What does Orioles’ impending sale mean for the franchise’s future?

Good morning, Baltimore: The future just got brighter.

The Orioles are being sold.

A group of investors spearheaded by David Rubenstein, a Baltimore-born private-equity tycoon, has agreed to buy a controlling stake in the O’s. The Angelos family, which has run the club since 1993, will maintain a meaningful investment in the club, but Rubenstein, 74, is set to become the franchise’s “control person.”

The sale, which values the Orioles at $1.725 billion — tenfold what a Peter Angelos-led consortium paid for the club more than three decades ago — is still subject to approval by the other 29 MLB owners. Still, all signs point toward a seamless transition. Set to turn 95 this July, Angelos gradually relinquished control of the club to his son as his health began to limit his involvement. 

In 2019, John Angelos became the franchise’s control person and has since become quite a controversial figure around Baltimore due to his public trepidation about extending Baltimore’s talented young core and for suspending team broadcaster Kevin Brown this past season for a comically mundane critique. This winter, fresh off a rip-roaring 101-victory, AL East-winning season, the Orioles have signed just one major free agent: a one-year pact with veteran closer Craig Kimbrel.

So, while the elder Angelos was heralded early in his tenure for spending big on free agents like Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Belle and Miguel Tejada, his son has developed quite the opposite reputation. Since John Angelos became the team’s control person, the Orioles have not extended a multiyear deal to a free agent or handed out a significant extension. Granted, the team was miles from contention for most of that span, but this winter’s hibernation reaffirmed concerns about the younger Angelos’ willingness to let general manager Mike Elias flash the cash.

And that’s why the arrival of Rubenstein couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Orioles’ window of contention just opened. They have franchise cornerstones at catcher and shortstop in Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, respectively. Infielder Jackson Holliday, set to debut this season, is the consensus best prospect in baseball and the rest of Baltimore’s farm system is absolutely loaded with offensive talent. Moreover, Elias has completely rehabilitated the club’s reputation within the game, reinvesting in player development and Latin America.

But to capitalize on all the progress made by Elias and the front office, the Orioles need to spend some money on baseball players. And while the club’s hesitancy to dance at the richer rungs of free agency has been frustrating for fans, that’s nothing compared to John Angelos’ comments this past summer about how the only way for Baltimore to afford extensions for the likes of Rutschman or Henderson was to raise ticket prices.

Rubenstein’s arrival totally changes the calculus. 

Fair, competitive extensions for Rutschman, Henderson and/or Holliday appear much more likely with such an overwhelming monetary infusion. Just how much money Rubenstein & Co. will spend on high-end free agents remains to be seen, but there’s no way it will be less than the restrictive atmosphere imposed by John Angelos.

It’s worth investigating where Rubenstein might fall on the spectrum of baseball ownership investment. At one end are the groups and characters entirely in it for the money. To them, a ballclub is just like any other business. And at the other end, you have pure stewardship, owners overwhelmingly interested in ensuring the franchise (a) puts a compelling and competitive product on the field, and (b) is a responsible and meaningful institution in the community. Most owners fall somewhere in between the two extremes.

Fans don’t care if owners are making money, only that they’re spending it on the club.

Born and raised in Northwest Baltimore, Rubenstein started his career as an advisor in the Jimmy Carter White House, but eventually pivoted to private equity, co-founding Carlyle Group in 1987. Since then, Carlyle Group has become one of the world’s largest funds, pushing Rubenstein’s personal net worth toward $3.7 billion according to Forbes. 

Over the years, Rubenstein has donated quite a bit of his fortune to public causes, including $10 million for repairs to the Washington Monument, $50 million to the Kennedy Center in D.C. and $12 million to the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Most notably, Rubenstein bought the last privately owned copy of the Magna Carta for over $21 million in 2007 and then lent it to the National Archives and Records Administration.

In other words, $30 million a year for Adley Rutschman shouldn’t be too big of an issue.

Rubenstein is joined in the purchase by an impressive assortment of other business, civic and sports figures. A sizable chunk of change is likely coming via the trio of Michael Arougheti, Mitchell Goldstein and Michael Smith, who are all bigwigs at Ares Management Corporation, an investment management firm. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, businesswoman and owner of the NWSL’s Washington Spirit Michelle Kang, former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke and NBA legend Grant Hill are also involved.

But the headline addition to this ownership group is MLB Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. A lifelong Marylander, Ripken remains one of the most beloved sports figures in the state’s history, and his involvement in this ownership shift is an absolute no-brainer. 

But most importantly, for the O’s franchise and its fans, the sale to Rubenstein provides a legitimate reason for optimism. Even as the Birds shot to the front of the American League last season, there were signs that certain aspects of the franchise were still operating suboptimally. This winter’s inaction only intensified concerns that this current core won’t be forever Orioles, as privileged as those concerns might be given where the O’s were just a few years ago.

That Rubenstein’s Baltimore homecoming draws obvious comparisons to Steve Cohen’s purchase of the New York Mets will only add to expectations. Both men are big-money finance magnates who used that wealth to buy their boyhood teams. Since acquiring the Mets, Cohen has flexed his financial might with mixed results, but maintains an overwhelmingly positive approval rating with fans. 

If Rubenstein wants the same reputation, all he has to do is spend on the O’s.

He has the money to do just that.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He played college baseball, poorly at first, then very well, very briefly. Jake lives in New York City where he coaches Little League and rides his bike, sometimes at the same time. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Mintz.

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