The Orioles have agreed to a one-year, $10.35MM contract with Chris Davis in order to avoid arbitration, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. His deal also contains performance bonuses (Twitter links). Davis is represented by Scott Boras.
Davis had been projected to earn an even $10MM by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz after he took a massive step forward in 2013. He lands just above that mark with his new deal. As Swartz explained in his breakdown of the Davis arbitration case, the slugging first baseman looked primed to break the record for a second-year arbitration raise, and he did just that by garnering a bump of over $7MM.
It is not hard to see how Davis managed to command such a massive increase. As Swartz explained, arbitration raise are generally determined by reference only to platform-year stats, and Davis had quite the platform year. His massive home run (53) and RBI (138) totals and strong .286 batting average, combined with ample playing time, positioned him perfectly.
Davis has one more season of arbitration eligibility remaining before becoming eligible for free agency before the 2016 season.
Jeff Todd contributed to this post.
nice raise for him, if he has another season like last year he could easily be a 20 mil a year player
Easily?
Think of how Bautista was regarded after 2011.
adverb, means without difficulty. If Davis continues to hit the way he hit in 2013 he will hit free agency and easily get 20 million a year
Orioles would be smart to try and lock him up before his price gets crazy, same way Jays did with Bautista after his big year.
Understatement of the year. I think they want to see how 2014 goes, but I’m with you.
My guess is that they have tried. Davis is a Boras client and he does not usually sign extensions. When the O’s approached Boras about a Weiters extension he wanted Weiters to get Joe Mauer money, that being said I don’t think there is anyway Boras would use Bautista’s contract as a starting point, probably more like Texieria’s contract.
I wonder what guys like Boras charge their clients?
5% ish
I assumed it was around there. Wasn’t sure if the high-profile guys can charge a bit more like 7 or 8.
5% of the contract value or 5% of what davis takes home after taxes?
I assume is contract and then Boras gets taxed himself.
$517,500 for saying “Yeah, go ahead and sign”?
I’m sure he has to sign some stuff to, maybe even some initials here and there
I’m sorry to hear that Boras represents Davis. It doesn’t guarantee that Davis will be gone after 2015, but it surely makes it more probable—especially if Crush can stay healthy and hit around 40 bombs each of the next two years.
Let’s enjoy him while we can. 10 million is a bargain for this year.
Umm why would he have been let go?
The optimist in me wants to say that you are trolling
I love the O’s.. I wonder if the Dodgers would be the only team that could afford him?
id expect the orioles to resign davis and probably let wieters go unless he’s willing to sign for less
I believe the term for it is actually salary arbitration