The New York Yankees had a deal in place to sign Samuel Basallo.
That’s what ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reported on Friday after the Baltimore Orioles gave Basallo an eight-year contract extension.
“The Yankees had a deal with Basallo as an amateur before he was eligible to sign in January 2021,” McDaniel began his post on X.
But then, the Yankees signed Gerrit Cole. They gave the ace starting pitcher a nine-year, $324 million contract.
That cost New York about $1 million in international signing pool money.
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In the end, they couldn’t honor their agreement with Basallo, McDaniel writes.
The Orioles ended up signing Basallo for $1.3 million out of the Dominican Republic.
Since then, the young catcher has turned into a top-10 prospect in all of baseball, and the Orioles just called him up earlier this month before signing him to one of those value long-term deals. If Basallo reaches his potential, he’ll be a major thorn in the Yankees’ side for years to come.
That’s not necessarily to say the Yankees shouldn’t have signed Cole. It was way easier to predict how Cole would perform in pinstripes than it is for a teenager in the Dominican Republic.
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But it’s a fascinating example of how everything is connected.
“This illustrates how the cost of signing free agents can go beyond the money given to players. Yankees sign Cole, lose Basallo and the Orioles wind up with a core player locked up,” writes ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
It’s not even that the Yankees necessarily need a catcher or another bat. Maybe they would’ve traded Basallo at one of the last two trade deadlines for a major league star.
But that never got the chance to happen. The Yankees signed Cole, and the Orioles wound up with Basallo. It could be a key component to the next decade of play in the American League East.
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