All Hail St. Peter

It’s late December 2013. It’s announced that the Orioles are close to signing Grant Balfour to a 2 year/$15M contract to replace departed closer Jim Johnson. O’s fans get giddy with excitement, anticipating another piece of the puzzle falling into place. But then…

Rumours begin to trickle out that Balfour has failed his physical. The rumours turn out to be true and several days later Orioles GM Dan Duquette announces a deal will not be happening. A large group of Orioles fans rage and media personnel start firing their shots, first blaming Duquette, then, deciding Dan is just a puppet, they move on to Satan himself – owner Peter Angelos. I heard it all that week.

“THE ORIOLES DON’T CARE ABOUT WINNING!”

“THE ORIOLES WILL NEVER WIN AS LONG AS ANGELOS OWNS THE TEAM!”

“ANGELOS IS CHEAP! HE WILL NEVER SPEND WHAT IT TAKES FOR THIS TEAM TO CONTEND!”

Those are some of the more tame quotes, but you get the idea.

Fast forward ten months. The Orioles are on the cusp of their first World Series berth in 31 years. As they prepare to face the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS, a surprising announcement comes through that the Orioles have extended short stop J.J. Hardy – 3 years/$40M, with a vesting option for a fourth year.

Owner of the Orioles for 21 years, Peter Angelos has taken a
lot of flack from fans and media. With the team's recent turn
around, it's time to finally give him the credit he deserves.

Now before we go any further, I want to make a few things clear. I am not an Angelos apologist. I do not think Angelos is a great owner (nor do I think he’s the devil incarnate). And I do not solely blame Angelos for all the years of losing in Baltimore. Poor decisions by GMs, terrible drafting and weak on-field managing contributed greatly. But now, here we are – Angelos still owns the team and yet they just completed a third winning season, making the playoffs for the second time in three years. And money is being spent.

Truth be told, I have no idea where the “Angelos is cheap!” rumours started. Maybe it was his refusal to pay Mike Mussina back in 2001 (definitely a black mark against him). Maybe it was all the years of losing. But if you look back, you will see that Peter Angelos has always spent money when it made sense to do so.

I understand that people wanted players like Vlad Guerrero (the first time), Mark Teixeira or AJ Burnett (also the first time), but they didn’t make sense at the time. As fans, it’s easy to spend money that is not ours, but spending $50M+ to go from a 68-win team to a 72-win team just isn't logical.

The Orioles were among the highest payrolls in baseball in the late 90s. They were second to the Yankees from 1995-97, first in 1998 and fifth in 1999. They made back to back ALCS appearances in ’96 and ’97 and likely would have returned to the playoffs in 1998 were it not for a slew of injuries. Then the wheels fell off.  For years it didn’t make sense to spend big money, but even then, Angelos decided to take a shot when he felt the O’s were close enough, committing over $125M to Miguel Tejada (a season removed from an MVP award), Javy Lopez, Sidney Ponson and Rafael Palmeiro before the 2004 season.

He signed Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts and Adam Jones to long, wealthy extensions during the lean years.

This offseason, he gave the okay on a $52M deal for Ubaldo Jimenez (which admittedly hasn’t worked out so far) and $8M for Nelson Cruz – the biggest bargain in all of major league baseball this season.

That’s a lot of money spent over the years by a “cheap” owner. And dare we get into the deals that weren’t made?

Over the years, Angelos and the organization have drawn criticism for not signing the likes of Teixeira (how’s that working out for the Yanks the last couple season?), Carlos Delgado, Ivan Rodriguez, Prince Fielder, Burnett, Jayson Werth, Zack Greinke and this past offseason alone, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Bronson Arroyo, Burnett again, Jim Johnson and, of course, Grant Balfour.

Some of those players performed well on short deals, but most were either way too expensive or did not even come close to living up to their deals. Looking at the deals players from this past off-season received and how they performed, I’d say ol’ Pete is coming up roses. Ellsbury is the only guy who might eventually come close to being worth what he was given. None of the remaining players even finished the season, either due to injury or ineffectiveness.

I understand the emotions that come with being a fan, but restraint is needed. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed when the Balfour deal fell through, but the World Series is not won in November. As fans we need to be willing to let the process play out and see what the outcome is. As it turns out, Grant Balfour will have a comfy seat in front of his TV to potentially watch the Orioles play in the World Series.

I will say again, I am not a Peter Angelos apologist. I think he has some serious shortcomings as an owner, most notably the way he interacts (or doesn’t interact) with the fan base to create a more positive image for himself and more trust between his organization and the city that supports it. But there are far more brutal owners across baseball (and all pro sports) – owners who truly don’t care about winning, who pinch pennies because all their care about is squeezing every last bit of profit out of their teams, and who totally disregard their fans.

No matter how you feel about Angelos, he doesn’t fall into any of those three categories.

Over the last few years, I’ve heard so many people get credit for the winning seasons here in Baltimore – the players, Andy MacPhail, Buck Showalter, Dan Duquette, and so on, all very much deserved. But there’s one person missing from that list and after all the abuse and hatred he’s endured over the years, it’s high time he finally gets credit where it’s due.

As Orioles fans, it’s time we collectively tipped our cap to the man at the top - Peter Angelos.

--Christopher Mills, @cjmills82