Orioles have upper hand in striking a deal to train in Vero Beach

The Baltimore Orioles would appear to have the upper hand as negotiations resume this week on efforts to get the American League baseball team to shift its spring training to Vero Beach starting in 2010.

For the Orioles, the Vero Beach training facility that formerly was home to the Los Angeles Dodgers is only one of three options.

Baltimore could yet come to a deal to keep the team in Fort Lauderdale, where they have trained since 1996, or the Orioles could possibly move to Sarasota or Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast.

For Vero Beach, however, the options appear to be the Orioles or no more baseball.

So what will be needed to entice the Orioles to come to Vero Beach? Will Indian River County taxpayers be asked to lay out millions -- perhaps tens of millions -- for renovations and/or new construction at Holman Stadium?

Many observers believe that in seeking to negotiate a deal that would bring a replacement for the Dodgers to Vero Beach, the local bargaining team is badly outgunned.

The Orioles are owned by Peter Angelos, a big-time trial lawyer described by the Baltimore Sun as "a shrewd negotiator with a knack for getting what he wants and a stubborn streak when it comes to doing what he thinks is best for business."

The hardball negotiating tactics of Angelos were credited with (or blamed for) keeping Washington from acquiring a baseball team for more than a decade.

The bargaining for Vero Beach, on the other hand, has been handled by Indian River County Administrator Joe Baird, whose biggest success seems to have been getting the County Commission to authorize him to secretly negotiate with the Orioles.

Last winter when talks between local officials and the Orioles started, Vero Beach might have had a bit of leverage in the form of the Cincinnati Reds, who expressed interest in moving here from Sarasota.

But Indian River County officials, for reasons never explained, shooed them away, saying they had promised the Orioles they would not have discussions with other teams (even though the Orioles continue to this day to negotiate with Fort Lauderdale).

The Reds subsequently took themselves out of the picture by deciding to follow the Dodgers to Arizona.

The Boston Red Sox, who are considering leaving Fort Myers, might have been another possibility. But county officials appear to have made no serious effort to pursue them, and the Bosox seem to have not given Vero Beach even a moment's consideration.

The Red Sox now appear likely to wind up in Sarasota. If they do, that could make Fort Myers yet another contender for the Orioles.

In either case, Vero Beach will get to find out what it's like to go through a season without a baseball team and its fans this coming winter since O's President Andy McPhail has told season ticket holders the Orioles will definitely train in Fort Lauderdale in 2009.

The conventional wisdom, according to the Florida Sports Foundation, is that the presence of a major league baseball team infuses an additional $24 million into the economy of a typical Florida community each spring training season.

Vero Beach will soon learn whether this number is high or low.