O's owner Rubenstein discusses building a winner, extending young stars
Jake Rill
@JakeDRillSARASOTA, Fla. -- During his first season as the owner/control person of the Orioles, David Rubenstein was heavily engaged with the fan base. The 75-year-old attended a large number of games at Camden Yards, often tossing out free hats and taking selfies with anyone who asked.
On Monday, Rubenstein arrived in Sarasota, where he again mingled with O¡¯s supporters. He signed autographs and chatted with the fans who lined the viewing areas near the backfields of the Ed Smith Stadium complex.
¡°I hope to be able to continue to do that until the fans are tired of me,¡± Rubenstein said.
Rubenstein later met with the media for roughly 17 minutes. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the session.
1. ¡°I don¡¯t have a financial limit¡±
As expected, Rubenstein (a private equity billionaire) was asked how much he¡¯ll be willing to spend in the future. First, he noted how much the Orioles spent this past offseason.
FanGraphs had Baltimore¡¯s payroll at $103 million for the 2024 season. That number has jumped to $161 million for ¡¯25, a 56 percent increase that was the largest of any MLB team.
¡°I don¡¯t have a financial limit,¡± Rubenstein said. ¡°The team is in very good financial shape. We don¡¯t have debt problems, we don¡¯t have financial challenges or anything like that. We want to put the best team on the field we can, and we don¡¯t have a constraint by saying there¡¯s a certain amount of money we¡¯d spend. So if we can get the best team we can get, we will try to do that. And if it costs more money, then we¡¯ll do it. But we don¡¯t have any particular financial constraints.¡±
Rubenstein and ownership partner Michael Arougheti communicated with general manager Mike Elias multiple times a day during the offseason via text messages and emails.
¡°We didn¡¯t have a financial limit on what he could spend or not spend, but he did want to let us know what he was doing all the time and get our input, and we gave him our input,¡± Rubenstein said. ¡°But our input really was relating to learning more about the players. It wasn¡¯t so much about the money. The money isn¡¯t the big issue. We are financially in very good shape.¡±
2. Potential extensions for young core players in the future?
A hot topic surrounding the Orioles in recent years is whether they¡¯ll start to extend key players in the near future. They have built a tremendous core that features catcher Adley Rutschman, infielder Gunnar Henderson and more.
Rubenstein had lunch with both Rutschman and Henderson on Monday, but he was quick to note it was a ¡°social lunch,¡± not business talk.
¡°It'd be great if you can sign some people to longer-term contracts, but it takes a while to do it,¡± Rubenstein said.
At the same time, Rubenstein is aware of the popularity of players such as Rutschman and Henderson among the fan base, which has a desire to retain its star players.
¡°I certainly would like the best young players we have on the team -- and those are two I just mentioned [Rutschman and Henderson] -- to stay here in their career, just like Brooks Robinson was here in his entire career, Jim Palmer was here in his entire career,¡± Rubenstein said. ¡°We¡¯d like to have players stay with Baltimore for a long, long time and their entire career.¡±
3. Camden Yards renovations are in the works and coming soon
As previously announced, the Orioles have extensive plans to upgrade their home ballpark, which hasn¡¯t undergone many massive changes since opening in 1992.
Rubenstein said that Camden Yards will have a new sound system ¡°up and running¡± before the 2025 season is underway. Major renovations will then occur over the next two offseasons.
Among the upgrades Rubenstein listed were: a larger, more modern videoboard; better clubhouses for the players; and improved food and entertainment experiences for the fans. Some of the ideas are coming from renovations done to other MLB ballparks.
¡°Remember, when Camden Yards came along 30 years ago, it was innovative and it was earth-shattering to people,¡± Rubenstein said. ¡°But since that time in 30 years, a lot of stadiums have been built, and they have done some pretty good things. We¡¯ve looked at what they¡¯ve done and we¡¯ll try to incorporate some of those things. I¡¯m really looking forward to it.¡±