The Orioles Lease With Camden Yards Ends In Five Months & Owner John Angelos Could Screw It Up

SOURCE - The Athletic reports that during a visit Monday to Ravens training camp, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he’s optimistic “there will be baseball in Baltimore for generations to come.”

On Tuesday, however, Maryland Stadium Authority board member William Cole said he’s not so sure since the Orioles had promised a resolution by the All-Star break.

“I just wanted to express my frustration over the Orioles’ lease situation,” Cole said, according to the Baltimore Sun.

“I remain perplexed why a lease hasn’t been executed already.”

John Angelos might be the worst owner in all of sports now that Daniel Snyder is out of the NFL. Camden Yards might be the best ballpark in all of baseball. I blogged about it just this week.

Imagine having this amazing ballpark, a young exciting team that is in first place despite being a cheap, shitty owner and still fucking it up by creating bad press for no reason? Having the play-by-play guy Kevin Brown suspended for stating simple stats about the team is bad but what it really did was expose the root issue that John Angelos is a trash bag owner. The announcer is one thing. What if they lost Camden Yards? Where would they even go?

I'll say this…there is a 95% chance or better that the Orioles will sign a new lease and this is all some weird stalemate Angelos is playing with the city. I know Angelos wants $600 million dollars for ballpark improvements and he's playing chicken with the city of Baltimore. This feels especially cruel when older Baltimore fans could still tell you how it felt when the Colts left for Indianapolis in 1983.

Baltimore Sun. Getty Images.

The Angelos family needs to sell this team. They don't even get along with each other. Peter Angelos bought the team in 1993 but he is 94 years old and is reportedly in ill health. His sons, Peter and Louis were running the team together but soon started fighting about the team and their dad's law firm and wound up trying to sue each other before settling in February.

I have to give Peter Angelos some credit for having a brilliant guy like GM Mike Elias at the helm for the Orioles. He has used the high draft picks from years of losing and put together one of the most exciting teams in baseball with a great farm system to boot. The Orioles are in first place but imagine how much better they'd be if they just had the resources to spend more on the payroll? Getting John Flaherty was a solid move for the rotation but this team could have used a real ace for October. More expensive players like Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Eduardo Rodriguez were there for the taking. 

You can make a case that the Orioles want to secure that farm system at all costs and I understand that. But unless I see them spend money this winter, I won't believe that being cheap is why they didn't do more at the trade deadline. But that trade deadline is one thing, Camden Yards and the city of Baltimore is something else. This city has loved this team since 1954 and this idiot could ruin that.

Rob Manfred and MLB needs to step in. Baltimore and the Orioles deserve so much more. Honestly, if John Angelos was running a hot dog stand, I'd say that deserved more too.