Baltimore Orioles owner John Angelos highlights hesitancy to extend young stars on $150M and $200M deals: "You’d have to raise the prices massively"

The Baltimore Orioles are the best team in the American League, with a sterling 77-47 record. They also have the top farm system in all of baseball, with number one overall prospect Jackson Holliday waiting in the wings. They're good and they're going to be good for a very long time it seems.

With that comes an inevitable issue. How do teams pay all their stars? In several years, Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Grayson Rodriguez, Colton Cowser, Ryan Mountcastle and others could need extensions.

These do not come cheaply. Rutschman is making a case as the best catcher in the American League and that does not come without a hefty salary. The other young stars will demand a lot of money, too.

That's something owner John Angelos is keenly aware of. He knows the team is in great shape now, but he is worried about the day when these players need more money.

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Baltimore Orioles' success may come with future problems

Angelos said via the New York Times:

“But let’s say we sat down and showed you the financials for the Orioles. 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. Now, are people going to come and pay that? I don’t know if we’re at the limit, to your point. I don’t know if we’re in equilibrium elasticity, supply and demand. Maybe we are. But really that’s just one team. What I’m really trying to think about is macro.”

With enormous contracts being handed out left and right, Rutschman could easily earn over $200 million on an extension. Others could see $150 million, too. The young Orioles are great with a lot of good players, but those players will need money soon.

The Baltimore Orioles are good

He would like to see the Baltimore Orioles grow even further:

It’s really about taking a brand-new Baltimore and pushing it higher. But you need that leadership, you need government and private coming together. I think we can really do something amazing. We’re so well located. The community is diverse and robust and growing. We can do it. We just need to think big. We did it before.”

With the Baltimore Orioles on the rise, they could be embarking on a journey to make them one of the premier franchises in baseball. See how far they have come since losing 100 games every year.