The Orioles Might FALL As Quickly As They ROSE

in 2023 the Baltimore Orioles rebuild finally fully came together ending the six-year run of Misery by winning 101 games and taking the American League East Division for the first time since 2014 as successful of a year as it was I don't think it was that planned the Orioles did win 83 games in 2022 which was 31 more than they had in 2021 so a ton of progress obviously and they especially started playing really well after adley Rutman became a big leager that year but I don't think over a 100 wins in the division was the expectation for this team in 2023 they seemed like a Darkhorse team that just played beyond what anyone thought they would it's pretty fascinating from opening day on the Orioles just never stopped playing good baseball that's rare the 2023 Orioles may be the only team I remember that just consistently played well for 6 months straight throughout the course of the entire season all the other teams really throughout every year even the Champions go through their struggles and moments the Texas Rangers last year how many times did people including me say they were done the sky is falling they're not beating Houston whatever but the Orioles not once did they have any sort of struggle all year the only negative thing that happened to the Orioles during the regular season wasn't even anything that happened on the field it was their owner John Angelos being an idiot suspending the play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown for saying a statistic during the pregame show a statistic that the TV crew helping with the show also contributed to there was no reason for anyone to be suspended let alone Brown who so beloved and then Angelus decided to open his mouth and say the Orioles won't be able to keep their young fun players contributing to this fun Team without raising ticket prices I mean this guy just wants people to hate him but that was it that was the only bad thing around the Orioles nothing with the onfield play the team was great unfortunately the ending to their year was far from great getting swept and sent home by the Rangers in the ALDS the Orioles getting swept by the Rangers was the first time that had that happen with adley Rutman on the team so after the Orioles had the most consistent season in baseball didn't get swept once all year not getting swept since May of 2022 they get swept immediately in the postseason that's baseball for you as disappointing and quick of a finish to the season it was for Baltimore things were obviously bright for the team moving forward and they still are kind of there's reason to be excited and also reason to be scared so welcome back to the channel and if you're new or part of the 67% of viewers not subscribed yet hit that button if you enjoy the videos thank you the Orioles were so good last year because of their young players but that's also like saying Neil Armstrong landed on the moon because he went into space duh the Orioles young players were so vital because that was basically the entire team they had some veterans here and there but most of the team wasn't that the Orioles were the second youngest playoff team and only had one regular starter in their lineup that was at least 30 everyone else was in their 20s they had the Rookie of the Year on the squad 22-year-old gunar Henderson who had an awesome year the Rookie of the Year runnerup from 2022 adley Rutman was really good and has Sol ified himself as one of the best catchers in the game today Kyle bradish had a great year in the rotation Dean Kramer was solid and the bullpen was Elite although unfortunately the closer Felix Bautista had to get Tommy John so like I said there's reason to be excited but also reason to be scared the team just won 101 games and have so many good young players that's what's to be excited about the thing to be scared about the other guy I mentioned John Angelos their own owner is the biggest thing in the way of this team consistently winning the Orioles number one enemy is basically themselves Baltimore has built up a nice situation for themselves because not only do they have a winning team that's young but they also have a good farm system arguably the best in baseball all of this losing that happened from 2017 until about 2022 really paid off and they were able to come up with some really good players in their system prospects that have high hopes the hope is to be able to keep coming up with good young players in their farm system without tanking obviously something the Dodgers have been able to do for a decade now so that seems to be a good plan with Baltimore but the Dodgers actually like to spend money the Orioles don't really do that that's the issue this exciting time and era of Orioles baseball just started and it started a little quicker than we all probably thought but it also has the potential to end just as suddenly or at least not nearly last as long as Orioles fans would hope there are two things at play here all because of one thing or one man John Angelos the dude that hates spending money I mean the guy himself even said that if the Orioles were going to keep their young players they'd have to raise ticket prices so there's that but I also don't believe that's the biggest Factor here a lot of these young Orioles players still have a ways to go until they reach free agency so although it's hard to see the team extending them or signing them in free agency to a big contract when it's necessary that's not really the biggest concern the biggest and soonest concern I guess you can say is arbitration for those who aren't as familiar with what arbitration is it's basically a player's ability to negotiate how much money he will make without the process of being a free agent they can only do it with the team they're with obviously and it's only for players who have three years of Major League service time under their belt after officially becoming a rookie players have six seasons they have to play before becoming a free agent where they can sign with any team but by year four of those first six years that's when they can start getting paid more than just the league minimum salary which is like $730,000 per year the better the player is the more he'll rightfully ask and negotiate for more money so take adley Rutman adley Rutman has one more year to go before becoming arbitration eligible where the Orioles will inevitably have to pay him more money same with Kyle bradish gunar Henderson who's already a star is 2 years away it's all just a ticking Time Bomb for the Orioles having to dish out more money and the more of these players that they have talented pre-arbitration players who will hit arbitration sooner than later and demand more money the more Angelos might want to trade them you then have a guy like Anthony santand one of the team's best hitters last year and the man tied for most home runs on the team with almost 30 2024 is his final year before hitting free agency for the first time so he's someone who's almost made it as far as he can possibly go without without getting traded maybe the Orioles will extend him but it's hard to see them giving out any money when you see what they've done this off season they've made one free agent signing one and it was kind of just a temporary replacement for Bautista who will be out for 2024 signing Craig Kimbrell for one year and13 million to be their closer that's it in 2023 the Orioles were the second cheapest team in baseball the only team with a lesser payroll than they had was Oakland that was it and you can kind of understand that I mean again nobody expected the Orioles to do qu as good as they did so they just didn't feel the need to invest too much just yet but now after winning over a 100 games why not go out and spend some money go get a veteran or two on the free agent Market get a big name would this not be the perfect time to invest into this team well I guess not because sing Craig Kimbrell for a single year is all they've done Kimbrell is and can be pretty good don't get me wrong but he's nowhere near what he used to be and the fact that it's only a one-year deal tells you everything so they haven't made any big free agent signing or at least haven't made multiple decent size signings literally nothing so what makes anyone think Angelos will pay up for these young guys already on the Orioles and when you have multiple of them with more on the way Angelos does not seem like a guy who will happily dish out big arbitration numbers to multiple of these players seems like the Orioles might want to go Tampa Bay Ray style where nobody is safe anyone can get traded at any point they save money and it all works because they have a good system of developing Talent next man up whether it's a good draft pick an international signing plucking underappreciated guys from other organizations all of that and I guess that could work but that's a very frustrating way to operate for the fans I'm not sure Orioles fans will love falling in love with a player just to see him traded two years later Max especially if it doesn't result in winning there's no guarantee in any of it the best case scenario here would be the Angelos family selling the team that's what would be best for the city and the fans but that hasn't happened yet and it doesn't seem like it will so until then Orioles fans better enjoy every moment of these players because it doesn't seem like they will be there long enough and these winning also might not last long enough because of it let me know what you think thank you for watching I'll see you in the next video