Orioles Sale Clears Next MLB Procedural Hurdle

Major League Baseball's ownership working group has approved of the Baltimore Orioles' sale agreement.

The sale of the Baltimore Orioles cleared a critical hurdle on Friday.

The MLB ownership committee, the working group that vets team sales before they are submitted to league owners for a vote, approved the sale of the team from the Angelos family to a group led by David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti.

The Baltimore Sun was among the outlets that reported the approval. It has not been announced officially.

The Orioles announced in January that the Angelos family would sell a controlling stake to the private equity billionaires for $1.725 billion.

That didn’t make the sale official. It still had to go through MLB’s vetting process, which included the ownership committee.

The fact that the proposed sale flew through the process that quickly is a good sign. Immediately after the announcement it was reported that the sale might not be approved until the All-Star Break in July.

The next step is approval from all of MLB’s owners. The sale must be approved by at least 23 of the league’s owners. It’s not known when that vote will take place.

Assuming the sale receives final approval, Rubenstein, a long-time Orioles fan and co-founder of the private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, will be in control of the team. Arougheti is the co-founder of Ares Management Corp. and lives in New York.

The pair will inherit a team with a small-market payroll but one of the most stocked rosters and farm systems in baseball as the franchise is coming off a 101-win season and an American League East title.

Offensively, the Orioles look set, with returning players at every position, including Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson at third base and Silver Slugger catcher Adley Rutschman. That doesn’t include No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday, who is waiting in the wings, or the other five Top 100 prospects the Orioles have in their system, some of which are MLB-ready.

The pitching staff is led by Kyle Bradish, who finished in the Top 5 of Cy Young voting last year. The Orioles’ most significant free-agent addition was signing Craig Kimbrel to a one-year deal to close while Félix Bautista recovers from Tommy John surgery.

The new ownership group will include Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. and will give Rubenstein and Arougheti control of 40 percent of the team. Once Peter Angelos, who bought the team in 1993, passes away, the new ownership team can buy the Angelos family out.

After the sale is complete, the Angelos family will remain a major investor and John Angelos, who currently controls the team, will be a senior advisor. But Rubenstein will be in control.