It took a team record, as expected, but the Orioles have officially re-signed Chris Davis to a seven-year deal. The Scott Boras client will reportedly receive $161MM over that span, though there’s more to it than adding up the annual salaries.
Davis will receive $17MM per season over the life of the contract. He will then receive $3.5MM a year from 2023 through 2032, then $1.4MM a year from 2033 through 2037. And there will be no interest on that $42MM total in deferred money.
The length of the deferrals in Davis’ contract is unusual, calling to mind the Mets’ 25 years in deferred payments to former star Bobby Bonilla. Obviously, though, their effect is that they reduce the present-day value of Davis’ contract, even though he will, in fact, receive a total of $161MM.
There’s other value in the deal for Davis, though. He doesn’t gain an opt-out opportunity, but will pick up a partial no-trade clause. And as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale notes (via Twitter), Davis could also receive a large tax break on the deferred $42MM since Texas is one of seven states without an income tax. (Of course, it’s impossible to predict if that will persist through 2037 or even if Davis will continue living in Texas.)
The deal represents a huge investment for the Orioles — as CSNmidatlantic.com’s Rich Dubroff notes, it’s almost twice as large as the team’s largest previous commitment to a single player (Adam Jones‘ current $85.5MM contract). It’s also the fourth-largest contract handed out this offseason, behind those of David Price, Zack Greinke and Jason Heyward. As Rosenthal notes, the $23MM average annual value of Davis’ deal matches Heyward’s, although Heyward received an extra guaranteed year and an opt-out.
Out of context, that Davis would receive such a lucrative deal is perhaps not so surprising. In November, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes ranked Davis the fifth best free agent available this offseason, behind those three players and Justin Upton, who remains unsigned. But the Orioles had previously reportedly offered Davis a $150MM deal, and there had been few or no indicators that other teams were serious suitors for Davis. Late this week, it emerged that the Orioles had offered another top free agent bat, Yoenis Cespedes, a five-year deal worth around $90MM. That offer might have helped motivate Davis’ camp to hammer out a deal with the O’s, and given the circumstances, perhaps it’s a bit surprising Davis was able to get significantly more than the team had reportedly previously offered.
In agreeing to terms with Davis, the Orioles will, of course, be retaining one of the game’s most prolific power hitters, and one who, at age 29, could have many productive seasons left. Davis has led the AL in home runs in two of the last three seasons, and his 126 homers over those three years are a tremendous total in an era largely dominated by pitchers. Davis does have his drawbacks as a hitter, and those will be worth watching as his contract progresses — he’s always struck out frequently, but in 2015 he topped himself by whiffing 208 times (although he did actually reduce his strikeout rate from 33.0% in 2014 to 31%). He has generally been able to keep his batting averages at reasonable levels despite his very high whiff rates, mostly because he hits nearly everything hard — his hard contact percentage last year was fourth among MLB hitters, behind only J.D. Martinez, David Ortiz and Matt Kemp. But some big sluggers with high strikeout rates have struggled as they’ve aged, with Ryan Howard as a prime example. Davis’ new contract will carry him through his age-36 season, the same age Howard is now.
Davis is a better and more versatile defender than Howard was, though, insuring him somewhat against a precipitous decline. (In addition to his work at first base, Davis fared reasonably well in 30 games in right field last season, and he’s played a bit of third in the recent past.) And for the time being, Davis is a tremendously valuable part of the Orioles’ lineup. The O’s were -34 runs last season in FanGraphs’ Offensive Runs Above Average statistic; that total would have been scarily low were it not for Davis and Manny Machado, who combined for about 65 runs above average between them. Davis ranked first on the Orioles in home runs, RBI, walk rate, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.
Davis’ deal makes Upton and Cespedes the clear best hitters remaining on the free agent market, and could help clear the way for Upton and Cespedes to find deals of their own. A report from earlier this week had indicated that the impasse between Davis and the Orioles was stunting the development of the rest of the top of the market for power bats.
At the beginning of the offseason, Davis rejected the Orioles’ qualifying offer. Because they re-signed him, they will not receive a draft pick as compensation.
