The Baltimore Orioles have been owned by the Angelos family since 1993. However, that will not be the case any longer after a sale of the organization on Tuesday that could completely change the trajectory of the franchise.
The Orioles are coming off the best regular season since 1979, finishing with 102 victories, an impressive feat considering how young the team is.
They are sure to be among the top contenders in the American League again in 2024. And now, they are set to have a new ownership group in place that may actually begin to invest in this growing team.
John Ourand of Puck News broke the news on Tuesday that team owner John Angelos has agreed to sell the team for $1.725 billion to a group of private equity billionaires, Mike Arougheti and David Rubenstein, who happens to be from Baltimore.
Orioles legend Cal Ripkin Jr. will also reportedly be a part of the news ownership group in Baltimore, according to Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner.
Cal Ripken Jr. is reportedly part of the Orioles' new ownership group, per @afkostka pic.twitter.com/HVoIkmFnYb
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) January 31, 2024
The Angelos family has been criticized for decades now for being notoriously cheap, sporting the second-lowest payroll of any 40-man roster in all of baseball at $89.4 million this past season.
Naturally, Orioles fans took notice of the news and appear to be extremely eager for this new ownership group to potentially produce a winner in Baltimore.
Orioles are no longer poor pic.twitter.com/lGykilNuOq
— Patches O’Houlihan (@sondraa) January 30, 2024
Every single Orioles fan after seeing that John Angelos is finally selling the team pic.twitter.com/4zMU7WOTsb
— 𝙆am Brice (@kambrice1tv) January 30, 2024
Reports of an agreement to sell the @Orioles franchise to billionaires David Rubenstein & Mike Arougheti for $1.725 billion has some fans celebrating outside of Camden Yards @wjz pic.twitter.com/wyP7Qbha3z
— Cristina Mendez (@CrisMendezTV) January 31, 2024
HOW CAN YOU NOT BE PUMPED!!!
ORIOLES HAVE THE NUMBER ONE FARM SYSTEM
NUMBER ONE PROSPECT
HAD THE BEST RECORD IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE
AND NOW WILL HAVE AN OWNER WILLING TO SPEND MONEY! pic.twitter.com/xI9weqDXwl
— Maryland Sports Blog (@MDSportsblog) January 31, 2024
The Baltimore Orioles over the last two years
• AL East Champions (2023)
• AL Rookie of the Year (2023)
• New Ownership (2024)
• Best Record in AL (2023)
• #1 Farm System (2022-2024)A new change is coming to Baltimore and it will be something to look forward to pic.twitter.com/AoO8iTYiha
— 𝙆am Brice (@kambrice1tv) January 31, 2024
This is not only huge because the team may now be more likely to spend in free agency on key players. It also means that they will likely spend to keep their young core intact years down the road, which was not a certainty with the Angelos family ownership.
Back in August, John Angelos openly admitted that it “might not be feasible” to keep the young core of Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Grayson Rodriguez intact in the future.
NY Times interview w/ John Angelos:
Because economics, Angelos “conceded that it might not be feasible for his popular young core to be career Orioles like Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken Jr.”
Hope the O’s figure out a way to pay Adley, Gunnar and Grayson #Birdland pic.twitter.com/rBvCkc0QdK
— Brent Harris 🎙️ (@BrentWBAL) August 21, 2023
As long as this ownership group is indeed committed to putting this Orioles team in a position to win, expect some big things from them for years to come.
