As the Orioles’ owner and control person, David Rubenstein can get any seat he wants on game day at Camden Yards.
Throughout his first season presiding over the franchise, the bespectacled 75-year-old perched just next to the home dugout — not to meddle with the baseball team he bought in March but to showcase his support.
Nearly every home game, Rubenstein could be seen shaking hands with strangers, tossing out free hats from the dugout roof, even playing a cameo as Mr. Splash. After years of John Angelos’ detachment, Rubenstein’s comparative vibrance made him his own kind of mascot to fans, his tan hat and navy sport coat representing a hopeful future.
But, after Baltimore was swept 0-2 by the Kansas City Royals, the Orioles’ second straight postseason appearance without a win, Rubenstein’s seat seems all the more appropriate. The first offseason under his ownership group will require him to come off the bench and step up to the plate.
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We’re still learning about Rubenstein, Michael Arougheti and the rest of the ownership group. One of their biggest ambitions is to renovate Camden Yards, primarily using hundreds of millions in state bond funds, and usher in a new era for one of the venerated MLB ballparks. They’ve brought in officials such as Catie Griggs to build out the business side. They’ve showered resources on Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School to showcase their community commitment.
Holdovers from the Angelos era have seen fresh winds blow into the Warehouse — new ideas, new direction, imported from some of the brightest minds in finance who may help the team’s long-term future.
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“These guys are great — this is what, I think, Baltimore’s been waiting for,” executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Thursday. “They’re smart; they’re business savvy; they’re well equipped for this. They’re going to be all in to win.”
But, on the baseball side, the biggest trait has been caution. Publicly and privately, from Rubenstein on down, the ownership group has conveyed that Elias — who oversaw the rebuild of a beleaguered scouting and development program into the envy of MLB — will have the freedom and resources to do as he sees fit.
It’s probably one reason Elias has praised them so lavishly.
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You can see how much things have changed for Elias in one year on one specific issue: payroll. Under the Angelos directive, the baseball leaders knew they had to pinch pennies. Before this season, the Orioles had the second-lowest payroll in baseball.
When asked about payroll increasing following the 2023 season, Elias dodged the question. When asked the same thing Thursday morning, Elias cracked a smile in the midst of a largely tense press conference.
“I could dance around that because it’s early, and I don’t think it’s really fair before I get into my planning,” Elias said. “But, yeah, I would be pretty confident that we’re going to keep investing in the major league payroll, given what we’ve got here and the upward slope that we hope to get back on.”
It’s not clear how much latitude Elias has to spend in free agency. It likely falls somewhere short of the hundreds of millions it would need to re-sign ace pitcher Corbin Burnes, but it definitely will clear the Angelos bar. If the Orioles want Anthony Santander — and his 44 home runs — back next year, they could be players, even though it will cost.
But free agency spending is just one of the areas where ownership can impart its stamp. Trades could be another, especially after the deal for Burnes last February wound up being extremely successful (albeit spoiled by a brief postseason cameo).
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The group approved several trade deadline moves that added salary — acquiring starter Zach Eflin was among the best — but nothing earthshaking. The success of the Burnes trade should encourage the Orioles to consider another blockbuster, costly though it may be.
But supporting Elias can’t be the only thing this ownership group does. It should also be evaluating him.
Up until this point, Elias has largely been a hero to Orioles fans for cultivating the team’s impressive prospect list and hitting on a number of top picks. Reflecting on his six-year relationship with manager Brandon Hyde, who is coming back for 2025, Elias accurately noted how the two turned around an organization that was “a morass” and in “a very dreary spot.” The Orioles are now cohesive and competent thanks to Elias and his handpicked staff.
But the first crop of homegrown hitters in the Elias era came up woefully short this year. It begs the question whether playoff success is merely a plateau or a ceiling for an analytics-driven front office that believes deeply in its methods, especially when it comes to hitting.
The results are from a small sample, but the 0-5 playoff record stings enough to blot out a lot of the joy of back-to-back 90-plus-win seasons.
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Elias pledged to look in the mirror, as did Hyde. But, if the figures at the top are the same, fans want to know what is being done differently to insulate them from these blink-and-you’ll-miss-them postseason stints. Only ownership can keep the front office accountable, while trying not to cross the Rubicon into micromanagement.
Ownership might be wondering how the baseball side is being received after Camden Yards failed to sell out for two home playoff games. It’s disappointing, but faith in this town builds slowly, no matter how many hats you hand out.
Buying the Orioles is not a vanity project for Rubenstein — it’s a civic one. He’s trying to do right by Baltimore with one of its treasured city assets. It’s laudable that Rubenstein has left baseball decisions to baseball people — he has the self-awareness not to play GM himself a la Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys.
“I would be pretty confident that we’re going to keep investing in the major league payroll, given what we’ve got here and the upward slope that we hope to get back on.”
Orioles GM Mike Elias
But he can’t simply be a figurehead. Rubenstein has to be a decision-maker, too. He’ll have to approve the expenses to compete — expenses he seemingly acknowledged in a Q&A at The Banner’s iMPACT Maryland event — but he’ll also have to evaluate the staff and potentially push people to evolve their methods and take more chances.
Rubenstein likes to make self-deprecating jokes about how he realized at an early age his baseball career would never advance past his local Jewish youth league. He harbors no visions of stepping in the batter’s box, preferring the comfort of his seat in the crowd.
Still, in their first offseason, Rubenstein and his group are up to bat. And, in the quest to end Baltimore’s 41-year World Series drought, they have to be willing to swing.
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