Jon Heyman reported the agreement, as well as its length and total guarantee (Twitter links). ESPN’s Buster Olney detailed the deferrals (on Twitter) that FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal first reported (Twitter links). Rosenthal (in a tweet) and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter) added other details.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hmm doesn’t make the O’s much of a contender still but good for them. I wonder if this ends their off season because they spent the money and aren’t going anywhere IMO.
That’s what I was thinking, if they really wanted to win they would have improved their pitching staff
Ian Kennedy just got $70 million – upgrading the pitching staff ain’t easy unless you want to burn money in a dumpster fire.
Machado-Davis-Jones-Trumbo-Wieters-Schoop all will hit between 20-50 HR, that alone makes them a formidable team. They should go hard at Cliff Lee too.
I love this deal, and hate the Kennedy one.
Lee could make sense provided health
Well you do have a point there dude but, Bundy’s always hurt and Jimenez / Gausman / Gonzalez / Tillman are a bunch of 4-5’s. Boston was in a similar situation last year loading up on hitting and look where they ended up. Not saying they have no chance of competing what so ever, but can’t stop thinking that someone like a Kazmir / Lackey and Cepedes / Upton would have made the team a bit better. (That’s if they were able to sign these guys at the right time)
People seem to be forgetting that most of KC’s rotation pitched like back end guys all year and that Givens, Britton, O’Day, Brach & Matusz are a very strong bullpen core. Boston’s pen was terrible last year.
I still think they’re a bit behind because I personally think the Royals formula over achieved in the sense that Davis won 8 games but, I generally agree with your statement that their bullpen is good and they probably have a better chance of contending then I initially thought they could.
Boston’s starters were 6th in the AL in WAR. Hitting was a disappointing 9th. Relief pitching was 15th. Defense was 7th. If their hitting had lived up to expectations and RP was OK, they would have been fine. Starters were 6th in innings so that was fine and it shows RP was not stressed by innings at 10th. RP was awful.
Hunter Harvey maybe? Bundy has had terrible injury record but he got a call up in 2012 so he can be able to pitch all be it in only 2-3 apperences
Tillman is definitely a #2. His record of 39-17 from 2012-2014 and ’12 he was called up July 4th. He will rebound back this year. Hey if Eduardo Rodriguez never had a serious chance of a call up there are pitchers ahead of him. When you have the second best pen in era behind Houston if a pitcher gets you 6 inning you have a chance to win every night.
He won’t bounce back period. Hitters are figuring him out now and he let’s too many long balls and walks now….I think his best years are behind him now. Don’t see the Orioles contending at all with that rotation and bullpen…ewwww
Yea but KC was middle of the pack in starting pitching and won the world series. You can’t just say look what this team do and compare like u did with Boston. They have a stellar bullpen, defense, offense, and coaching so mediocre pitching isn’t the worst thing in the world. I know they would have liked to upgrade the rotation but they have some pieces that could break out just as easily as them stinking. I see this as a 90 win team
They had the same last year minus Trumbo, who’s terrible. How’d they do last year? They also lost Chen.
Yeah, thats a sick lineup. They need the staff though
Red Sox tge favorite every year but one since 2011. How did that work out for you.
Red Sox have also actually won a World Series since 2011. I’m sure most teams would take being a favorite every year and potentially being miserable if it actually meant a World Series ring in that same time span.
Amazing to get the deal done, dollars don’t replace a good club house guy, beloved by the fans with a huge left handed power hitter and good defense. Glad to see the Orioles finally spend money on their own.
Their own? He’s barely spent half his time in the league with the Orioles
3 years with Texas, 5 years with Baltimore.
He wasn’t a full time player until he came to the O’s.
Yes their own, meaning they resigned a oriole player, someone that they helped establish. His stint in Texas was non existent
He barely spent two full seasons with Texas and now has four with Baltimore so yeah he’s one of their own
they spent the money on somebody they wanted to keep, but it was way too much of an over pay, Hopefully they still have money down the road to give machado a long term extension.
Now Hamilton’s contract isn’t the worst in Baseball
yea but it’s bad enough we sent him to the rangers and were paying for it badly , wish arte never signed him
Bird Knows
Chris is back. Best news yet
Wow. Feels like an overpay and they threw in a full no-trade. Buying at the top.
