For Orioles fans, the offseason is normally a time for other interests.
During years of inaction through the painful rebuild, the most insignificant of moves were all there was. It appeared this offseason would be much of the same as autumn gave way to winter, but then a span of 48 hours drastically changed the franchise’s trajectory and the ballclub’s outlook in 2024.
With a soon-to-be new owner and a shiny new ace, the Orioles enter spring training with sky-high expectations and a reinvigorated fan base that believes a World Series is in Baltimore’s near future.
“It seems almost too good to be true,” Orioles fan Barbara Schindo said.
As Orioles pitchers and catchers report to spring training Wednesday in Sarasota, Florida, they do so with a new member in their ranks, as former National League Cy Young Corbin Burnes will headline a young rotation that needed an ace. Two nights before that trade, reports surfaced that the Angelos family had agreed to sell the team to billionaire David Rubenstein.
Rubenstein, co-founder of the private equity firm Carlyle Group, purchased 40% of the team, making him the control person instead of John Angelos, in a deal that values the club at $1.725 billion. The 74-year-old Baltimore native will purchase the remaining shares upon the death of Peter Angelos, the incapacitated family patriarch who bought the club for $173 million in 1993.
The news of the sale, which will see Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke and others as members of the ownership group, was met with thunderous applause from a fan base that first turned sour on Peter Angelos’ meddling in the late 1990s and then grew weary of his elder son John’s unwillingness to spend and frequent mishaps with the media. The cheering only continued when Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias finally pulled the trigger for a front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher.
“He’s a perfect fit,” Dan O’Dowd, a former MLB general manager and current MLB Network analyst, said of Burnes.
The two events occurring within a few days of each other was a mere coincidence, as Rubenstein’s superior wealth ($3.7 billion) was not a factor in the Orioles taking on Burnes’ 2024 salary of $15.6 million. Additionally, 75% of MLB’s owners must still approve the sale — a process that could wrap up before opening day but could also drag into the season — and how the league handles the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network as part of the deal remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, with the club under Rubenstein and the rotation under Burnes, the Orioles have leveled up. With Burnes specifically, others around the league have taken notice.
“That can be a little bit of a problem,” New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters after the Orioles acquired the 29-year-old right-hander.
The addition of Burnes changes the complexion of the Orioles’ rotation, while the signing of closer Craig Kimbrel during the winter meetings in December helps fill the mountain-sized hole left by injured flamethrower Félix Bautista. But the rest of the roster will be the same as last season — and for good reason after 101 wins and an American League East title.
In 2023, Adley Rutschman cemented his spot as one of the sport’s best backstops. Infielder Gunnar Henderson won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Right-hander Kyle Bradish blossomed and finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting. Elias, who spearheaded the historic rebuild, was named MLB Executive of the Year, and skipper Brandon Hyde, who survived the rebuild alongside outfielders Anthony Santander, Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins, won the AL Manager of the Year Award.
However, the magical campaign — the franchise’s first 100-win season since 1980 — came crashing down in the playoffs when the Orioles were swept by the soon-to-be world champion Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series. The main culprit for the playoff failure was poor starting pitching against Texas’ potent lineup. This fall, if the Orioles are in the same position, Burnes could serve as the ace that is so crucial to have in the postseason.
“That’s why they traded for him,” said former Orioles pitcher Scott McGregor, the club’s ace during the 1983 postseason that ended with the franchise’s most recent championship. McGregor sees similarities between that team and the club today. “We were very tight, and this team is exactly that same way, too. They have a lot of fun, they know each other and they trust each other.”
As the Orioles seek to take the next step, their young core hopes to do the same, while the club’s veterans look to maintain their success and the castoffs who overachieved are eager to prove 2023 wasn’t a fluke.
“We had a special year last year, [and] a lot of these guys are coming back,” Hyde said during the Birdland Caravan last month. “They’re going to be hungry.”
It’s not just the players who are determined. Baltimore fan Mark Schneider, a 52-year-old Forest Hill native, still reminisces about the only championship the Orioles have won in his lifetime. After more than 40 years, he believes new World Series memories are within reach.
“It’s the highest it’s ever been,” Schneider said of his championship hopes.
Schindo, a 39-year-old York, Pennsylvania, native, is so optimistic that she’s concerned she’s “getting ahead of myself.” The Orioles haven’t appeared in a Fall Classic in her lifetime.
“I’m almost too hopeful,” she acknowledged.
Both fans said they’re already planning out which games to attend this season, saying the recent developments have made them more excited to visit Camden Yards. And games will continue to be played at Oriole Park despite concerns about the lease in recent years. After 2023 was marred by sometimes-contentious negotiations, the team and the Maryland Stadium Authority reached a lease agreement to keep the team in Baltimore for at least 15 years and perhaps more than 30. While Camden Yards drew just shy of 2 million fans in 2023 — the mark of a solid year — attendance did increase by 41.5% compared with 2022.
“It’s so fun to watch,” left-hander John Means said of the increased support from fans during the Birdland Caravan. “I was kind of there for the dog days in [2019, 2020, 2021] where there wasn’t a whole lot of fans in the stands. Now to see Camden Yards packed and the noise and all these fans in the streets wearing Orioles gear up and down, it’s fun to see.”
While fans’ expectations are perhaps higher than ever in recent years, the projection systems aren’t as bullish. FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus project the Orioles to win 84 and 86 games, respectively, and finish outside the top two in the AL East. The sportsbooks are a bit more optimistic, with DraftKings listing the Orioles’ win total for bets at 90.5.
“The American League East is no picnic,” said O’Dowd, who began his career with the Orioles in the 1980s. “The Yankees got a lot better. The Blue Jays’ starting pitching you could argue is the best in the division. The Rays are the Rays, and the Red Sox are going to be better than they were a year ago, too. But you win with depth in our game, and the Orioles’ depth one through 40 is without a shadow of a doubt the best in the whole game.”
With the Orioles’ first spring training game set for Feb. 24, the club still has plenty of questions to answer, and none more anticipated than whether top prospect Jackson Holliday will be on the opening day roster. Holliday headlines a farm system that is still ranked as the sport’s best, and the infielder could soon form one of baseball’s most exciting young trios with Rutschman and Henderson. Whether the Orioles can keep them in Baltimore for the long term remains to be seen, but the club’s projected payroll of $96.4 million, which is 58% higher than last season’s, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, ranks in the bottom five of MLB teams — potentially giving Rubenstein future spending flexibility.
Long before the highs of the Rubenstein and Burnes acquisitions were the lows of the rebuild. The Orioles traded away Manny Machado in 2018, lost the most games in the majors over a four-year span, and hit rock bottom during a 19-game losing streak in 2021.
After the 2022 trade deadline, Elias signaled the end of the rebuild following his controversial decision to sell assets while his club was in a wild-card race when he declared “it’s liftoff from here.”
His club now heads into 2024 as defending AL East champions with the sport’s top-ranked farm system, one of baseball’s best young cores, an ace atop a playoff-caliber rotation and a new owner with deeper pockets.
The Orioles haven’t just lifted off. They believe they’re ready to soar.
Baltimore Sun Media reporter Sam Cohn contributed to this article.
