Question: David Rubenstein mentioned money is not an issue for the Orioles. Why no talk of contracts to our young stars? From: Sandra Freund
Answer: Sandra, when David Rubenstein spoke on Tuesday at manager Craig Albernaz’s introductory press conference, most of his comments, other than those about Albernaz, were general in nature.
Rubenstein spoke about more extensions on August 23rd at the press conference about Samuel Basallo’s contract.
“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,” he said.
The Orioles and other teams don’t negotiate in public, and after disappointing seasons for many of the young stars, the time might not be right on either side for more extensions.
Question: Does Rubenstein really think that what he said [on Tuesday] about the financial atmosphere of the club passes muster with the most faithful of us fans after the way the club spent money last year on players who were failures? From: Edward Cuneo
Answer: Ed, the Orioles’ Opening Day payroll was $164,561,000, a huge increase from the 2024 Opening Day payroll of $92,070,900.
On Tuesday, Rubenstein said: “We have the resources to acquire the players that we need to make the team work. We don’t have particular financial constraints. We have an investor group that’s pretty deep-pocketed, and so we’re able to do what we need to do. And so we will do that. Mike [Elias] has a lot of authority to go out and find the best players that we can get.”
Obviously, fans were disappointed by the club, and I think a 21 percent drop in attendance showed that, and if the Orioles don’t get better in 2026, fans will continue to stay away.
The onus is on the team to spend wisely, and I think they’ll be more aggressive this offseason in the free-agent market than they have been. They may not be bidding for the top-tier free agents, but I think they’ll be able to hand out three- and four-year contracts, perhaps five if the situation is right.
Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.