David Rubenstein sends another terrible message to Orioles fans ahead of Opening Day

Earlier this offseason, Orioles owner David Rubenstein went on the record in support of a salary cap system in MLB. The owners have been trying to get one in place for a long time but have yet to be successful, thanks to the MLBPA continuing to push back against it.

If that wasn't enough, Rubenstein has now come out and told Orioles fans that he's concerned first and foremost with the profitability of the franchise and is going to prioritize profits over wins. Just weeks from Opening Day, the new Orioles owner is out here throwing cold water on the lot of us, and outright telling fans that he's not interested in signing players to significant deals.

As Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun reported, Rubenstein said that "We want to be a profitable business...I don't think it's a good idea to put together a team that is going to lose money for the investors and might do well on the field in one year or so". Rubenstein also spoke about the importance of "camaraderie" in the locker room, and how "that doesn't come about by just writing big checks to people".

Orioles owner David Rubenstein prioritizing profitability over on-field success

The first point, about the profits, seems obvious. The majority of teams are focused on remaining profitable, and clearly that's the idea over the long-term, even ignoring the fact that much of the profitability here comes from franchise value appreciation.

But this isn't the industry to get into if running a profitable business is your primary goal. And telling your fanbase, just months after taking over ownership of the franchise, that you're prioritizing profits over everything else is complete insanity. You'd expect Bob Nutting might say that, but normal MLB owners keep those thoughts to themselves.

The second point, about not wanting to spend money to acquire or retain talent, is just as backwards. There are teams who put out a successful on-field product without spending among the top tier of teams. But over the long term, spending does directly correlate with winning baseball games. The richest teams, the teams who invest the most in their product, are the ones who do well. It takes a combination of investment from ownership and a high level of competence from the baseball operations team to run a sustainable and successful organization.

It's possible that the Orioles can achieve that level of success anyway. After all, Mike Elias has done much with zero support from the prior ownership group so even a modest budget increase will do wonders for this team.

One confusing point here is that earlier in the conference, Rubenstein also said that he has yet to set a limit when it comes to payroll. The 2025 Orioles will have a significantly higher payroll figure than the 2024 team did, but much of that is in the way of arbitration increases and one-year contracts to aging veterans. So yes, Rubenstein is willing to commit more to payroll than his predecessor was, but turning an annual profit is, based on Rubenstein's direct comments, going to trump the on-field results.

There are some positive changes that Rubenstein has made, and when all is said and done, it's certainly possible that Orioles fans will all be happy with his tenure here. But if someone could get this man to stop saying the quiet part out loud, and stop commenting about the importance of profitability and their plans to implement a salary cap into a sport that desperately needs to avoid it, that would be great.