The Baltimore Orioles made a bold move this week by handing out an eight-year extension to Samuel Basallo, a player with just a week’s worth of big-league action under his belt.
On the surface, the deal reflects a growing trend in baseball: locking up young talent in hopes of potentially securing a future star at a discount. But in this case, the move feels less like savvy front-office maneuvering and more like a gamble on a small sample size and prospect hype.
Basallo, who has long been viewed as a high-upside prospect, could certainly blossom into a franchise cornerstone.