John Angelos haters can rejoice now that reports have hit mainstream media that the Angelos family has agreed to sell its stake of the Orioles to a group led by Baltimore-born billionaire David Rubenstein. This news reached the "Mark's dad called to talk about it" level, and it is big news - hopefully good news for O's fans. Mark discusses what's been reported so far and what might or might not change after the change in control takes place.

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Not long ago, the late offseason ritual of top prospect lists getting released was one of the most exciting days of the year for Orioles fans. Mark is glad that the Orioles are better so the spring and summer months are fun too, but with six O's prospects still on top 100 lists, there's still a lot to be excited about there. In this episode, we look at who's improved and who's fallen back, as well as what's going to be important going forward for the O's farm. Plus, another young player on another team signed a contract extension. Could/will the O's do one of these?

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In order for an Orioles pitching acquisition to make sense, the cost of doing nothing has to be greater than the cost of getting a better pitcher. Mark remembers his public policy undergraduate days in tackling a no-action analysis for the O's rotation, a step that national media members complaining about the O's lack of a trade seem to have skipped. Could they actually be good enough without a big move?

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Still waiting for the Orioles to do something to improve the starting rotation? Mark is too, but after running through what little is in the rumor mill this week, it's on to discuss the start of the international amateur signing period. If you don't know what that is, there's a quick explainer of what's happening and what it means, with a breakdown of what's happened with the players the O's have signed since Mike Elias took over.

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The Orioles did not bring any Christmas gifts to Birdland fans over the Christmas break, so we're all still left wondering when the big starting pitching move will happen, or if it will. In the meantime, it's the season for Hall of Fame ballots to be revealed, and Mark has noticed something fun: When articles are written speculating on which current players are off to Hall of Fame-level career beginnings, young Orioles are appearing on them again. It'll be a while before we're booking summer trips to Cooperstown, but it's cool anyway.

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The 11th hour reversal of the previous tentative lease agreement was resolved within the span of a week after all. Mark runs through where things stand there and then gets back into the state of the Orioles roster, surveying some of the potentially available starting pitchers and trying to figure out who's a good fit for the O's. Maybe Mike Elias hasn't made a trade yet because he's not excited for what he'd get for the price.

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It's been a wild several days for Orioles fans that ultimately resulted in nothing changing from the status quo. Mark runs through the saga of the last few days, from a reported possible future sale of the team to a reported tentative lease agreement, on through to the lease being put back on hold and John Angelos telling the governor he's not planning to sell. Oh yeah, and there was all that Shohei Ohtani stuff too, to remind everyone that the O's division foes are trying to improve for next year.

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Craig Kimbrel to the Orioles! It's weird just to say that, but it's true. Baseball's eighth place guy on the all-time saves list, who has a strong chance of being in the top five by the end of 2024, is now an Oriole. Mark is cautiously optimistic about this signing over the course of this episode, because while Kimbrel isn't the elite reliever he was, he's more of a known quantity than many other free agent pitchers, including ones in his price range and above it.

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As baseball's winter meetings begin, Mark is convincing himself of why the Orioles absolutely must do something substantial even though he knows better. Discussion in this episode centers around several relievers coming over from Japan, as well as recent Rays pitcher Robert Stephenson. Plus, thoughts on the Jackson Chourio extension with the Brewers and what that might mean for top-ranked O's prospects.

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The first big free agent signing across MLB happened on Sunday as the Phillies re-inked Aaron Nola. That could be the move that sets the top of the market and informs everything below that. Will the Orioles sign someone who is an interesting signing? Mark talks about why he thinks getting a better starter is important, then goes through some of the free agent pool, including the impossible dream of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

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