There's been much ado about reports that Orioles' despised principle owner, Peter Angelos has rebuffed local legend Cal Ripken, Jr.'s attempts to rejoin the organization in a front office capacity or perhaps mentoring the team's young talent.
Ken Rosenthal wrote here yesterday that he had three sources saying Angelos "did not want Ripken to receive credit once the team returned to prominence."
Question #1
Would Angelos be that delusional to seriously think the Orioles will ever return to prominence?
Today, Angelos dispelled any notion of truthfulness to this story, saying Ripken did not make this offer and that it would be foolish to think Cal Ripken would ever want to accept a job of secondary importance when he could be a GM anywhere. Read the story here.
Question #2
How could Ken Rosenthal have three sources telling him something so inaccurate? Someone's obviously lying.
Ripken has been unavailable for comment today. Interesting.
Question #3
Would Cal Ripken's presence even be good for this team?
Last time I checked, Cal was part of some pretty bad teams himself, particularly toward the end of his career, and became known as a prima donna of sorts, often traveling and staying alone, apart from his teammates. And perhaps the Michael Jordan experiment in Washington running the basketball operations has soured me on retired divas. Either way, Cal is as best just a bump to enhance PR. He was no "teacher" when he played for the team, showed no interest for some years now being involved with the team, and this seems like a weird time to want to rejoin this organization.
This new story is either another terrible PR failure for Angelos, or perhaps Cal's working the media and the city into a frenzy to build up continued support for his supposed quest to own the Baltimore Orioles.
I'm guessing it's the latter. Angelos would have to be a complete moron on TWO fronts to turn Ripken down in this capacity. (1) It's great PR for the team to have Cal involved mentoring younger players (and God knows how bad this organization needs any boost to its image), and (2) Would Angelos really allow the firestorm that's sure to rain down on him for rebuffing one of Baltimore's sacred sons? Remember, Angelos is a lawyer. And he's no moron, say what you will.
Now, you should know, I'm no Angelos fan. Quite the opposite. I curse the man for running some of my favorites out of town, as I've mentioned in other posts, starting with one Davey Johnson. But this is clearly something else.
There's no way that Rosenthal is manufacturing this story, though. So either Cal's got people on the inside working for him, or there is something to this story.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think it's more likely that Cal wants a piece of the ownership pie than that he wants a secondary role. I don't even think he wants to be a GM. I think he wants to be Nolan Ryan.
I don't have many sources any more, but when I did, it was completely clear from them that Peter Angelos is not going to be selling the O's pretty much ever. In fact, he's going to pass them to his wife and to his kids, and they will run the franchise into the ground for generations to come.
That having been said, I agree that Angelos isn't dumb enough to rebuff Cal outright.
So pretty much exactly what I was saying. Hate to say it, but Cal seems to be playing the media.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Angelos will certainly never sell the team, not with his name as reviled as it is now. I think he still sees himself as the savior of Baltimore baseball.