Quick Hits: Peter Angelos

I'm going to spend much of this morning's Oriole update looking at Peter Angelos and his meeting with members of the press in Fort Lauderdale yesterday.

I'd figure yesterday was a big day for many, because hopes are high for the Orioles to make an impact, and as owner (and I'll say captain of the ship) it was interesting to have made himself visible and read his remarks on the upcoming season.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun has a great article on Peter Angelos meeting with the media down in Florida.

One of the first few passages in the article that got me was this:

"I would like to give our fans a winner," said Angelos, 77, who hadn't attended a spring training game since 2004. "That doesn't mean upon that happening that I would then sell the team. I have no real interest in selling the team."

Ok, I know that he does not want to sell the team, nor I did think he ever would, but to have not attended the Orioles' spring training for 2 seasons was pretty eye opening.

Some quotes:

"I would like to give our fans a winner," said Angelos, 77, who hadn't attended a spring training game since 2004. "That doesn't mean upon that happening that I would then sell the team. I have no real interest in selling the team."

also...

"I'd like to see how the [Orioles and MASN] function together, particularly in the generation of revenue, which will enable us to put on, as I said, an even more competitive team than we did this year and the following year," Angelos said. "That's the goal."

Angelos' comments about the abuse his taken from the media, and fans...
"Of course, it bothers you. No one likes to be criticized, but you have to deal with it," Angelos said. "I am the managing partner, so I have to take the heat. And I make the decisions, so I should take the heat."

Jeff Zrebiec notes that seeing Owner Peter Angelos was a welcome sight to the players and the manager, Sam Perlozzo. According to the article, he met with Miguel Tejada and Brain Roberts, but that was it.

In corporate America, CEO's usually have a face to their name, but you never meet them. Considering that Peter Angelos is in theory the CEO to the Baltimore Orioles, it would be a big step for the organization with morale if he took a more active approach with his employees from top to bottom and actually met his players.

There was more from the article and I found it quite interesting what he said about the Brian Roberts move and his accusations of meddling in deals.

Quote:

"Every deal ... is always presented to the person who is the managing partner, whether it's the signing of a super athlete at a great expense or even a mid-level athlete that has to pass by the managing partner for financial reasons," Angelos said. "Occasionally, as I review proposals like that, I also take into consideration what I believe to be the value of a player to a team from the standpoint of the psychology of the team."

Roberts, who was drafted by the Orioles in 1999 and last week signed a two-year, $14.3 million extension that keeps him with the club through 2009, has an exceedingly high value in those terms, according to Angelos.

"I just thought that Brian should stay an Oriole, not that the front office didn't think so, [but] they were looking at it from a standpoint of improving the ballclub," Angelos said of the vetoed trade. "And they may have been totally right. I looked on it as the retention of a player that came through our system and who is of such great value to the club for all the things he does out there with the public and in the hospitals and so on.

"This is a special kind of player, just like Cal Ripken was for the Orioles, the kind of player you want to keep as part of the organization. And so there's an area where one might say that I have interfered, but I felt impelled to do that from the standpoint of keeping a player that I thought was critical to be part of the Orioles team."

I figured in this instance, time will only tell if Peter Angelos is right. However, you hire people to do one job, and you have to them do it, so in this case, he stepped over the boundaries of the front office and that has been a main complaint of fans and the media alike.

Well, Peter Angelos needs a winner on the field soon.

Peter Schmuck believes that Angelos must be open with the media and be himself, as well take steps to erase the perception that he's not in touch with his organization and show he cares about winning. Considering this year in my opinion is a huge season for the team, and things can come together for the team can climb towards respectability.

The play on the field is one thing, Peter Angelos is the other part of the equation. He certainly may not have many years left, and for all the good he's done in Baltimore, he'll go down as the man who killed baseball in Baltimore unless things turn around quick -- real quick.

The fans have been away, but now may be the time for things to turn around and make baseball in Baltimore viable for the community again.

Only time will tell.