The MLB season is underway! As teams seek to win a World Series, we will see how the off-season moves of 2024 have played out. Some owners spent like it was going out of style (you know exactly who we’re talking about) and some barely even cracked the checkbook. Here are some owners that need to get out of town, and a few that their fans hope never go anywhere.
Sell: Bob Nutting, Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates have been miserable since 2007 when Bob Nutting bought the team. They had a brief blip of Wildcard appearances from 2013-15 (with one trip to the divisional series) but otherwise have zero playoff appearances. Nutting is notoriously one of the cheapest owners in all of pro sports, never even approaching the luxury tax threshold, and making absurd moves in the context of the multi-billion dollar industry, like waiting to trade players to save $30,000.
He also has traded away players burgeoning into stars for very little return rather than pay them, like Gerrit Cole and Tyler Glasnow, most recently. He is reviled in the Steel City and for good reason. The Pirates have not been competitive, let alone good, for about a decade, and it’s very easy to point the finger at the top here.
Stay: Steve Cohen, New York Mets
The Cohen era is only a few years old, but already “Uncle Stevie” has shown his willingness to flex his status as the richest owner in the sport. The Mets had the highest payroll in baseball by a wide margin in 2023, after signing Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to big deals. However, Cohen isn’t just a money pit. After the season appeared lost last year, he quickly flipped Verlander and Scherzer to the Astros and Rangers, reloading the Mets farm system.
An owner who isn’t afraid to make long-term moves to help the team, on top of being willing to break the bank, is a very good thing. Cohen most recently was able to add JD Martinez to the Mets lineup, showing that even in a rebuilding year, there’s money to go around. We’ll see how things shake out for Cohen, but so far, he’s doing everything he can.
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Sell: John Fisher, Oakland A’s
The A’s are a disaster. The team is attempting to move, but can’t find a real spot. Las Vegas seems overwhelmingly likely, but there’s nothing definitive. In that token, the team is also absolutely terrible on the field. Fisher was able to get away with being a massive cheapskate when he had Billy Beane running the show in the front office, but since he stepped back into a role as Fisher’s advisor the team has suffered. With one of the worst farm systems in the sport, there is no help coming for the A’s either.
Fisher’s mismanagement of the move is so bad that it’s possible he will lose the team’s lucrative TV contract. The team has no ability to actually move to a new city without a stadium but is also unwilling to play in the Oakland Coliseum, and has flirted with playing in Sacramento until a new stadium is built. However, if they don’t play in the Bay Area, NBC Sports will not honor the TV deal. What a joke. Fisher comes off as at best, a fool here.
Stay: Guggenheim Baseball Management/Mark Walter, Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers have an interesting ownership situation; they’re owned by a corporation and a group of wealthy investors rather than a single individual. The Guggenheim Baseball Management group is comprised of heavy hitters from the sports world like Lakers legend Magic Johnson and tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King. It also has a variety of moneymen from various industries like film and finance. Mark Walter is the chairman and controlling partner of the group, so about the closest thing the team has to an owner. Since the purchase in 2012, the group has worked miracles on the historic franchise.
The Dodgers have been in the playoffs every season since 2013. This run includes a 2020 World Series Championship, 3 NL Pennants and a staggering 10 divisional titles. Only the rival Astros can boast a similar level of success in this span of time. Guggenheim wasn’t done there, however. This off-season they absolutely broke the mold, and signed Shohei Ohtani to the biggest professional sports contract in American history, after signing his countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the biggest pitching contract of all time. Guggenheim is all in, and their fans should thank their lucky stars that the group runs the team the way it does.
Sell: Arte Moreno, Los Angeles Angels
Moreno actually did try and sell the team in 2022, but had a change of heart and yanked the team off the market soon after the original announcement. Moreno has one thing over most bad owners, he will spend. However, he tends to spend poorly. He’s executed two of the worst contracts in MLB history in his tenure. Albert Pujols got paid by the Angels and turned into Daniel Vogelbach. Then Moreno went and overpaid Anthony Rendon.
Rendon proceeded to literally announce that playing baseball is not a priority for him after several years of failing to get on the field. Moreno was able to bring in Ohtani, but not secure him long-term. At least Trout stayed, we guess? The Angels need a new tactic, a clean house. They have a terrible farm system seemingly incapable of developing MLB talent. A fresh start seems like the only answer here.