At least they didn’t give him the opt out, which is a horrible one sided clause.
If an opt-out is a horrible one sided clause, then what is a no trade clause?
A much more acceptable one sided clause.
…unless the team plays in Oakland or Florida.
Yea but KC was middle of the pack in starting pitching and won the world series. You can’t just say look what this team do and compare like u did with Boston. They have a stellar bullpen, defense, offense, and coaching so mediocre pitching isn’t the worst thing in the world. I know they would have liked to upgrade the rotation but they have some pieces that could break out just as easily as them stinking. I see this as a 90 win team
Not even close to comparable. A no trade clause is not set in stone, it just means the player has to approve. Also it’s not a full no trade clause, it’s partial so he can’t block a trade to every team. A limited no trade is 60-40 in favor of the player, an opt out is 95-5 in favor of the player.
They were bidding against themselves. Had they waited even a few weeks, they still would have had him and probably chopped 10MM off the deal.
Cespedes back to the Mets seems more realistic by the day.
not sure if they go over 4-5 years over 90 mill
Bet some other team would swoop in if his price goes down to the Met’s price.
Nationals in theory have money left because of not signing Heyward so watch out.
they might go after fowler , I was hoping the angels would swoop in to get cespedes
what’s with all this swoopiing? Do angels swoop?
for a 2 year or 1 year deal sure anything more and cespy isnt worth the risk.
The Cardinals would also likely swoop in if the price got that low.
Yeah the Mets are still looking at a one year deal. He can still get 3 years, probably 4 in negotiations from a team like Chicago. Mets don’t seem realistic at all given what we know.
Cespedes likely prefers 1 year to 3 years, though. A 3 year deal makes him a FA at 33. A 1 year deal would give him a chance to try free agency again next year in a considerably weaker market.
Don’t just blindly repeat stories that are leaked from teams to dwindle his value. There is no situation where a 32 year old player coming off his best season, an MVP caliber season, is looking to reenter the market in a year at age 33 or three years at age 35. This is his one and only chance at a 5 year contract. Re-entering the market later in the hopes of more money and years makes no sense because there is zero chance of that happening.
If he takes a 1 year deal then he would get a QO attached which would lower his value further.
that is not necessarily true, he can have language entered into the deal that would have the team release him at conclusion of the teams respective season thus he can not be tagged, but said team i believe wouldnt be allowed to sign him as they released him…
This comment is why I wish we could still up vote. Their is zero chance Cespedes takes anything less than five years. Worse case scenario he takes less money on a five year deal and gets that dreaded opt out but literally no chance he takes a shorter deal at his peak value. A lot of Met fans seem delusional when it comes to Cespedes.
OK so the Adderall con that was out of line, can we at least talk about the 208 strikeouts?
You take the strikeouts with the OBP, insane power, great defense, and great clubhouse presence.
I think it was too much of an over pay, if they got cespedes they could of spread the money around and got another pitcher.
When I was 19 I snorted a bunch of adderall, fell off a roof and broke my collar bone. Good times.
Yes but what are you going to do about your rotation?
I’m not going to do anything. Hopefully Duquette has a few rabbits left in his hats though.
Gallardo would fit perfect for them or fister. Unless they are banking on bundy to work out from the bullpen first half of the season and then put him in the rotation second half.
lol
No money left. Sorry.
I don’t think Fister wants to rebuild his career in a Homer Happy Place like Baltimore.
@echoes, Great Defense? His career dWAR is -6.6
dWAR penalizes guys who play 1B,3B,LF,RF,DH which is why a guy like David Ortiz posted a -1.8dWAR in 2008 despite never fielding once.
I just looked it up. You’re right. Though It doesn’t penalize 3B.
But as I noted in another post, his UZR/150 is 0.2, and his DRS is -3 (though it’s +12 over past 2 years)
Well judging from your avatar. I doubt you watch Davis play every day. I will tell you this about him. He saves the O’s from a lot of throwing errors because he is very good at picking throws that bounce in the dirt. I think that is the biggest part of why O’s fans say he is a good defender. Also, I think it is something that doesn’t really get cover by defensive metrics.
He can also play outfield if needed and 3rd in a pinch. He’s a better athlete than most give him credit for.
