Major League Baseball is absolutely loaded with young talent. Players like Bobby Witt Jr. and Elly De La Cruz are realistic MVP candidates while being some of the younger players in the league. Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes is one of the best pitchers in the league and San Diego Padres star Jackson Merrill almost won the NL Rookie of the Year award over Skenes last season.
Speaking of Merrill, the Padres recently showed him how important he was to the team. San Diego inked the star outfielder to a massive nine-year, $135 million contract extension. This deal can max out at over $200 million, according to FanSided's MLB insider Robert Murray. The tenth year of the contract includes a club option that can convert to a player option.
The Padres are making it clear that they're going to pay their stars. The Baltimore Orioles need to take a page out of San Diego's book before they lose Adley Rutschman and company in free agency.
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Orioles need to extend Adley Rutschman just like the Padres did Jackson Merrill
Baltimore Orioles general manager Mike Elias hasn't seemed too eager to extend Rutschman, but the Merrill extension should get Elias' attention. If Merrill can be locked down for 10 years and a maximum of $204 million over that decade, the Orioles can definitely afford to lock down Rutschman for the next decade, and they're out of excuses.
Rutschman, 27, has been very good for his entire three-year big league career. He's posted over 13.0 WAR in three years, including a 5.4 WAR season in his rookie year. 2024 wasn't a down year, per say, especially considering Rutschman was an All-Star, but it's the first season he didn't receive MVP votes and the first season he didn't post at least a 4.0 WAR.
If there was a time to extend Rutschman, it would be right now. The switch hitting catcher is going to do nothing but get more expensive as he runs out of arbitration years and continues to develop and improve.
Beyond Rutschman, the Orioles could look into extending players like Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Jackson Holliday. If they really want to look ahead, they could extend prospects Coby Mayo or Samuel Basallo.
Either way, Elias is out of excuses.