The Orioles had the core.

But they needed more to get to the next level, back to the World Series. And a new owner, after the previous one nickeled and dimed his way through, promised to be the one to finally get the top players to push them over the edge.

Sound familiar?

But this was 1993, not 2024. Peter Angelos, a Baltimore labor lawyer, had just taken over as Orioles owner, inheriting a team with Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Devereaux, Brady Anderson, Chris Hoiles and future ace Mike Mussina.

Although the Orioles had tight pocketbooks at the end of Angelos’ tenure as owner — especially when they were run by his son John from 2021-23 — the beginning brought renewed hope to the city. Peter Angelos said he was going to spend in his first offseason to improve the team, and he did just that.

Now, 31 years later, the Orioles are back in the same place. They have a young core in need of a few pieces and a new ownership group led by David Rubenstein, who purchased a majority of the team in January and the final shares in August.

Rubenstein, as Angelos did in 1993, has said he will front the money to get the team what it needs to be successful. This winter is his chance to prove that. Will he act like Angelos did in his first offseason?

“We’re in the business of trying to win baseball games,” Rubenstein said at The Banner’s iMPACT Maryland event, noting that he would probably have to spend money to do so.

When Angelos purchased the team on Oct. 4, 1993, for $173 million, then the highest amount ever paid for a sports franchise, questions emerged about whether they would have anything left to sign free agents.

Angelos assured fans the team would be active, but people remained skeptical after the Orioles backed out of a five-year, $27.5 million offer to Will Clark, a highly sought-after first baseman. Previous owner Eli Jacobs was stingy and, after this deal fell through, fear spread that Angelos would be the same. Clark signed with the Rangers on a $30 million deal, hitting .308 with 77 home runs and an All-Star nod during five years in Texas.

Angelos defended the move. He was worried about Clark’s health — the first of many deals that would fall through in Angelos’ tenure due to health concerns — and thought the Rangers were bluffing. A few weeks later, he made up for it, signing first baseman Rafael Palmeiro to a five-year, $30 million deal. (The Orioles eventually signed Clark ahead of the 1999 season).

“I never had any doubts that I’d make good on what I promised,” Angelos said in 1994. “It was just a matter of waiting for the right things to come along. I think we’ve gotten the right first baseman. ... I just hope we end up in the playoffs. That would be a great time, wouldn’t it?”

That would be their hallmark move of the offseason, but the team also signed third baseman Chris Sabo (one year, $2 million), starting pitcher Sid Fernandez (three years, $9 million) and reliever Lee Smith (one year, $1.5 million), committing $42.5 million (the equivalent of about $93 million today).

Palmeiro hit 182 home runs in his first of two stints with the Orioles. The impact of the other deals was mixed. Smith was an All-Star in his one season with the team, while Fernandez became a depth starter behind Mussina and Ben McDonald, making 26 starts before he was traded midway through his contract in 1995. Sabo played 68 games in 1994, hitting .256.

The Orioles increased their payroll from just shy of $27 million in 1993, ranked 19th in MLB, to just over $37 million in 1994, the ninth highest.

Although personnel changes caused controversy, Angelos making good on his promise to spend seemed to trump anything that happened in the warehouse.

“It was terrific,” general manager Roland Hemond said in 1994. “You’d wake up every morning and wonder, ‘What can we do next?’”

The result of the spending spree wasn’t felt immediately because a strike ended the 1994 season early when the Orioles were 63-49 and in second place in the division, but the Orioles continued to move up the payroll charts in the seasons to come. From 1996 to 1998, they had the highest or second-highest payroll in MLB, with Angelos signing free agents such as Roberto Alomar, Mike Bordick and Eric Davis. In 1996, the Orioles made the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 1983. They advanced to the American League Championship Series that year and followed in 1997 by doing the same.

A similar jump in ranking would be hard for the Orioles to replicate in Rubenstein’s first offseason — the top 10 teams were separated by less than $10 million in 1994, compared to $100 million in 2024 — but they could make up ground. The team hasn’t signed a free agent to a guaranteed multiyear contract since 2018, and doing so would show that Rubenstein is interested in the long-term success of the team. So would issuing contract extensions — the Orioles were successful during the early portion of Angelos’ tenure because they built for the future around their core.

Not all owners immediately spend money as Angelos did in 1993 or more recently as Steve Cohen did in 2022, when the new Mets owner guaranteed $500 million to free agents.

“I’m not in this to be mediocre,” Cohen said when he took over. “That’s just not my thing. I want something great, and I know the fans want something great. That’s my goal, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

John Sherman, who took over the Royals in 2019, used a more measured approach.

“You know, but you have to have a nucleus. It doesn’t make sense to go out and get one big free agent if you don’t have the talent around them,” he said at his introductory press conference.

The Royals, like the Orioles, rank in the bottom third in market size. They too went through a rebuild, but when it was time to compete they spent the money necessary to do so.

Kansas City barely made a splash in the first few offseasons under Sherman, but last winter the Royals committed a franchise-record $109.5 million to reliable veterans including Seth Lugo, Will Smith and Michael Wacha. They also signed shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to an extension that can reach 14 years and $377 million.

The waiting game paid off for the Royals — they advanced to the American League Division Series a year after losing more than 100 games.

The Orioles’ best prospects are already everyday major league players. Their window is here.

Will Rubenstein follow the example Angelos set in his early days? Or will he try to wait it out like Sherman until he thinks it’s time to invest?

This winter will provide the answer.