That wasn’t so hard, was it?

I’ve never had the opportunity to hand $67 million to a 21-year-old, and I can imagine that maybe it feels a little frightening. But for Mike Elias, David Rubenstein, Michael Arougheti and anyone else who had a hand in the Orioles’ landmark deal announced Friday morning, if the bet you’re making is on Samuel Basallo to smash baseballs for the next eight years to an adoring fan base — well, I can think of worse risks to take.

The move is bold only in the sense that the franchise hasn’t extended one of its homegrown players since before Mike Elias took over 2018. Every other Major League club has. This is not the Orioles taking one giant leap into the future — they’re merely stepping into the present.

More importantly, they had to do it. They had to extend someone from their long-touted farm system to prove to their players, their fans and maybe even themselves that they are willing to do what it takes to field a club that is both competitive and stable for the long term.

I understand that being either the general manager or the owner of a baseball team isn’t quite as simple as listening to what the fans want. But there are certain strategies so glaringly obvious that it’s smart to listen to the mob with pitchforks outside the warehouse.

The Orioles crashed and burned early this season. With a straight face, they asked their season ticket holders to make bigger commitments with fewer benefits. Despite signing a lease nearly two years ago, their renovations haven’t even really begun — while their next-door neighbors the Ravens are one year away from finishing their entire project.

I’m not sure a revolt was fomenting on Eutaw Street, but there was certainly spreading discontent.

If you strip a fanbase’s desires down to the studs, all anyone wants from a general manager is to construct the best team possible and keep it together for as long as possible. All anyone wants from an ownership group — while the free hats are appreciated, Mr. Rubenstein — is for it to sign big ol’ checks that would intimidate the likes of Publisher’s Clearinghouse.

Maybe the Rubenstein-led group didn’t realize right away, but as soon as they arrived in March 2024, they were on the clock. Baltimore feted the ownership change because the fans assumed it would mark a new way of doing business. Instead, the offseason improvements around the margins and the squeezing of season ticketholders’ wallets made a lot of people wonder if the group’s private equity background meant they saw the Orioles and Camden Yards as simply another profit mine.

For one day at least, some of those concerns take a backseat. The Orioles can still do a lot more for their team and their fans, but Basallo’s extension is a step in the right direction.

The MLB is a league of Haves and Have-Nots, and for too long, the Orioles have been in the latter category. They’ve been forced to watch guys like Mike Mussina hightail in free agency, or Manny Machado get shipped off for prospects.

The fans who grew up on Brooks Robinson or Cal Ripken Jr. don’t want to see homegrown Orioles spend the prime years of their career in New York or California. “Oriole for Life” is tougher than ever to do in the modern era of baseball, but it’s a Baltimore dream that has never really died.

I’ve spent the last few weeks speaking to dozens of fans making tough decisions about whether to invest in bigger, more expensive season packages or risk losing their seats. The biggest complaint by far about the decision was that they worried they’d spend more while ownership wouldn’t go out of its way for long-term contracts.

Even minutes after Basallo’s deal on Friday morning, I was already hearing back from some of these sources that they were more likely than ever to renew. The deal doesn’t necessarily get the Orioles closer to the World Series, but it gives fans some assurance that when they buy a Basallo jersey, they can wear it for the next eight years — and in this town, that really means a lot.

There’s a lot more to do. The Orioles have to rebuild their bullpen this offseason, and they have to ask if themselves if they’re ready to pay market prices for an ace-level starter or a veteran right-handed bat (Tyler O’Neill is likely to return, but his first year suggests he’s probably not the answer).

There is going to be a big celebration for Basallo in his first MLB homestand this weekend, but soon curious minds will be asking when Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday or Trevor Rogers will be signing a massive deal — and thanks to Scott Boras, we know not all contract extensions are created equal.

But a change in approach has to start somewhere. For Basallo, it came just five days after he was called up to the big leagues.

In a way, it feels that the Orioles have just arrived themselves.