Mike Elias' company line about Orioles contract extensions is not encouraging

Contract extensions are so hot right now. Young stars are signing on long-term all over the place, with guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr getting a behemoth deal from Toronto, Jackson Merrill getting a long-term pact from San Diego, and the Red Sox inking two of their young players in Garrett Crochet and Kristian Campbell on significant deals.

The Orioles, however, have done nothing of the sort. Much to the chagrin of the fanbase, Orioles GM Mike Elias has yet to go over the top and sign one of the young core guys to a long-term deal. Now, let's be fair to Elias here, because these deals aren't one-sided. The players have agency in these decisions and there are plenty of non-monetary factors that go into a decision like this.

That said, we'd still love to see the Orioles land someone like Gunnar Henderson or Adley Rutschman on a contract extension. It would go a long way toward showing the fanbase that the ownership group and the front office are committed to building around the group of guys already in Baltimore. Yes, other players need to be added on top of this group, but the core in Baltimore is about as good as anywhere else.

Mike Elias' most recent comments about the topic, however, aren't exactly encouraging. Elias spoke on MLB Network Radio about the idea of signing guys to contract extensions. He said that the Orioles are doing what they can on the club side, which we'll have to take as the front office being proactive about having discussions with the players and theoretically offering deals that make sense for both parties.

Orioles' inaction on contract extensions is bad for the fanbase

To this point though, nothing has been completed. There haven't even been rumors about a deal being particularly close. Elias has long been of the belief that in order for the Orioles to be competitive over the long-term, they have to be smart about spending money and locking guys up well into the future. Long-term contracts can certainly go bad, but they're typically much worse when the player signing the deal is already past his prime when the ink dries.

In the case of someone like Henderson or Rutschman, or even Jordan Westburg or Colton Cowser, one would argue that those players have their best years ahead of them. To that point, the agents of those players are likely holding out for high-end deals. It would be fair of Henderson and his camp to ask for the moon, and with super-agent Scott Boras at the helm it's tough to see them caving and taking a team-friendly deal given Henderson's performance.

At some point though, the Orioles can't be rational about every financial decision. Holding fast to their specific numbers in contract negotiations is only going to get them so far. Being stingy isn't going to land top players in free agency, and it's not going to get the guys who are already in the building fired up about staying here.

The Orioles have a great core in place. They're missing a couple key assets but overall, Elias and his team have done an excellent job during their tenure in Baltimore. Still, fans want to see a splash, and they want to see some success in the postseason. Those goals aren't easy to achieve, of course. But there aren't any participation trophies here. Elias isn't on the hot seat, at least in my opinion. But if the O's fall short again this year, you can bet the fanbase is going to start asking some serious questions about the process.