David Rubenstein reveals he's delusionally optimistic about the Orioles in latest media interaction

David Rubenstein has done a lot of good things as the owner of the Baltimore Orioles since taking over the team in 2024. The big free agent contract to Pete Alonso, the various long term extensions to Samuel Basallo, Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish, along with several significant upgrades to both Camden Yards as well as the Orioles spring training facility are all reasons to be glad that Rubenstein owns the team instead of the Angelos family whose main priority over their last few years controlling the team seemed to be extracting as much money from the team as possible at the expense of the product on the field and the fan experience.

The big disappointment of the Rubenstein era so far is that when he took over the team, they appeared poised to go on a dominant run of contending for the World Series. They had a very talented roster, one of the best farm systems in the league, and complete payroll flexibility going forward. Everything seemed to indicate that the Orioles were about to be a force to be reckoned with in the American League for years to come.

Instead of a dominant run, the Orioles have been mostly bad since Rubenstein took over. Their roster is not as talented as they thought, their farm system is now middle of the pack, and although the payroll has increased, they don't have any team success to show for it.

Worst of all, Rubenstein does not seem to recognize just how bad things are in Birdland. At every chance he gets, he's either telling CSPAN why he thinks the league needs a salary cap (incredibly lame), announcing a new book about owning a baseball team (incredibly premature), or giving his full support to President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias, the architect of the Orioles' great failure.

David Rubenstein is loving the way this Orioles season is unfolding apparently

Yesterday Elias and Rubenstein spoke to the media, and once again Rubenstein was effusive in his praise of Elias and projected confidence about the Orioles going forward. This time he might have gone too far.

For one, when asked about the state of the Orioles, he used the phrase "we couldn't be more pleased. We've had some injuries that's not Mike's fault".

A lot to take in there. To be fair, it's not like Rubenstein is going to publicly tell the media that his POBO is a dunce and that he can't wait to fire him. There is a certain level of "what's he supposed to say" when it comes to these kinds of quotes. However, you simply don't have to say that you couldn't be more pleased about a team that is three games under .500 and currently outside the playoffs. You can say something along the lines of, "We want the team to be better." Expressing that you are completely content with a losing team is bad messaging.

The other part of this quote that is bad is the injuries aren't Elias' fault part. The recent injuries of Rustcman and Basallo certainly aren't Elias' fault, but Jordan Westburg got hurt in February, and the Orioles had two months to address that injury and decided to just hope Coby Mayo could play third. So it is Elias' fault that third base has been a mess all season. It's also Elias' fault that the bullpen is a disaster, which has cost the Orioles a ton of games this year. He did very little to improve the bullpen in the offseason, and it shows. A lot of why the Orioles are below .500 is Elias' fault. He has been in full control of the Orioles' baseball operations for eight years. At this point, everything that happens in this organization, good or bad, is Mike Elias' fault, including the team not being very good.

The other interesting thing that Rubenstein said was related to his confidence that the Orioles were going to have a good second half of the season. When talking about the Orioles' playoff chances, Rubenstein casually said that if the Orioles won seven out of ten games for the rest of the season, they'd be in good shape.

Honestly, being able to say that all your sub-.500 team has to do to be a playoff team is rip off two straight months of .700 baseball with a straight face is something of an accomplishment. The idea that the Orioles, who were 50-53 when Rubenstein made these comments, are going to go 41-17 over their remaining 58 games is ludicrous. He might as well have said if the Orioles win the rest of their games they'll probably make the playoffs becuase that's just as likely as them winning at a .700 clip for the rest of the season.

Hoping against all odds that your favorite team is going to go on an absurd winning streak to save the season is a perfectly acceptable practice for fans who are trying to convince themselves they are not wasting their time and money supporting this team. It is an unacceptable mindset for the people actually running the team.

The response is to seeing the team dramatically underperform for two straight seasons and then saying it'll be fine as long as they just snap out of it and play like the best in baseball for two months. That is not going to happen!

The Baltimore Orioles do not need an owner who has his fingers crossed that things will get better. They need an owner who will look at how the team is regressing and do something about it.

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