Britt Ghiroli is now the senior MLB writer for The Athletic, and while those in DC proper might remember her from her time on the Nationals beat for the Athletic, our northern neighbors also know she was MLB.com’s Orioles reporter for a decade before that.
She wrote a scathing editorial in The Athletic after hearing of MASN’s suspension of Kevin Brown for his comments on the Orioles’ record at Tropicana Field – which were both true and printed in team-issued media material – and she doubled down on that Wednesday when talking with Danny Rouhier about the situation that all it did was make the Orioles and their current managing owner look foolish in the midst of the team’s best campaign in years.
“John Angelos took offense with what was the most benign statement of facts of their history at Tropicana Field,” Ghiroli said. “Angelos, who has a long history of letting things get under his skin, pulled Kevin Brown off the air, and I am stunned with the reach this has had – look at last night, with the signs and chant to Free Kevin Brown that broke out and were audible on the TBS broadcast.”
Brown is scheduled to be back in the booth Friday when Baltimore heads west, but the shadow of the incident may be visible long after that.
“This just underscores the case in Baltimore: the team is very good and a great story, but they continue to be run by a petty, thin-skinned ownership group,” Ghiroli said. “People who thought John Angelos was going to be any better than his dad, I have news for you: he might actually be worse.”
Danny had an alternate worry: the Nationals are also hosted on MASN, and this situation may not bode well for the future of the network and its tenants.
“It doesn’t, and that’s a great point. Dan Connolly wrote a great piece about this yesterday, and said that during COVID, John Angelos gave himself a $5 million raise in lost wages as head of MASN,” Ghiroli said. “I don’t know how MLB allows Angelos to run both the Orioles and MASN, which is supposed to be a shared regional network, but people who have paid attention to the MASN lawsuits may now understand why we’ve had years of being tied up in court. It’s unfortunate, because we all know the sale of the team is really tied into what happens to MASN, and this should clue people into what’s happening in Baltimore and why they can’t reach a resolution with MASN. And, you have guys like Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez who are on expiring contracts, but there’s uncertainty from the top down when it comes to this organization and its future, and it’s hard to build on that.”
Take a listen to the entire segment above, which also includes Britt’s thoughts on the state of the Nationals’ rebuild!
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