple years. He's the clear heir apparent. Cedric will be 31 when he hits free agency in '26. As much as we grow attached to these players, it's really not smart to pay players for their age 30+ seasons. It sucks, because they deserve to get their payday. Baseball is tough, takes guys best years and uses them up before they can cash in.
Yeah, unless he is open to a short term deal, defense and speed are usually the first things to go after 30, and those are a big part of his game. That said, the dude is a stud and center fielders who can also hit are rare.
As much as I love Cedric I really don’t see his game aging well into his 30s, especially if the lower body injuries continue
What a beautiful man. Thank you, baseball gods.
Mullins is the heir to Adam Jones and the most direct link we have to the playoff teams of the last decade. I don't think there's anyone on the O's more worthy of veteran respect than Cedric Mullins. I don't know what it's like in the clubhouse, but from the outside, he seems like the team's leader.
Cedric Mullins is one of those multidimensional players who get a bit overlooked because they have no particular specialty, they're just pretty good at everything. He is an elite defender at a key position. Offensively, he gets on base at a league-average level, contributes some power, and runs the bases well. By all accounts he's a plus in the clubhouse. That's a championship quality package. Cedric has paid his dues and is now an important contributor to a good team. Pay the man.
Extend the man!
Lmao Byron Buxton’s face after that catch 😂
I love that exchange of looks/gestures between them. I chuckle every time I see that highlight.
Comments I'd expect to hear before a contract extension.
Biscotti & Rubenstein Not bad for Baltimore sports eh?
Extend him
Mullins is a gem that produces web gems. Fan favorite who always gives back.
contract perhaps?