“Are you worried?”
Background: I, Glenn Clark, 38-year-old man, still play in an adult kickball league. We play on Thursday nights up in Harford County. The news of the lawsuit between the Angelos brothers was made public by The Baltimore Banner just before our game.
A longtime listener named Ed plays in the same league and asked me if I had seen the news. I had. He followed up with the above question.
“Are you worried?”
It’s a complicated question, right? Because I knew what he was really asking. What he was really asking was, “Are you worried that the Orioles are going to move to Nashville?”
And that answer is easy. No. No, I’m not. I’m not worried the Orioles will end up moving to Nashville. And it’s not just because this line in the lawsuit:
“John intends to maintain absolute control over the Orioles — to manage, to sell, or, if he chooses, to move to Tennessee (where he has a home and where his wife’s career is headquartered) — without having to answer to anyone.”
Was followed by this particular line in the Banner’s story:
“While the lawsuit speculates that John Angelos might want to move the team, there are no allegations that he took any such steps.”
But that’s pretty important! In a 49-page lawsuit which served to air much of the Angelos family’s dirty laundry, not a single accusation was made about the elder Angelos threatening or even CONSIDERING the idea of moving the team to Nashville! Not one! The hypothetical statement appears to be one that was suggested in hopes to create the explosive response that it … has successfully created! Such inflammatory rhetoric could curry favor for Louis Angelos.
But it goes beyond that.
Let’s just, for the sake of the discussion, consider the premise that John Angelos HAS explored such a move. To be clear, there is zero known evidence of John Angelos making such an exploration! We’re working hypothetically! There is an argument to be made that from a business perspective, owning a team in a small market (Baltimore) with a larger market team just 41 miles away (Washington) would make less sense than owning a team in a similarly small market (Nashville) whose closest competition (Atlanta) is 248 miles away, after all.
But while it COULD make sense for an owner to explore such a hypothetical move, it would make absolutely zero sense for Major League Baseball to entertain it. Consider that no MLB owner has moved a franchise since the Washington Senators departed in 1972 to become the Texas Rangers. The Montreal Expos’ move to Washington in 2005 does not count. At that point, the Expos were owned by the league itself, which was forced to come up with some sort of long-term solution for the franchise.
The Orioles are not in an untenable situation as a franchise. The Orioles aren’t even in an unfortunate situation, at least not beyond their own doing. Teams that move are teams that no longer have an adequate facility and have found that leaving for another market can come along with the financial help to get that type of facility. That’s the exact opposite of the situation in Baltimore, where a still eternally youthful 30-year-old stadium stands with a commitment from the state to upgrade the facility.
The Rays and Athletics are in danger of moving. The Orioles simply have an awkward ownership situation. They’re just not going anywhere. On the morning of June 13, John Angelos indicated just that:
But back to the question. “Am I worried?”
Yes. Yes, I’m worried. I’m not worried about the team moving. But I am worried about the shorter-term ramifications of the lawsuit. I’ve maintained in recent weeks that this coming offseason is when the franchise should begin considering the possibility of spending actual money in order to try to fortify the fruits of their rebuild so far. While it would be unreasonable to expect a nine-figure commitment, simply adding another pitcher or two could be the boost necessary for a young but talented lineup to develop into a truly competitive team in 2023.
But with the franchise’s controlling partner potentially caught in a prolonged civil battle regarding the future of the franchise, it seems implausible to imagine the franchise committing any amount of additional money to the payroll, at least until the suit is resolved. With some civil matters like this dragging on for years on end, when might the Orioles make such a financial commitment if they don’t do it this year?
I’m worried about that. I’m worried that what has been a painful rebuild process could become even more painful when the talent the organization has developed is not met with the needed outside help in order to make the team competitive in a brutally difficult division.
I by no means know that this is how things will play out. But it’s hard not to be worried about the potential ramifications of such a lawsuit. I, like so many others, truly hope the suit gets resolved quickly and in the future we can talk about more magical nights at Camden Yards (like the Paul McCartney show!) in the future.
Photo Credits: Mitch Stringer/PressBox and Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles