John Angelos was the chairman of the Orioles from 2020, when he formally took over from his father, Peter, until earlier this year, when his family sold the club to new owner David Rubenstein. Initially, Angelos was expected to remain with the club in a senior adviser role, but it seems as if that arrangement didn’t last long. According to Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun, Angelos is no longer connected to the team in any capacity after selling his remaining shares to Rubenstein’s ownership group this past August.
Angelos was hardly popular within the Orioles fanbase. The team’s payroll shrunk dramatically under his leadership, and he often complained about the lack of financial resources available to smaller-market organizations. In 2023, he told The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner that the only way to keep all the team’s young stars would be to raise ticket prices “dramatically.” Yet, he reneged on his promise to show reporters the complete “financials of the Orioles” (per the Associated Press). With Rubenstein’s takeover came the hope that the O’s would start spending significantly more on player payroll, and the news that Angelos is no longer exerting any influence over the team’s decisions can only increase that optimism. Baltimore’s payroll was significantly higher in 2024, though still well below league average. Earlier this month, general manager Mike Elias said he was “pretty confident” the payroll will continue to increase in 2025.
One task the Orioles will face this offseason (though hardly their most expensive decision) will be re-signing or replacing backup catcher James McCann. On that subject, Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports recently pointed out that McCann initially had the O’s on his five-team no-trade list back when he signed a four-year, $40.6MM deal with the Mets during the 2020-21 offseason. Needless to say, he ended up approving a trade to the Orioles anyway. What’s more, including the Orioles on his five-team no-trade list doesn’t necessarily mean McCann was opposed to playing in Baltimore. At the time he signed that deal, the Orioles were one of the basement-dwellers of the American League. That’s no longer the case. And it bears repeating that he ultimately accepted the trade that sent him to the Orioles – after they proved they were opening their window of contention with an 83-win season in 2022. Still, it’s a tidbit of information worth keeping in mind as the veteran backstop approaches free agency. McCann is well-liked by his Orioles teammates and has gotten plenty of playing time over the past two years as a backup for Adley Rutschman.
In one more note of interest, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com discussed the Orioles coaching staff today, specifically the hitting coach vacancy left behind after co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller was let go and fellow co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte returned to the Twins. Dubroff pointed out that Cody Asche, technically the team’s offensive strategy coach, also functioned as a third hitting coach for the club. It’s unclear if Asche will change roles next season, but Dubroff does mention that Asche is “respected in the clubhouse.” He has been with the organization since 2022, first as a minor league hitting coordinator before joining the big league staff for the 2023 campaign. Previously, he was a minor league hitting coach in the Phillies organization. At 34 years old, he is still young for a big league coach, but he is certainly a name to keep in mind as the Orioles look to find their next hitting guru.
getrealgone2
Good!
mickeystix69
Angels should sign McCann to backup O Hoppe. DH duties could then be shared by Trout / o Hoppe / rendon
Lefty_Orioles_Fan
It still feels like the Angelos family runs the show
Rubes started off strong but faded as the season wore on after he bought the team
Also….he could not replace the Baltimore Sun sign with T Rowe Price fast enough and those stupid patches….how the hell did that improve anything…much less new investors aka customers for T Rowe Price
HatlessPete
Honestly confused by this take. How did the new owner “fade?” Pretty sure he didn’t have anything to do with players getting hurt and/or slumping down the stretch. Ownership transitions take time and it seems to early to really make an assessment of how Rubinstein will spend and operate as the orioles’ owner. The next couple offseasons will likely show us a lot more of significant indicators on that question.
jbigz12
Why not take the sponsorship $ anyway? Confusing take here.
MattStats5
Totally agree…weird take. Let’s give Rubinstein an off season at least. Peter Angelos was loathed, but at least he spent. John Angelos spent time under a blanket counting the money. Orioles are much better off now.
HatlessPete
From what I hear he did more with that money than count it under there lol…
SewaldSwansonSwoon
Lefty… are you joking? What was he supposed to do mid-season with sponsorship money, sign Robinson Cano? C’mon. He hasn’t “faded.”
James123
they are not going to resign McCann. They traded for Blake Hunt to basically be a good 3rd catching option/possible back up at the big league level. On top of that, Sam Basallo played last year in the upper minors and is a top 10 in baseball prospect. So running out Hunt as the backup until Basallo is ready makes sense. They could also carry all 3 (Adley being the obvious 3rd) since Adley and Basallo have enough bat to cover C and DH. Basallo could also be pulling some 1b AB to spell Mountcastle (if they view 1b as his long term home- but the bat is special at catcher, and just good at 1b).
In either case, they are not going to drop 4-5m on a backup catcher next year with in house options. Maybe if McCann opts to to take a 1-2m 1 year deal they fit him in over Hunt (as he is more proven, and even the upside for hunt is what McCann is now)
skinsfandfw
I think that was probably the plan with Hunt, but he performed really poorly in the minors last season – especially after he was traded to BAL
I don’t see Sammy getting the call until Sep, unless he completely dominates in Norfolk.
Os1995
I dont see Basallo getting called up as a catcher until late 2026 at the earliest. Apparently the scouts say his bat is good enough to play in MLB as a 1B/DH now but his framing and game calling needs more time to develop.
HatlessPete
Yeah catchers generally take longer to develop than other position prospects because the defensive side is so much more complex and they need to develop a playable mlb bat barring rare exceptions like austin hedges and Jeff mathis. With that in mind it absolutely makes sense to have a veteran back up like McCann around as a stopgap to avoid putting too much pressure on basallo’s development and too much stock in a fringey org depth prospect like hunt. Without that veteran depth piece they’re one injury to adley away from a serious problem. If McCann costs too much there will be other guys on the market who can fill that role. But honestly if the orioles want to show they’re making a serious push to keep competing, they shouldn’t be nickle and diming excessively on their roster construction.
ClevelandSteelEngines
Those flaws can been addressed as recently other catchers have managed while splitting with lead catchers. The most notable example was Yainer Diaz, where he learned behind Maldonado before taking over the following season. What can be suspected for Basallo is delayed call up, likely into May or June depending how his hitting adjustments are deployed in AAA.
HatlessPete
That assumes that basallo does not struggle with the bat at aaa, get hurt or progress slower than expected in his development defensively. A one year deal at a relatively low cost for McCann or a comparable player doesn’t prevent the orioles from finding a way to get basallo to mlb if he forces the issue. And given that McCann clearly is considered an integral presence and leader/mentor in the clubhouse and, just as importantly seems to have strong relationships and trust with the pitching staff, this arguably makes him a bit more valuable to the orioles specifically than a catcher with comparable numbers and skillset, or to other teams looking to fill a similar role. The orioles are a very young team and there’s value to giving them stability in veteran clubhouse leadership as the core continues to develop next season. Baseball teams like any other organization are fundamentally social systems, not just an assortment of dudes making stats in matching outfits and while the value McCann is giving them can’t really be quantified, they seem to feel strongly that he’s doing it.
geotheo
I don’t think the Orioles traded for Blake Hunt to be the eventual backup for Rutschman. When Mike Baumann was designated for assignment Seattle offered Hunt to guarantee they would receive him. So the choice for the Orioles was to accept Hunt or lose Baumann on a waiver claim anyway. Don’t think Hunt is considered a prospect. And the Orioles track record on backup catchers wouldn’t surprise me to see them try to sneak Hunt through waivers and outright him off the 40 man roster
SewaldSwansonSwoon
I would bet they resign McCann. He calls a better game and is a tough veteran leader.
MacGromit
Moving on from Johnny Boy. It doesn’t feel at all like Angelos hands are on the club. I’m cautiously hopeful that the Winter Meetings this year won’t be the snooze-fest it has been under the multiple years of John’s slimy control.
C Yards Jeff
Woah. 180 degree different take on John Angelos.
The only reason he got the gig was because his Dad, Peter, got too sick to continue. And I think it was because his mom asked him to. The goal. Get the club in the best shape possible to sell it.
To John’s credit, unlike his Dad, from the jump he didn’t meddle in to the daily workings of the baseball operation side. Low and behold, trusting in his baseball people to make baseball decisions, in less than 3 and 1/2 seasons the Os started winning again (2022) and in 23 the unthinkable … 101 wins. Thanks John. You are a good son. Best wishes.
Oh, to the writer of this article, I can’t speak for the rest of the Orioles fanbase, but he was “popular” to me. Grateful he didn’t meddle like his old man did leading in to way too many agonizing years of poor play.
Samuel
Hi Jeff;
Narratives are hard to see through if one is not under-
standing of a situation and takes statements out of context.
Yes, Peter was not well regarded in MLB going back to when he overreached with Pat Gullick and Davey Johnson. The mother brought in Elias and Co., and John worked with them as best as he could. As you noted, unlike his father he never meddled. The budget was low. The Angelos family wanted to build the organization up to make it attractive in a sale. Most people on here cannot grasp that. Everyone did their jobs at a high level. The Angelos family got a nice sale price. Elias and Co. built one of the best organizations in MLB with an outrageous amount of quality young players in both the majors and minors.
What will go on from here is TBD. We’ll see how the new owner works with his employees.
schwender
From Roch Kubatko’s article:
“Pitchers really like throwing to McCann, which isn’t a commentary on Rutschman. It’s a statement about McCann. And no one in baseball, maybe any sport, is tougher than this guy. If you need more proof, I don’t know what to tell you.
A veteran who joined the team during the season said, “This is McCann’s clubhouse.” Let that sink in.”
masnsports.com/blog/three-more-pending-decisions-f…
Samuel
schwender;
Interesting.
Since the White Sox used him to share catching duties with Yasmani Grandal and a few others in 2020, he’s been an excellent back-up / part-time Catcher. The Mets made the mistake of signing him to a 4-year contract to be their primary Catcher. That wore him down, and the typical front-running NYC fans .dumped on him and the FO that signed him.
The O’s stole him from the Mets / Cohen that agreed to pay much of the last 2 years of his contract. He’s been great with the O’s as a part-time / back-up Catcher. He’s surely not soft. LOL In fact, he may play so intensely that he wears his body down. Nevertheless, it seems that he’s established himself as the best back-up Catcher in MLB, as well as a team leader. Don’t think he wants to leave the O’s and don’t think the O’s want him to.
Dice 66
Pirates need hitters,Orioles need pitching, make a deal! Keller plus they 2 or 3 mlb ready at aaa plus Davis young catcher for 2 hitters maybe Mountcastle and another?
geotheo
Keller has 4 years left on his contract. Mountcastle will be a free agent in 2 years. So don’t think the Pirates would be interested in him
Samuel
Dice 66;
Davis needs to go to another organization, but right now I don’t see anyone trading anything of value for him.
skinsfandfw
If Adley proves to be unhealthy/injured, as many suspect, and requires some sort of surgery this offseason, there is no doubt McCann is back.
stymeedone
McCann does not show the numbers with the bat, and is not among the league leaders in blocking or framing. What he is, is a leader and veteran that can get more out of a pitching staff than most. That just doesn’t do much for the analytics guys. It does win ball games.
Blackpink in the area
James McCann before becoming a baseball player wrestled bears for a living. He was also a part time fireman and ran a charity for sick puppies. The guy is a legend. Any team would be crazy not to sign him.
Blackpink in the area
It’s not about hitting a baseball its about intangibles. McCann is a natural leader. He’s pretty much a god who just so happened to choose baseball as a profession. All baseball fans should acknowledge him for what he brings to the game.
HatlessPete
Catcher is a defense, in game leadership first position and they have a greater impact on the game than any other position player. Elite catchers literally make your pitching outcomes better and any serious competitive team can afford to carry a weak bat or two at premium defensive positions.
ohyeadam
Twins hired Borgschulte. Why would Baltimore drop him when they’re the 4th best offense in the league?
geotheo
They didn’t. His contract was up and he had been in the Twins organization before. He was returning “home “ so to speak
Cp1220
Doesn’t matter if it’s Angelos or Rubenstein they have significantly raised ticket prices the last two years.
Payroll better follow
sfjackcoke
Early in the reporting of a possible sale, there was mention of MLB wanting the MASN rights fees between Baltimore and Washington resolved. What became of that? I believe there were 2 cases covering different time frames, the 1st one being resolved.
i am only curious as there’s been rumblings of the Nats being active on the free agent market and the resolution, or lack thereof, of their rights could have an impact. I don’t believe they find themselves in the same situation as those who previously were with Bally/Diamond but local tv is a determining factor in payrolls.
gr81t2
Good riddance slimeball