SARASOTA, Fla. — Orioles players were just as surprised as Baltimore fans.
When news broke in late January that the Angelos family had agreed to a deal to sell the Orioles to billionaire and Baltimore native David Rubenstein, it was a shock to not just a fan base that has largely dreamed of such a day, but to the wider baseball world.
The ballclub held its first spring training workout Thursday, and several Orioles players said they didn’t envision the sale of the team happening during the offseason.
“It was out of the blue for us,” right-hander Dean Kremer said.
“I didn’t even hear anything until it actually sold,” infielder Gunnar Henderson said.
Kremer, whose rotation spot was seemingly shored up by the news that Kyle Bradish and John Means are both expected to begin the season on the injured list, spoke highly of the Angelos family, which has owned the team since Peter Angelos purchased it for $173 million in 1993, while also expressing his enthusiasm for the new ownership group.
“Thankful for what the Angelos family did and how they’ve treated us over the last however many years, but we’re excited for this new group to come in and put their mark on it,” Kremer said.
Henderson expressed a similar sentiment.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty cool,” the 2023 American League Rookie of the Year said. “I’ve never really been through this situation before, so I don’t know what to expect, but I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the future.”
But Henderson said he hasn’t had any in-depth discussions about what it might mean for him with his agent, Scott Boras.
It’s unclear how the new ownership group will change things, but as the Orioles have regularly maintained bottom-five payrolls since John Angelos became the club’s control person because of Peter’s ailing health, some fans hope more spending is in the team’s future. Rubenstein’s net worth of $3.7 billion is more than Peter Angelos’ of $2 billion and puts him in the middle of the pack among MLB owners. His ownership group also includes Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke and the mega-wealthy Michael Bloomberg.
Baltimore’s projected season-opening payroll of about $96 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, is 26th out of 30 MLB teams.
“Obviously, we don’t get involved in the books, but that’s kind of our hope,” Kremer said when asked about the potential of the new ownership group’s spending habits.
The sale still must be approved by MLB, a process that could finish before opening day March 28. But, like any sale, it has the potential to be delayed. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said during a news conference at the New York Yankees’ spring training complex Thursday in Tampa that there are no updates on the sale since it was discussed during last week’s owners meetings in Orlando.
“We’re working on the internal processes that have to be completed before the transaction can close,” he said. “There’s lots of documents that need to be reviewed and whatnot to make sure they’re in accordance with our rules. We are and remain committed to the idea that we’d like to get it closed as quickly as we can.”
Manager Brandon Hyde recognizes the sale is “big news” but said he is just “focused on our club right here.” Elias, meanwhile, said he doesn’t expect the sale to be “impactful right now.”
“We’re all here in spring training with a really good team, and we’ve had continuity since I’ve been here and it looks to me like we’re just going to get more of that,” he said. “Everything that I’m hearing and seeing, it’s all very positive, but right now with the time of year that we’re in and the fact that the team is in go-for-it mode, we’re focused on that.”
Elias added that he doesn’t expect “any alteration” to how he and his team handles baseball operations, but he classified the sale as just another example of how the organization is heading in a good direction.
“I think there’s just been a lot lately where it seems like we have a lot of good momentum in this organization,” Elias said. “It seems like there’s some positive things there that would be characterized as part of that.”
