It?s hard to know who to believe.
If you were monitoring Monday?s trade deadline machinations, you heard numerous reporters on ESPN and elsewhere say that Major League Baseball “sources” had told them that Orioles owner Peter Angelos had personally stopped the club from trading away shortstop Miguel Tejada for several extremely attractive packages.
Those “sources” claimed that deals were in place to send Tejada to the following: the Astros, for a package that included infielders Morgan Ensberg and Adam Everett, as well as top-of-the-rotation pitcher Roy Oswalt; and the Angels, for pitcher Ervin Santana and infield prospect Erick Aybar. There was also a three-way deal in place that would have brought Mets outfield prospect Lastings Milledge to Baltimore. The list goes on and on.
The Orioles? front office ? vice presidents Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette ? claim that no offer for Tejada was deemed sufficient to even present as an option to ownership.
What?s the truth?
I can?t say for certain, but I tend to think the owner had less to do with the club?s inertia on Monday than you might think.
First of all, why should anyone think he?s even heard of most of the players whose names were prominent in the rumors? It?s clear his top priority is running a major law firm. He?s not reading every box score. He?s not going online to check out minor-league prospects.
Not that he didn?t try doing those things at some point early in his tenure as owner. In the mid-1990s, it was pretty apparent that he saw himself as a baseball man, or, at the very least, he aspired to be a baseball man.
When he blocked a 1996 Pat Gillick trade that would have sent David Wells and Bobby Bonilla to Seattle ? and the Orioles ended up in the ALCS ? he probably thought he was a baseball man. A few seasons later, he had rid himself of that notion, preferring instead to set a budget for his GM and then sit back and sign the checks. At least, I hope that?s what he did.
The point is, it?s perfectly OK to own a team and not be a baseball man. Former Indians owner Dick Jacobs is a perfect example of that. The ballpark was named for him, yet virtually no one in Cleveland would have recognized him if he had walked through the stands. He left the baseball decisions to baseball people and reaped the rewards. No world championships, but multiple trips to the postseason.
Angelos? image as Orioles owner suffers from decisions he made years ago, and other than selling the team ? which he?s not likely to do ? there?s little chance it will improve in his lifetime. He?s an easy target for most fans and reporters, and for many inside the game as well.
Phil Wood has covered sports in the Washington-Baltimore market for more than 30 years.
