Why AL East Team Owner Claims Club’s Payroll Can’t Compete

The Baltimore Orioles have missed playoff contention in the last six consecutive seasons and team chairman and CEO John Angelos didn’t add any optimistic assurance to the cause.

The Orioles went 83-79 in 2022, which was their winningest campaign within their playoff-drought stretch. It was the most wins Baltimore recorded since 2016 but still wasn’t enough to punch its October ticket. The front office also dealt away 2021 Comeback Player of the Year Trey Mancini, who was Baltimore’s longest-tenured player at the time to the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros.

And with the rest of the American League East returning with several offseason additions, Angelos didn’t exactly offer a fan-friendly statement when addressing the organization’s stance about spending money.

“That’s not an Oriole thing,” Angelos said on Sunday, according to the Baltimore Banner. “That’s a small, middle-market team in this economic system. This is not football. This is not basketball. In a lot of respects, it would be great if it were. You can in those other leagues where Oklahoma City can spend at the same levels as the New York Knicks playing in Madison Square Garden.”

With Opening Day against the Boston Red Sox set for March. 30, the Orioles enter the year with a payroll of just over $50 million, which ranks them second to last in all of Major League Baseball, according to Spotrac. Baltimore’s offseason work also didn’t amount to anything to write home about, either.

“We’re not there yet in baseball, but we’re going to make all these capital investments and stay the course and we’ll see where the payroll goes,” Angelos said.