Nanner
01-11-2005, 10:26 AM
........this offseason.
Laura Vecsey explains it all.
It's all about the team in Washington.
Sort of ticks me off.
But then, everything's ticking me off these days.
Waiting for settlement hampers Orioles on free-agent front
Originally published Jan 11, 2005
Laura Vecsey
THERE IS AT least one thing worse for Baltimore baseball fans to consider than the Orioles' inability and/or unwillingness to upgrade the team this winter.
That would be a willingness on the part of the Orioles to trade their most expensive player. Like, say, Miguel Tejada.
It's not unthinkable, even though the Orioles are trying to protect their assets, not dump them.
Still, uncertain times lead to drastic measures. Don't underestimate the potential of a draconian mind-set, especially from an organization attempting to establish the parameters of its new and -- for the Orioles -- unhappy business climate.
The Orioles have been negotiating since October on a financial package that would compensate the club for the losses it will suffer with the arrival of the Expos franchise in Washington.
Starting tomorrow, baseball owners will meet in Arizona. There, the Orioles may get the opportunity to glean an indication about whether they should continue negotiating a settlement with baseball, or sue.
It's not the 11th hour, but it's very close.
So close, in fact, that the lawsuit the Orioles could file is all researched, typed and ready to be walked over to the appropriate court clerk's office. All Bud Selig and the other 29 owners must do to trigger this radical response is continue to fall short in negotiations on terms that the Orioles believe must be part of a settlement.
There are five or six main issues (such as annual local revenues, franchise sale price, cable TV market and shares, length of settlement), but they're all interconnected. This isn't, as baseball's Bob DuPuy said, about two guys yelling over the replacement of a $40 window.
This is about big bucks in a complicated business endeavor that touches upon many disparate issues.
Running a baseball team is not the same kind of mom-and-pop enterprise as it was 34 years ago, the last time D.C. and Baltimore were major league neighbors. Hence, the decision by Angelos to play hardball on all issues related to franchise price, media markets and contracts and the length of the settlement.
"The revenue loss for the Orioles with a team in the Washington market estimated by the accounting firm of Deloitte Touche is between $20 million and $30 million," Orioles executive Joe Foss said yesterday.
In other words: a significant economic hit, which must be projected for as long as the Orioles and National are operating within 40 miles of each other.
In a sports world dominated by headlines about the New York Yankees signing every future Hall of Famer that isn't nailed down, or signed by the Mets, the Orioles have drawn befuddlement, or worse.
Crestfallen Orioles fans and the national sports media have harped on why it is the Orioles haven't done squat this winter. The failure to improve the team is a conspiracy. It's petulance by Peter Angelos. It's incompetence by Mike Flanagan and Jim Beattie.
There's reason to suspect these items might play some part in the equation. It's hard to stomach any excuse for the lack of spending, or worse, lack of creativity on the trade front. The Orioles can't afford to squander too much more fan loyalty, especially over complicated legal and business matters that most people want completed.
After months of speculation, Beattie finally used the Orioles' FanFest to 'fess up.
"The uncertainty of what's going on in D.C. has certainly hurt the way we can be out there and go at some of these things," Beattie said.
A year ago, Beattie and Flanagan attacked the market with tenacity and an open checkbook. They came home with Tejada, Javy Lopez, Rafael Palmeiro and Sidney Ponson, committing almost $122 million of Angelos' money.
This winter, not only haven't the twin vice presidents splurged $122 million, they haven't even spent the $16 million they saved in recently expired contracts.
No baseball executive could possibly be this ineffective unless there were a loud directive emanating from the law offices of Peter G. Angelos. As in: Thou Shalt Not Spend a Dime.
In some circles, like inside the D.C. Beltway, Angelos has been painted as an angry hornet hellbent on exacting revenge from baseball for doing what it promised it would not do: place a team within his territorial rights.
For Baltimore, and for the state of Maryland, which floated bonds to pay for Camden Yards, what Angelos is doing is an act of civic responsibility and duty.
Baseball may be a child's game. We may all prefer to sit around and wonder when the Orioles will open the checkbook and sign Carlos Delgado, if the Mets somehow whiff. But the business of baseball is another animal entirely.
Like, say, a pit bull.
Which leads us to Angelos, who deserves credit for his desire to safeguard his franchise so that it is protected beyond the days when he owns it.
Plunging the Orioles into the quagmire of a legal battle would certainly be a terrible situation, particularly in the short term for Baltimore baseball fans. A legal battle would make us all yearn for the days of Syd Thrift and Confederate money.
Those would be glory days compared to any season Angelos spends preoccupied with an unprecedented and landmark lawsuit against baseball.
"The Washington Nationals will be in this marketplace forever. What's the cost of that, to the Orioles, to the state of Maryland, to the city of Baltimore?" Foss said. "What is the competitive impact of that not only in 2005, but in 2025?"
These are the questions the Orioles will ask the owners this week. Depending on the answer, or lack of one, Angelos is prepared to take this to a different kind of arena, one in which he really hates to lose.
It's difficult to overestimate the drastic nature of this "situation."
And we were all worried about not getting Carl Pavano.
