Ripken says a player can find ‘intangible values’ in staying with one franchise
Cal Ripken Jr. has a unique vantage point. He went from a Hall of Fame player to a part owner of the Orioles, the team with which he rose to stardom. In that vein, it's worth listening to his perspective regarding what could be on the forefront of players' minds: contract extensions.
In an appearance on Bloomberg's "David Rubenstein Show," the lead Orioles owner asked Ripken about rising contract prices for players. After Ripken joked that he wished he had been in the majors for some of that rise, he turned his attention away from the money.
He instead focused on loyalty and the value a player can receive away from a paycheck. Although he did not say the names Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, it felt as though it was a thinly veiled speech directed at two of Baltimore's young, homegrown stars.
Neither is nearing free agency. Rutschman is entering his first year of arbitration and is under team control until 2028. Henderson, a shortstop like Ripken, will be a free agent in 2029. But there will come a time when Rutschman and Henderson, along with other Orioles players, will face a decision: stay or go.
"I try to think of what are the other intangible values that you can offer a player besides the bottom-line dollars, because the bottom-line dollars are so big now and whatever else, you can make a case of, 'How much?'" Ripken said in his appearance with Rubenstein.
"It's about egos, and it's about breaking the bank, and it's about agents wanting to continue to make it go up for other people who come through. ... My situation was, I wanted to play in one place. I wanted control over playing in one place. So I think, if we get to a point where we're trying to convince one of our players to stay, you know, you want to try to tell him all the values that are associated with, you know, Derek Jeter playing his whole career in a pinstripe uniform, me playing my whole career in the Orioles'. And what's that mean for you in the bigger picture? And hopefully they'll value some of that. But it's going to be a competitive landscape where we're going to have to face things."
Ripken and Jeter, two shortstops, would have made the Hall of Fame even had they departed Baltimore and New York. But they go down as legends of the franchises because of their stays.
In the near future, Rubenstein and his ownership group will attempt to hold down some of their homegrown talent, if the time hasn't already come. For instance, the Orioles face competition on the open market this winter for outfielder Anthony Santander, a former Rule 5 pick who became a Silver Slugger and All-Star this year.
General manager Mike Elias has long maintained that he won't discuss contract extensions publicly. It's unclear if those negotiations have taken place.
But times have changed since Jeter and Ripken played. There are few one-team players anymore. The opportunity to reach free agency after a player accrues six years of service time was a hard-earned right for the players association, and it serves as an opportunity for players to find stability in an unstable profession.
When Rubenstein asked whether Baltimore's smaller market size compared to Los Angeles or New York was a hurdle, Ripken said no. He cited much of what Elias is doing to be competitive — a focus on drafting and development rather than free agent acquisitions.
"I think, overall, I never liked the idea, [that] because you were a small-market team you couldn't compete," Ripken said. "Because I think competition is in your knowledge, your drafting. You get the draft, you get to sign players, you get to develop players. You know, that's not all free agency that's happening. But if you're a big-market team and you make a mistake in judgment on a player, you can throw more money at your mistakes. When you're a smaller-market team, you have to be better at your baseball decisions."
