The Baltimore Orioles let go of third base coach Jose Flores, and pitching coach Doug Brocail last week. While the team has yet to confirm these moves, they’ve been made. And with no apparent reason as to why.
Yet there have been reports the past few days that part of the reason these moves were made was due to financial constraints. This is a deep concern, if true. Are the Orioles having financial problems?
I think it’s understood that most teams are suffering through the current COVID-19 situation. Not only did they have a heavily reduced schedule of games, but the public wasn’t admitted. Meaning no tickets were sold.
Combine that with the fact that merchandise sales had to be down, and you have a real problem. You literally have money flying out the door for things such as payroll and other expenses, with very little coming in to replace it. That’s a huge problem for any business.
I suspect that merchandise sales weren’t totally zero, as people could still purchase online and visit the Orioles’ store at Camden Yards. Plus they still got their television revenue. So they did take some money in. Just not what they would have liked.
It’s important to note that Brocail and Flores’ contracts were up. The Orioles simply didn’t renew them. Keep in mind that if a team lets go of anyone (coach, player, executive, etc), they still have to pay out their contracts. So it’s entirely possible that the organization took the opportunity to get someone at less money starting next year. Is that fair? Not necessarily – although they did fulfill their obligations to Brocail and Flores. But 2020 itself hasn’t been fair.
Birdland Crush 