The Orioles Need A New Real Team President, ASAP. Even More Than a CF And No. 1 Starter

if owner David Rubenstein is not going to hold failing top officials to account himself, and won't make his mark on the franchise, he needs to hire someone who will

Jun 29, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein high fives fans during the seventh inning stretch against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The needs for the 2027 Orioles are many and varied.

The upcoming season has already been compromised by ownership allowing Mike Elias to remain in charge of baseball operations and Craig Albernaz to remain in charge of the dugout. The empowerment of a proven failure atop all things Orioles baseball, who gaslights and deceives about his product and the realities of his work as willingly as Elias, threatens the prospects of sound baseball in Baltimore and begs major questions about the motivations of billionaire David Rubenstein about his investment in this franchise in the first place.

There isn’t much reason for optimism as the organizations embarks on what are likely to be very cosmetic changes at best within The Warehouse as it faces a daunting list of needs to actually contend in 2027. They have serious issues on the business side of their operation as well, where morale is low and we continue to hear seasoned sales people are leaving, unable to stand behind this product anymore and with leadership on that side of the building at an all-time low as well.

And we could certainly get caught up in the roster issues and problems with their hitting coaches and what’s also going on at the minor league level where prospects seem to peak at AA. But the troubles here run deeper than that, the cleanse this franchise needs runs deeper than that, and after spending hours talking to experts about the state of this franchise – ownership sources and management sources in pro sports – it’s obvious what really needs to happen next.

If Rubenstein, who, at this age is probably only looking at being in his current role as a short-term proposition, isn’t up for firing Elias or Catie Griggs on the business side (perhaps he has more of a stomach for that one), and even if he were, it’s obvious that he doesn’t quite get this whole ownership thing yet and doesn’t want to be hands on, and he’s not very decisive.

So he needs to take other action and bring in someone who is all of the above.

“He needs to find his Dick Cass,” as one pro sports ownership source who has a significant understanding of the Orioles business and baseball dynamics put it, referencing the man who ran the Ravens for Steve Bisciotti for years before retiring. “He needs a true, binding team president to oversee the business and the baseball.”

Yes, he does. Now more than ever.

Uncertain Future

The Orioles need to have someone above Griggs and Elias, who both report to, who understands the landscape of team ownership from the sports side and the business side and who can micro-manage where need be, and ideally be a guiding light in hiring a new GM beneath Elias and trying to keep this franchise from more failures with Camden Yards development (the Truist Club is a total flop and the sports bar in the flag court is cheesy) and more failures with the Birdland Memberships (shoulda kept the Sunday ticket package) and who can keep people accountable and be a true steward, and, eventually, fire these two who are a blight on Baltimore baseball.

Rubenstein won’t be in this role too much longer and who knows what Michael Arougheti plans for it and how hands-on he will be when it’s his turn. He has a lot of other business ventures to run. Someone to be the glue between those regimes as the decider, if you will, seems desperately needed, and the air of cluelessness and lack of understanding of the challenges this franchise faces – on the scoreboard and in the ledgers – is obvious.

Rambling about injuries and winning seven of every 10 games isn’t cutting it. Having a proven elite sports exec oversee it all and be the daily forward-facing voice as Rubenstein fades increasingly into the background makes all the sense in the world. The paradigm in this franchise must shift, and the flow chart needs changing and Elias and Griggs, at the very least, need someone new and accomplished in that building and down the hallway from the everyday watching what they are doing, holding them to account and exposing their failures to ownership, explicitly.

This being the Orioles, one can’t bank on it happening. But I’m more convinced than ever it is imperative that it does this offseason.

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