SARASOTA, Fla. — Just over one year ago, David Rubenstein and his ownership group agreed to a deal to buy the Orioles from the Angelos family.

Fans were hopeful that Rubenstein, a Baltimore native who had long wanted to buy a baseball team, would pump the resources necessary into the team to help it reach the next level. It spent just under $67 million on new players in Rubenstein’s first offseason, signing Tyler O’Neill, Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Andrew Kittredge, Gary Sánchez, Dylan Carlson and Ramón Laureano to free agent contracts but failing to bring in an ace pitcher to replace Corbin Burnes or re-sign fan-favorite Anthony Santander.

On Monday, Rubenstein toured the Orioles’ spring training facility here, taking a look at his team, the new and the old. The team is coming off back-to-back playoff appearances — but has failed to win a game either time — and is returning most of the players that helped them get there.

He was engaged with the front office and community all offseason, and he plans to continue that in his second season as owner and control person.

“I think the team is in pretty good shape — we have a really solid team,” Rubenstein said during a Q&A session with reporters. “We’ve added to it in the offseason. I’m very pleased with the team, and we have a chance to go all the way.”

Here are four takeaways from Rubenstein’s remarks.

Will he keep the young stars in Baltimore?

Rubenstein, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman had what Rubenstein described as a “social lunch” on Monday.

They did not talk about business — like a possible extension to keep two of Baltimore’s best players in the city long-term — but rather about their backgrounds. While other teams have offered long-term deals to their stars, the Orioles have yet to bite the bullet.

“I certainly would like the best young players we have on the team — and those are two that I just mentioned — to stay here in their career just like Brooks Robinson was here in his entire career, Jim Palmer was here in his entire career,” Rubenstein said. “We’d like to have players stay with Baltimore for a long, long time and their entire career.”

Rubenstein also reiterated that he favors a salary cap, which would prevent teams like the Dodgers and Mets from outspending the rest of the league.

“Everyone in baseball wants to have a competitive environment so that every fan thinks that every team can win in any given year,” Rubenstein said. “Having a competitive environment is what we want and what I think other owners want, and ultimately I think that’s what the fans really want, too, is a competitive environment so no matter what city you live in you think your team can win when the season begins.”

Communication with the front office

Rubenstein, co-owner Michael Arougheti and general manager Mike Elias texted or emailed several times a day during the offseason as the Orioles weighed signing certain players, Rubenstein said.

“We knew what was going on, we went back and forth,” Rubenstein said.

The Orioles are in a very good place financially, Rubenstein said, and have no limit on what they can spend. Even so, Elias kept Rubenstein and Arougheti engaged throughout the winter.

“I’m not aware of any owners that say to their general managers, ‘Do anything you want and just call me at the end of the season,’ ” Rubenstein said. “I think all owners are involved and we’re no different than anyone else. We didn’t have a financial limit on what he could spend or not spend, but he did want to let us know what he was doing all the time and get our input, and we gave him our input. Our input was really just relating to learning more about the players, it wasn’t so much about the money.”

Upgrades are coming to Camden Yards

A new sound system will be coming to Oriole Park at Camden Yards this season, Rubenstein said, but the rest of the renovations will come in the following two offseasons.

The Orioles initially have $400 million in state bond money available for stadium upgrades and can unlock another $200 million once the 30-year ground lease around Camden Yards is signed.

The architecture firm Populous, the same group that designed the stadium in the 1990s, is working on the plans, Rubenstein said, which include a new video board, updated clubhouses and new fans areas.

Helping to energize the fanbase

Rubenstein is pretty realistic: Besides his bank account, there’s not much he can do on the baseball side to help this team win.

So what can he do? He can energize the fan base.

“You know in life, you have to do what you’re good at,” he said. “I’m not good at certain things, so when I bought the team, I said, ‘What can I help the team with?’ It probably isn’t by trying to second-guess the sabermetrics of some of our experts on things, so I thought I could be engaged with the community.”

Rubenstein’s signature last season was handing out hats to fans at games, and he kept that trend going on Monday as he interacted with fans watching the Orioles’ workout. He also likes to sign autographs and take selfies, in addition to participating in philanthropy throughout the city.

“I hope to be able to continue to do that until the fans are tired of me,” he said.