From now until the end of the year, Camden Chat writers will be revisiting some of the biggest moments and storylines of the disappointing 2025 Orioles season.
Entering the 2025 season, Mike Elias had made multi-year commitments to pretty much nobody. The only free agent he’d ever given more than one guaranteed year was Tyler O’Neill, who I think he hoped would opt out after one year. Otherwise, there was nothing beyond one year. No multi-year free agent signings. No contract extensions to younger,
existing members of the Orioles team. That all changed towards the end of August when, just days into his MLB career, Samuel Basallo was given an eight-year contract that guarantees him $67 million through the 2033 season.
This was an exciting step in a brand new direction for the Orioles. Basallo’s rapid arrival and contract extension are the first and hopefully not last payoff of the O’s investment in international players. Basallo arrived in the 2021 signing class and climbed the minors quickly for a player from the Dominican Republic. He reached the MLB level just days after his 21st birthday. With his .966 OPS through 76 games at Triple-A Norfolk and the deadline having passed to preserve his rookie eligibility into 2026, there was no reason to keep him down any longer, and once he was here, it seems, no reason not to give out the contract.
When this contract was announced, Basallo had played in exactly four games at the big league level. On one hand, it’s surprising, even for all of the excitement that there was around Basallo as a high-ranked prospect, to see him given that kind of contract when he had proven nothing at the MLB level. On the other hand, that’s exactly what made him a good candidate to get the extension right then, because as soon as he proved anything at all, he would only become increasingly expensive in future seasons.
Other teams, who exist on different rungs of baseball’s financial ladder, have been handing out these deals in recent years. They have gone to stars, to above-average regulars, to useful roleplayers. The Atlanta Braves, in particular, have a roster full of players who they inked to these kinds of contracts, and that team had a seven-year run of success that included a World Series title in 2021. There are benefits to stability, as long as what is stable is a good team that the front office can supplement as needed.
Pretty much as soon as the ink was dry on the contract and the social media posts announcing the deal started scrolling farther down everyone’s feeds, a host of other questions presented themselves. With the Orioles committing long-term to Basallo, a catcher, did that mean anything about Adley Rutschman’s short-term or medium-term future with the team? Would any player who is currently a key part of the Orioles roster have a contract extension coming next? Was this the first sign that David Rubenstein and his ownership partners would really be paying up for a quality team?
Four months later, only the last one of these questions has a definitive answer. The Pete Alonso signing lets us know that, yes, Rubenstein and company will make further investments to put the best team on the field that they can. Basallo’s extension was not a total one-off.
As of yet, no other contract extensions have followed. The reason for this is that several of the Orioles who seem like the most obvious candidates to get big extensions are represented by agent Scott Boras, who typically eschews such contracts for his clients. As a group, players will get more money if they wait until free agency, when any team can bid on their services. The best we can hope is that Rubenstein will step up in that competitive market when the time comes. There’s a lot more baseball to come before worrying about that. A variety of other players on the team could make sense as candidates for the next one, depending on how 2026 goes. For me, that group includes Trevor Rogers, Colton Cowser, and Dylan Beavers.
Roster moves made so far this offseason have seen the Orioles prune every catcher other than Rutschman and Basallo from the 40-man roster. That seems to suggest the Orioles plan to have these two players splitting time at the position, with no plan to move on from Rutschman any sooner than when he becomes a free agent at the end of the 2027 season. Elias could change that at any time with a shocking move; after Grayson Rodriguez was traded for a one-year rental of Taylor Ward, a much wider range of possibilities are on the table.
At the time of Basallo signing the contract, I put down my thoughts what might lead Rutschman to become expendable in a hurry:
If Basallo goes berserk over the next month and seems to be learning enough defensively, we could end up spending the offseason wondering about Adley Rutschman’s near-term future with the Orioles. This was an improbable scenario before the season began. Rutschman, unfortunately, has continued a slide from his rookie year peak batting numbers and has battled multiple injuries besides. He might even be done for the season at this point with his second oblique strain of the year.
We can say with certainty that Basallo did not go berserk over the next month. He ended what amounts to his pre-rookie season with a .165/.229/.330 batting line. He doesn’t have to do much to be worth $67 million over the next eight years, though obviously he’s going to have to do more than that. Only the Orioles know if he’s learned enough defensively. I doubt they could have made such an assessment after 20 MLB starts. He was limited in playing the position over the past two seasons in the minors due to a couple of different injuries. I think that’s a work in progress still.
With these things in mind, it would be a surprise to see Rutschman shipped off, even though he did end up as a disappointment at the plate again while also missing a lot of time. This is the duo. Basallo will probably get some time at designated hitter and first base. Add that to the Alonso signing for designated hitter and first base and that puts the squeeze on Coby Mayo or Ryan Mountcastle’s roster spots, but catcher is still just Rutschman and Basallo.
Only with time will we know what Basallo’s contract extension actually means for the Orioles franchise. When we look back years down the road, hopefully it looks like the first sign of an era of greatness to come.
