John Angelos and the Orioles should follow their ‘example’ and, like Brewers, extend a young star | ANALYSIS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The last time local media had the opportunity to ask Orioles CEO and Chairman John Angelos about the club’s low payroll, he named the Milwaukee Brewers as an organization to compare with Baltimore.

“I’m simply using Milwaukee as a good example of a market that’s similar to Baltimore, in the shadow of a much bigger market, Chicago versus D.C.,” Angelos said in February when attempting to clarify an earlier answer. “Milwaukee has been successful, good owners there, good baseball people there, and they’ve been at a certain payroll.”

Milwaukee proved the latter point on the first day of the MLB winter meetings Monday, signing 19-year-old prospect Jackson Chourio to an unprecedented long-term contract. The eight-year, $82 million deal is the largest handed out to a player who has yet to make his MLB debut.

Long-term extensions for young stars are hard to negotiate given the risk to both parties, but they’ve become more commonplace in recent years. Teams in both big and small markets have signed youngsters to significant extensions in recent years, including the Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks and, now, the Brewers.

The Orioles, like those teams, have several youngsters worth extending. Adley Rutschman is the best catcher in the American League. Gunnar Henderson just finished a campaign in which he was unanimously voted AL Rookie of the Year. And Jackson Holliday, who turned 20 on Monday, is the sport’s consensus No. 1 prospect.

Angelos shouldn’t just invoke Milwaukee when attempting to justify Baltimore’s low payroll. He and the Orioles should follow the Brewers’ example and extend one of their young stars.

For Angelos, that might not be in the cards. In August, he told The New York Times that for the Orioles to afford handing out a lucrative contract, the franchise would have to raise prices on fans.

“Let’s say we sat down and showed you the financials for the Orioles,” Angelos told The Times. “You will quickly see that when people talk about giving this player $200 million, that player $150 million, we would be so financially underwater that you’d have to raise the prices massively.”

It’s difficult to fact-check Angelos’ claims about the Orioles’ financials, especially since he’s refused to follow through on multiple offers to show the club’s books to the media. But his comments to The Times raise questions about whether it’s a priority — or even of interest at all — to extend the club’s young stars.

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Monday at the winter meetings that judging long-term extensions for pre-arbitration-eligible players comes on a “case-by-case” basis.

“I think as somebody who celebrates baseball and enjoys it, we like seeing players stay with their teams when they’re playing well as fans,” he said from the Orioles’ suite at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. “But it’s not always what happens with the way that the system is set up with free agency and a lot of the rights that the players’ side have put in place the last 70 years.”

Each time Elias is asked about his contract talks with the club’s young stars, he declines to provide specifics, asserting it isn’t advantageous for him to divulge details about such talks.

“I’ve said all along this is something we quietly work on in the background,” Elias said. “I hope if we find good deals — we certainly have good players — I hope if we find the right deals, which is not easy to do, that we’re able to add some of those to this list. But you won’t hear about it from me until it’s out there.”

Signing extensions is difficult, especially for players such as Holliday and Henderson, both of whom are represented by agent Scott Boras, who is well-known for advising his clients to reach free agency. At the same time, though, several other clubs around the league have found a way to get deals done despite the challenges.

In April 2019, the Braves signed two of theirs — right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. and second baseman Ozzie Albies — to long-term contracts totaling $135 million over 15 combined years. Both contracts have been massive successes for Atlanta. Albies has since made two All-Star appearances, while Acuña, who signed with just 115 MLB games under his belt, is one of the sport’s best players and was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2023.

Last October, the Braves also extended right-hander Spencer Strider to a six-year, $75 million deal after his stellar rookie campaign. In the same month, the Arizona Diamondbacks inked outfielder Corbin Carroll to an eight-year, $111 million contract with just 32 career games played — nearly the same amount of experience Henderson accrued in the same season. Carroll rewarded the Diamondbacks by winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award and leading Arizona to the World Series.

Of course, not all early extensions work out for the team. The Mariners’ contract with Evan White and the Houston Astros’ with Jon Singleton didn’t pay off for the organization, although the dollar amounts in those deals were far less than those handed out to stars such as Carroll and Acuña.

However, it’s possible that an organization removing the pressure of playing for a contract actually brings out the best in players. That’s what Mariners manager Scott Servais said Monday, referencing center fielder Julio Rodríguez, who signed a 12-year, $209 million contract during his rookie season.

“I often talk about players going through different stages in their career,” Servais said. “It’s about getting to the big leagues, then it’s about getting established, then it’s about making money. Then somewhere along the line winning comes in. But when you’ve taken out the first three and you’re that talented — and I know with our guy, with Julio, it’s about winning.

“I think the contracts are really beneficial for the team. And there’s not too many young players who are going to turn down an opportunity like that. It’s good for baseball.”

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said handing $82 million to a teenager who has yet to play in the big leagues is worth the risk because Chourio is “really special.”

“We believe that Jackson checks all the boxes,” he said.

If only the Orioles had a kid named Jackson who checks all the boxes they could sign.