By Chris Korman

12:30 p.m. EST, December 3, 2012

Fox has already made a significant move to generate revenue from television customers in the huge Washington D.C./Baltimore market. It owns 49 percent of the Big Ten Network and handles the business operations of the channel that will soon be showing Maryland games.

It may be thinking even bigger. According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, Fox has had negotiations with Peter Angelos about acquiring MASN and the rights to both Orioles and Nationals games.

Though he says the talks have cooled -- and that similar discussions with Comcast stalled -- the most interesting thing Ourand reports is what brought about the move: pressure from Major League Baseball.

MASN formed when MLB wanted to move the Montreal Expos to D.C. Angelos pointed out how much that would hurt his market and eventually leveraged his complaint into a remarkable deal. He owns most of the network, and his decreasing share will eventually bottom out at 67 percent (it's currently at 87).

I spoke with Ourand today, and he said the value of the network could easily be $1 billion.

MLB would push a sale of the network because Angelos -- notoriously stubborn, in case you somehow forgot -- has refused to budge on negotiations with the Nationals concerning how much the team should receive in yearly TV rights. According to The Washington Post, the Nationals have asked for $110 million and the Orioles have offered $34 million.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers may end up receiving $6 billion in a 25-year broadcast deal with Fox. That's $240 million per year.

Since MASN's inception, rights fees for live sports have skyrocketed. In the DVR and on-demand age, sporting events are the best way for a television network to ensure advertisers that people might actually be watching the commercials.






This is gonna be sweet if it happens. More money for payroll.

Jayson Stark ‏@jaysonst

Here's another team to add to list of Adam LaRoche pursuers: The #Orioles. An exec of one interested team says O's in on him "hard."

Dan Connolly ‏@danconnollysun

The Orioles are closing in on re-signing Nate McLouth accdg to multiple sources. One source called it very close.

Brittany Ghiroli ‏@Britt_Ghiroli

Confirming @danconnollysun report, #Orioles have agreed to terms w Nate McLouth.

From Bob Dutton/The Star:
We're a long way from opening day. Trades or an injury could change a lot of things. Here's a low-level rumor: The Orioles have some interest in Francoeur. For what? I don't know. Would the Royals need to eat some salary? Probably. Something to watch for

Not gonna happen now with Nate back.

Baltimore Orioles‏@Orioles

The Orioles have announced contract extensions through 2018 for Executive VP of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette & Manager Buck Showalter.


Dan Connolly‏@danconnollysun

Am told Showalter will be in top 1/4 or so of managers, salarywise, when deal peaks. He said all along he was never pushing to break banks

Jurrjens agrees to deal with Orioles
By Jon Heyman | Baseball Insider
January 24, 2013 10:34 pm ET

Free agent righthander Jair Jurrjens, who was not tendered by the Braves after a rough 2012 season, has agreed to a deal with the Orioles, CBSSports.com has learned.

Jurrjens will receive a $1.5 million base on a Major League deal and can bring his totalk to $4 million with incentives.

Orioles GM Dan Duquette did a superb job finding pitching gems last winter, and this is another of the low-risk variety. Jurrjens went 3-4 with a 6.89 ERA with Atlanta and spent much of the year in the minors.

But he's only 26, and he's only a year removed from making the All_Star team. Jurrjens was 13-6 with a 2.96 ERA in 2011.

The Orioles talked about trading for Jurrjens a year ago, but comes a better price now.

Cool.

It's a no-lose situation.


I wonder if a 2013 thread is appropriate, or just keep this thing going?

Not sure up to Mods.

Actually, I think it's more up to Royals fans who want to keep you occupied and out of their thread...

Good thing about Jair Jurrjens has 2 minor league options and Under control till 2015.

Well, then it's a pretty fair bet he'll be in Norfolk a few times. Duquette loves those guys with options, doesn't he?

O's have 14 guys for 5 spots.