Samuel Basallo signed an eight-year, $67 million pre-arbitration contract extension with the Baltimore Orioles. Owner David Rubenstein indicated more similar extensions could follow as part of a broader strategy to retain young talent. The contract announcement was made at a news conference attended by teammates including Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman. Basallo is 21 and ranked No. 8 on MLB Pipeline's prospect list and can also play first base. General manager Mike Elias said Basallo and Rutschman could coexist as multi-positional athletes. The Orioles entered Saturday with a 59-69 record after payroll increases and roster tensions.
"Everybody's disappointed," Rubenstein said of the Orioles' 59-69 record entering Saturday. "In my own life, like many of you, I've had disappointments before. And you pick yourself up, you get back on your feet, you kind do the best you can and move forward. So we're going to move forward. This is a very important symbolic first step as we move forward. We're very pleased with this decision but we hope we can have others like this at some point. We're going to work on that."
"From my point of view, the more the merrier when it comes to good players," Elias said. "We've got a lot of guys here, Samuel included, who are really good athletes that can play multiple po
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