Orioles fans deserved better preseason broadcasts

Watching the Orioles play the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida, last week was painful (“Orioles observations on Gunnar Henderson’s shortstop defense, Albert Suárez’s roster case and more vs. Red Sox,” March 21). Not because of the lack of young Orioles talent, but because of the decisions of the short-sighted penny-pinching current owner.

The Orioles MASN network was broadcasting using the Red Sox New England Sports Network (NESN) feed. This does not translate. The current Orioles owners broadcast only seven spring training games in 2024, one of the lowest percentages in Major League Baseball and won’t pay to have their own broadcast team attend the games in Florida. I assume they are holed-up in a MASN facility in Baltimore watching the same NESN feed as me.

The poor announcers (Melanie Newman and Dave Johnson) who I really like are doing their best. Enthusiastically, an Anthony Santander home run is announced! Oh, wait. Was it a homer? Have to wait for the NESN replay feed. “We can’t see the ball.”

I can’t imagine trying to do their jobs. Let’s also see lots of cut-away takes of the Boston announcers doing extended interviews of Boston players during the game. How do you fill time while this is happening? This is embarrassing. Can the MLB owners promptly approve David Rubenstein and his new ownership group before we see any more examples of a $1.725 billion Baltimore treasured institution being mismanaged?

And David, please don’t allow the current owner to suspend the announcers when he doesn’t like the broadcast.