Stay: Stuart Sternberg, Tampa Bay Rays
A unique owner in pro sports, Sternberg is the cheap owner who can win. He has built the front office and player development system of the Tampa Bay Rays into a well-oiled machine. The Rays have been in the playoffs every year since 2019 and 8 times since 2010. Even with one of the lowest payrolls in the sport, the team is able to do what most others cannot.
They haven’t reached the promised land of a championship, but they are knocking at the door constantly, and will likely get there. Sternberg is not thrilled with the poor attendance and miserable conditions of Tropicana Field, and has flirted with relocation, but has never been as foolish as John Fisher to decide to leave without a landing spot. If the Rays go elsewhere, it will likely make the team even better, as better attendance and a bigger market will mean more money.
Sell: Jerry Reinsdorf, Chicago White Sox
Reinsdorf is among the most hated owners in any sport. Chicago fans are passionate and knowledgeable, and they all know what a clown their owner is. Jerry spends absolutely nothing despite being in one of the biggest markets in the country. He has zero care if the team competes, as evinced by last season’s 100+ loss debacle, and the following nothing-burger off-season. On top of that, Jerry recently had a management scandal, when he brought in his buddy (and admittedly legendary manager) Tony LaRussa to run the team well past his prime.
LaRussa repaid the favor by immediately getting into a drunk driving incident and then ended up being physically unable to manage more than one full season due to his advanced age. The ChiSox is a storied franchise with a man unworthy of the legacy at the wheel.
Stay: Jim Crane, Houston Astros
Crane bought the team in 2011 and has absolutely put them on a rocket to the moon since, pardon the pun. While the cheating scandal does mar the reputation of the organization, the Astros did win after that was exposed, which is a bit of a vindication. Since 2011 they have 2 World Series Championships (though many would say 1), 4 AL Pennants and 6 division titles.
Crane has hit the sweet spot of building an organization that can develop great young talent and still spend on big-name players to make sure they can succeed at the highest level. He is arguably the best single owner in the sport, with the team in a strong position to compete for a title for the next half a decade at minimum.
Sell: Chris Ilitch, Detroit Tigers
Ilitch is a rarity in the MLB ownership world, he inherited the team. While this is not strictly legally true, his father Mike Ilitch, Little Caesar’s Pizza magnate, was the former owner and CEO of an ownership holding company. Then, Chris was promoted to CEO of the same holding corporation that owns the team. So, for all intents and purposes he was given the team by his father. The Ilitchs have overseen a marginally successful run for the Tigers (with 2 pennants and 4 division titles), but since Mike’s death in 2017, the team has been quite bad. The Tigers have been “rebuilding” for a decade with no success.
When they do spend, it never really works out. Javy Baez has been horrific since his $140MM contract; Miguel Cabrera’s second extension (worth $258MM for his age 33-40 seasons) saw him turn from a perennial MVP front-runner to an average hitter, and worse at the end of his career. While the fans don’t hate the Ilitch family in the way a lot of the other names on this list are hated, that’s mostly because of the goodwill bought by Mike. As Chris’ reality settles in, they will likely change their tune.
Stay: John Middleton, Philadelphia Phillies
Middleton has been a partial owner of the Phillies since the 90s but has been the chairman of the ownership group since 1998. MLB Ownership elected him the “control person” of the team in 2016, which makes him the de facto owner, despite the fact that he technically owns only 48% of the team. Now that we have that technical rigmarole out of the way, we can say that Middleton has shepherded the team into an era of success in the 2000s. The Phillies have become among the strongest teams in the NL with their first World Series win in over 20 years in 2008, and a total of 3 NL Pennants and 5 division titles since the millennium.
Middleton has been able to keep great talent in-house with his checkbook. Most recently he re-signed Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola this off-season, keeping the powerful one-two punch at the top of the Phightin’ Phils rotation for the foreseeable future. Previously he was able to retain the core of Ryan Howard and Chase Utley which helped lead the Phillies to that aforementioned championship. Middleton has kept the team on the rails over multiple decades and shows no signs of slowing down.
