ARLINGTON, Texas — It’s quite possible Baltimore will host the All-Star Game later this decade.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said before Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic that the Orioles have “expressed an interest” in bringing the game to Camden Yards for the first time since 1993. A “significant factor” in choosing future cities, he said, is how long it’s been since they’ve hosted.
If that criterion proves determinative, it could put Camden Yards in line to host by 2029. The 2025 and 2026 contests are already booked in Atlanta and Philadelphia, respectively. The Chicago Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays have gone longer than the Orioles since hosting, putting those ballclubs in contention to host in 2027 and 2028.
Baltimore fans deserve the chance to watch Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman compete in the Home Run Derby and play in the All-Star Game at Camden Yards.
The only problem with that dream, if 2029 is the year, is that Henderson and Rutschman might no longer be Orioles.
It doesn’t take a gathering of baseball’s biggest names, a home run competition, a glitzy red carpet or a star-studded exhibition to remind the Orioles’ front office and new owner David Rubenstein that keeping the club’s stars in Baltimore should be a high priority. Henderson and Rutschman do that themselves with their play daily.
But this week in Arlington at least put on display what these players mean to a fan base that weathered through decades of losing, mismanagement from ownership and a painful rebuild. Not ponying up the cash those players deserve — whenever the time comes — would be the latest in a long line of disappointments Baltimore fans have been forced to endure.
Rutschman is a free agent after the 2027 season. Henderson is one after the 2028 campaign. While some other teams have signed their young superstars to long-term contract extensions, the Orioles have yet to do so with any of theirs.
Agreeing on a lengthy extension with a generational catcher in Rutschman or an MVP candidate in Henderson are not easy tasks. It might have been easier (and riskier for the club) to do so a few years ago when those players were less established and perhaps more willing to forgo an earlier landing on the free-agent market. Additionally, Henderson is represented by agent Scott Boras, whose clients often wait to hit free agency. Boras also represents All-Stars Corbin Burnes and Jordan Westburg and top prospect Jackson Holliday.
Boras said during December’s winter meetings that he and Orioles vice president and general manager Mike Elias “talk a lot” about his clients. When asked if Elias has reached out about signing Henderson and Holliday to extensions, Boras quipped, “only once or twice a day.”
Simply saying the Orioles need to hand out $600 million combined to Rutschman and Henderson, whose arrival signaled the end of the rebuild and ascendance transformed the team into a contender, would ignore how challenging these negotiations are. It’s also easier to say such a thing when the money is coming out of someone else’s wallet — though to be clear, Rubenstein, his new ownership group and the Orioles can more than afford such contracts if they want to.
Ultimately, it won’t matter to the average Baltimore fan in what shape or size this comes — whether the deals happen now, in a year or two, or after they test the waters as free agents. What will matter to the fans who said goodbye to Manny Machado, a future Hall of Famer who was traded away, and Mike Mussina, a Hall of Famer who left to pitch for the New York Yankees, would be seeing Rutschman and Henderson do the same.
But there could be a new tide turning for Baltimore baseball.
Under John Angelos, the notion that the Orioles, who’ve ranked bottom five in payroll in six straight seasons, would dish out hundreds of millions of dollars to keep star players was dubious at best. That’s not because of the general feeling about how he was managing the team — although, the vibes were certainly a factor in the fan base’s discontent — but instead his comments about how challenging it was to be a small-market team and how prices would need to increase to give out large contracts.
Rubenstein thus far has not committed any such follies. His pandering to fans should be taught in marketing and business courses for how the new head of a business should treat its customers. And fans have responded in kind by boosting attendance at Camden Yards to levels not seen in a decade.
But the jury is still out on how Rubenstein will operate as owner, specifically whether his deep pockets will transfer over to how the Orioles do business. Last year, the Orioles were the most profitable team in baseball thanks in part to their low payroll, according to Forbes’ annual valuations in March. Baltimore ranked first in MLB in operating income at $99 million. The Orioles’ average payroll since the rebuild began in 2019 has been only $66.9 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Baltimore’s season-opening payroll of $95.3 million this year ranks 26th in MLB.
The private equity billionaire has not committed to increasing payroll in any of the several instances he’s been asked. However, his significant net worth ($3.8 billion, per Forbes) and declaration that his main goal is to win the World Series are two reasons why many believe he will spend more than his predecessor. Elias said Saturday that ownership is open to “expanding payroll” through trades, although the club’s top executive expressed a similar sentiment last summer under Angelos before an underwhelming deadline.
During a forum in late March, Rubenstein deferred to Elias when asked about payroll.
“I’m going to rely on the best general manager in baseball and see what he recommends,” Rubenstein said, “and I will follow his recommendations.”
If Elias recommends giving Henderson and Rutschman nine-figure contracts, will Rubenstein follow him?