Copyright © 2005, The Baltimore Sun
Laura Vecsey explains it all.
It's all about the team in Washington.
Sort of ticks me off.
But then, everything's ticking me off these days.
Waiting for settlement hampers Orioles on free-agent front
Originally published Jan 11, 2005
Laura Vecsey
THERE IS AT least one thing worse for Baltimore baseball fans to consider than the Orioles' inability and/or unwillingness to upgrade the team this winter.
That would be a willingness on the part of the Orioles to trade their most expensive player. Like, say, Miguel Tejada.
It's not unthinkable, even though the Orioles are trying to protect their assets, not dump them.
Still, uncertain times lead to drastic measures. Don't underestimate the potential of a draconian mind-set, especially from an organization attempting to establish the parameters of its new and -- for the Orioles -- unhappy business climate.
The Orioles have been negotiating since October on a financial package that would compensate the club for the losses it will suffer with the arrival of the Expos franchise in Washington.
Starting tomorrow, baseball owners will meet in Arizona. There, the Orioles may get the opportunity to glean an indication about whether they should continue negotiating a settlement with baseball, or sue.
It's not the 11th hour, but it's very close.
So close, in fact, that the lawsuit the Orioles could file is all researched, typed and ready to be walked over to the appropriate court clerk's office. All Bud Selig and the other 29 owners must do to trigger this radical response is continue to fall short in negotiations on terms that the Orioles believe must be part of a settlement.
There are five or six main issues (such as annual local revenues, franchise sale price, cable TV market and shares, length of settlement), but they're all interconnected. This isn't, as baseball's Bob DuPuy said, about two guys yelling over the replacement of a $40 window.
This is about big bucks in a complicated business endeavor that touches upon many disparate issues.
Running a baseball team is not the same kind of mom-and-pop enterprise as it was 34 years ago, the last time D.C. and Baltimore were major league neighbors. Hence, the decision by Angelos to play hardball on all issues related to franchise price, media markets and contracts and the length of the settlement.
"The revenue loss for the Orioles with a team in the Washington market estimated by the accounting firm of Deloitte Touche is between $20 million and $30 million," Orioles executive Joe Foss said yesterday.
In other words: a significant economic hit, which must be projected for as long as the Orioles and National are operating within 40 miles of each other.
In a sports world dominated by headlines about the New York Yankees signing every future Hall of Famer that isn't nailed down, or signed by the Mets, the Orioles have drawn befuddlement, or worse.
Crestfallen Orioles fans and the national sports media have harped on why it is the Orioles haven't done squat this winter. The failure to improve the team is a conspiracy. It's petulance by Peter Angelos. It's incompetence by Mike Flanagan and Jim Beattie.
There's reason to suspect these items might play some part in the equation. It's hard to stomach any excuse for the lack of spending, or worse, lack of creativity on the trade front. The Orioles can't afford to squander too much more fan loyalty, especially over complicated legal and business matters that most people want completed.
After months of speculation, Beattie finally used the Orioles' FanFest to 'fess up.
"The uncertainty of what's going on in D.C. has certainly hurt the way we can be out there and go at some of these things," Beattie said.
A year ago, Beattie and Flanagan attacked the market with tenacity and an open checkbook. They came home with Tejada, Javy Lopez, Rafael Palmeiro and Sidney Ponson, committing almost $122 million of Angelos' money.
This winter, not only haven't the twin vice presidents splurged $122 million, they haven't even spent the $16 million they saved in recently expired contracts.
No baseball executive could possibly be this ineffective unless there were a loud directive emanating from the law offices of Peter G. Angelos. As in: Thou Shalt Not Spend a Dime.
In some circles, like inside the D.C. Beltway, Angelos has been painted as an angry hornet hellbent on exacting revenge from baseball for doing what it promised it would not do: place a team within his territorial rights.
For Baltimore, and for the state of Maryland, which floated bonds to pay for Camden Yards, what Angelos is doing is an act of civic responsibility and duty.
Baseball may be a child's game. We may all prefer to sit around and wonder when the Orioles will open the checkbook and sign Carlos Delgado, if the Mets somehow whiff. But the business of baseball is another animal entirely.
Like, say, a pit bull.
Which leads us to Angelos, who deserves credit for his desire to safeguard his franchise so that it is protected beyond the days when he owns it.
Plunging the Orioles into the quagmire of a legal battle would certainly be a terrible situation, particularly in the short term for Baltimore baseball fans. A legal battle would make us all yearn for the days of Syd Thrift and Confederate money.
Those would be glory days compared to any season Angelos spends preoccupied with an unprecedented and landmark lawsuit against baseball.
"The Washington Nationals will be in this marketplace forever. What's the cost of that, to the Orioles, to the state of Maryland, to the city of Baltimore?" Foss said. "What is the competitive impact of that not only in 2005, but in 2025?"
These are the questions the Orioles will ask the owners this week. Depending on the answer, or lack of one, Angelos is prepared to take this to a different kind of arena, one in which he really hates to lose.
It's difficult to overestimate the drastic nature of this "situation."
And we were all worried about not getting Carl Pavano.
Copyright © 2005, The Baltimore Sun