After signing Samuel Basallo to a long-term contract extension Friday, Orioles owner David Rubenstein and general manager Mike Elias held a news conference Saturday to discuss the magnitude of the agreement and the future of the ballclub.
Here are five things we learned:
The Orioles have pride in their burgeoning Latin American program
News conferences of this sort — not that Orioles fans are familiar considering this is the first significant extension handed out since Adam Jones in 2012 — often contain platitudes about the people in the back of the room.
In this case, it was warranted.
The interview room Saturday was packed with Basallo’s teammates, coaches, family and Orioles staff members. Included were Latin American scouts Michael Cruz and Gerardo Cabrera, Dominican Republic trainer Ivan Noboa, vice president of international scouting and operations Koby Perez and many others.
Noboa began training a 12-year-old Basallo at Noboa’s academy in 2017. That’s about the time Cabrera first saw Basallo, then a shortstop, play. Cruz spent about 20 hours a week watching Basallo play over the span of the year as the Orioles worked to sign him. Perez was then hired by Elias in 2019 and built the organization’s presence in Latin America — long ignored by the Orioles under former owner Peter Angelos — from the ground up. Elias made two trips to the Dominican Republic to watch Basallo play, a key role in closing the deal that was made official in January 2021.
After tearing through the minor leagues, Basallo last weekend became the first international amateur signed by the Elias-era Orioles to make his debut.
“To have him have been so successful and get to this moment really means a lot for our entire program in Latin America and the Dominican Republic,” Elias said. “Sam knew that it would be a big responsibility being the symbol of our program, and he’s been terrific ever since joining our system.”
Extensions are difficult to negotiate, but they can happen quickly
Elias said that part of the reason to celebrate Saturday — on top of Basallo’s achievement and what it means for the organization — is the challenge it is to carry a contract extension across the finish line.
“These aren’t easy deals to line up,” Elias said. “To those of you on the business side, this is not something for organizations or players to line up on. That’s part of it. That’s OK. … It’s never easy to push deals across the finish line in this business, so we celebrate when that’s the case.”
However, that doesn’t mean they have to take a ton of time. Both sides, it appears, were keen to get this done, and that’s why it only took six days to negotiate a deal.
Elias said that negotiations between he and Basallo’s agency began last Sunday when the 21-year-old slugging sensation made his MLB debut. The deal was agreed to Friday morning.
That doesn’t mean future negotiations will follow a similar timeline. Considering Basallo is the first player to receive one, perhaps attempts with other players have fallen short. But this deal is proof that Elias is able to meet in the middle with a player he wants to lock down long term.
Rubenstein understands the importance of extensions to the fan base
The Orioles’ second-year owner has almost always said the right things — except perhaps when he’s discussing his desire for a salary cap in Major League Baseball. So it should be no surprise that he hit all the right notes Saturday when discussing extensions, showcasing an understanding of what this fan base desires.
Rubenstein expressed once again that he’s willing to spend. The last time he spoke with local media it was, “I don’t have a financial limit.” This time it was about how his ownership group is “fairly well-capitalized.” All of that is private equity speak for: Money isn’t an issue.
Rubenstein also expressed his desire to have homegrown players become Orioles for life — just like legends Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr.
“We’ve had a tradition of having players who spent their entire career here, and we hope Samuel as well,” Rubenstein said. “We’ve got a lot of other talented people on the team who we hope will ultimately want to spend their entire career here or spend long-term arrangements with us, and we’re committed to doing more of these as soon as we can.”
Rubenstein also understands what an extension like this means. A fan base that’s been through four decades of mostly losing baseball, an inability to keep Manny Machado in Baltimore, a painful rebuild, back-to-back playoff sweeps and now the deflating 2025 season was starving for good news.
“This is a great, important, symbolic first step as we move forward,” Rubenstein said. “We hope we can have others like this at some point, and we’re going to work on that and we hope to build the team to the point it is the best team in baseball.”
Elias knows more commitments like this are needed in the future
The upcoming offseason is perhaps one of the most important in franchise history. The Orioles — and Elias — can’t afford to fumble it the way they partially did this past winter.
The Orioles have massive holes on their current roster that need to be filled before next season begins. The pitching staff is in dire need of a front-of-the-rotation arm (maybe two), and the bullpen is in shambles after trading away four relievers at the deadline and losing Félix Bautista to shoulder surgery that could keep him out for 2026. And the young core might need further supplements to replace Cedric Mullins, Ramón Laureano and Ramón Urías.
While Rubenstein’s first winter wasn’t a success, it did show his willingness to spend, as the Orioles sported the largest percent payroll increase in MLB.
“They’ve put us in a position to run this franchise optimally in a way that I don’t know it’s been executed here over the long history of the team for a while,” Elias said of Rubenstein’s ownership group.
After the trade deadline, Elias was asked how aggressive he expects to be this offseason, and he unsurprisingly rejected the premise that aggression is a thing to be desired. “We want to be good, we want to be effective, we want to be smart,” he said.
Of course, Elias is right. There’s nothing wrong with being “shrewd” — a word he used Saturday to describe his intentions — and pragmatic. That philosophy is what got the Orioles to emerge from their rebuild as an immediate contender and be the American League’s winningest club from 2023 through 2024.
But surrounded by big markets in the AL East and even bigger spenders in the National League, competing requires risks like signing Basallo and perhaps even larger bets in free agency.
“We want to win in Baltimore and in the AL East, and we know that requires the whole spectrum of investments, moves that you make as an organization, and we hope we’re just getting started,” Elias said.
Rubenstein’s confidence in the Orioles’ operation isn’t wavering
Rubenstein sat quietly at the end of the table Saturday next to Elias. He seemed content if none of the questions asked were directed toward him. That, of course, didn’t happen.
But at the end of the 26-minute news conference, Elias was asked about the disappointment of the season and whether the investment in Basallo is a sign that the Orioles are ready to be players in free agency and on the trade market.
After Elias’ answer, Rubenstein jumped in to add his two cents.
“We had some bad luck this year, obviously,” Rubenstein started.
His answer didn’t sound like someone angry about the way his billion-dollar business was being operated. Instead, his view of why the Orioles’ season has gone awry was one that felt like a tacit endorsement of Elias’ front office.
“Health challenges were more severe than anybody could have ever predicted. Our players, when we have our best team on the field and they’re healthy, I think we’re as good as anybody in baseball,” Rubenstein said. “I think people are going to be really happy in Baltimore with what we field next year.”
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.