Lots of MLB players have signed contract extensions in the past two weeks. Will the Orioles try to keep pace?

What a wild week it’s been around the league.

In just the last handful of days, we’ve seen a number of big time contract extensions handed out to a couple top players, and we’re barely a week into the season.

Within the division, the Red Sox inked the pair of Garrett Crochet and rookie Kristian Campbell to long-term deals.

We’ve also seen the Padres sign outfielder Jackson Merrill to a massive deal, and the Diamondbacks locked in second baseman Ketel Marte for an additional six years.

Seeing the Red Sox sign two of their most interesting players to long-term deals is tough, and made worse by Crochet giving the Orioles the business on Wednesday evening.

Crochet spun 8 scoreless innings, striking out 8 while walking just 1 batter.

But really, neither Crochet nor Campbell are good comps for any of the Orioles’ potential contract extension candidates.

The guy that sticks out is Merrill, a 21 year old outfielder who hit .292/.326/.500 with 24 homers and 16 steals, and posted 5.3 fWAR in his rookie season in 2024.

The Padres inked Merrill to a 9 year deal worth $135 million that covers the rest of his team control and arbitration years, and buys out four free agent years. He’s set to hit free agency as a 30 year old.

Will the Orioles follow the trend of signing a young star to a contract extension?

That’s a pretty good deal for both Merrill and the Padres. But is it something that the Orioles can look at and try to replicate?

Well, not exactly. Jackson Holliday is 21, like Merrill, but Holliday flunked his rookie season, struggling at the plate while playing a less valuable position on defense.

It’s not clear that the Orioles’ front office wants to go all in on a guy who has yet to have any success at the major league level.

And the other guys that come to mind, Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg, are already 25 and 26, respectively.

But maybe the Orioles could use that kind of template to sign Adley Rutschman to a contract extension.

Rutschman is 27 and has just three years of arbitration remaining before hitting free agency after the 2027 season.

He wouldn’t get the nine years that Merrill got, but either a six or seven year deal would make sense for both sides.

That would keep Rutschman in Baltimore into his early 30’s. And seeing as he’s only making $5.5 million this year, it would give him a significant pay bump and alleviate having to fight him in arbitration over the next two winters.

There have been estimates on what a deal would look like for Rutschman, but something in the $150 million range seems to make the most sense.

A 7-year deal worth $160 million with a good chunk of money up front and an opt-out might make it more attractive to Rutschman, who probably doesn’t want to be in the odd position of trying to find a free agent deal at 34.

Even with Samuel Basallo coming up through the system, it would seem like a good idea for the Orioles to find a way to keep Rutschman around.

There’s definitely a bit of FOMO with the teams around the Orioles signing their core players to long-term deals.

But securing one or two core Orioles would go a long way toward showing the fanbase that the front office is committed to this group and that they want to keep building around guys like Rutschman, Cowser, Westburg, and Gunnar Henderson.

The players have a choice here to, so there’s no guarantee that the Orioles could get something done with any of their core guys.

But from a fan’s perspective, we’d love to see it.