Have u ever actually watched him play? He’s better than Texiera by a large margin.
please drop the clubhouse presence comment. He’s cheated. You can downplay it but the players in the clubhouse must know he cheated and if that is the case, he is not a leader. Now with this monster contract, he is a cheater who is getting overpaid. Yeah, that should bode well in the locker room.
If the guy hits 40 HRs and drives in 110 RBIs, players won’t care if a guy cheats. And I highly doubt the players in the locker room don’t like him considering one of their best players, Adam Jones, openly stated that he hoped the team would find a way to resign most of their guys.
Correct. He’s only a “leader” because he scuffled in the majors for 4 years then seemingly out of nowhere….hits 33 HR in his first full season in BAL. It’s a feel-good story of a fanbase who placed zero expectations on a guy and had it rewarded with a bunch of HRs.
Wait until $161m Chris Davis hits .196 again. Then we’ll see how valuable his “clubhouse presence” is.
No, caring about strikeouts are meaningless when the guy hits 30+ HR and in fact they are a more valuable out to make than a 1 pitch GIDP. Eating pitch counts is valuable in today’s ballgame.
As long at the total bases are 50-100 more than the K’s, there’s nothing to talk about.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Davis will start the season at 30 years old. Adam Dunn starting his run with the White Sox at 31. We have seen how some of these contracts have ended up working out.. Davis already has the sub .200 season under his belt, a career 14 WAR guy. This contract is insanity,
1 year $25 is the most I would have given Davis.
You’re being way too logical for this forum.
Yea way to logical. I bet no other GM in baseball would want to pay 17 million for a gold glove defender that hit 47 homeruns with 117 rbi’s and a .361 obp just last season. Oh yeah he’s 30 so he’s gonna fall apart now. Never mind that he led the league in total homeruns over the last three seasons despite his suspension or the 5 homeruns he was robbed of just last season. Way to logical.
You were wrong…
Adam Dunn also didn’t give a crap about baseball.
This mentality that because one guy in that mold of hitter experienced the largest and most pronounced dropoff in major league history that now everyone will needs to stop.
Players get worse in there 30’s. Some get a lot worse. Most age and regress normally. Jose Bautista is the same type of hitter. Guess Toronto was foolish to give him that last contract going into his 30s.
Do you only use examples that support your logic? Don’t let facts get in the way of your comments!
You were right…
Great deal locking up Davis – as long as he’s allowed his ADHD meds so he doesn’t repeat his sunk 2014 season. He’s an absolutely game-changing slugger when he’s medicated who should be pretty good for his age 30-35 seasons. This is a guy who has 2 of the last 3 HR titles who has a .927 OPS in Camden Yards in his career, so it’s a great move by the Orioles too. Adam Jones must be happy about this as well.
Now they have to find pitching.
* age 30-36 seasons
Still stand by it. At worst by the end of the deal he’ll be a DH who hits 30 HR. No problem with him getting paid $23M a year, which in 2022 won’t be that much.
This is a mistake that will handcuff the Orioles for years to come effectively punching their ticket to become the Phillies of 2013 or the reds of 2015. Should’ve taken Cespedes.
Cespedes never fit into our team.
He’s a Left fielder and we need a Right Fielder.
What would be nice is if we somehow sign Upton.
Umm … the difference between LF and RF is you need more arm strength in RF. Cespedes has the strongest outfield arm baseball has seen since Vladimir Guerrero.
How come you didn’t use the crystal ball you obviously have for the Powerball numbers?
Well well well, OP was right.
Completely agree. They are not going to have money to make moves when Machado enters his prime.
I wonder how backloaded and/or deferred this deal is
Congratulations Baltimore fans! The AL East is a lot more fun to watch when all five teams are good IMO
Baltimore isnt going to contend most likely all Baltimore does is hit homers and they have too many holes in their starting rotation
Baltimore has a great bullpen though, much like how the WS winning Royals had a great pen/mediocre rotation.
royals didnt have a mediocre rotation thye had a decent one lol
Yeah, and the Yanks and Sox have better pens than the O’s. Their pen is about equal to Toronto’s(Osuna, Storen, Cecil, Sanchez). They should be better than the Rays though.
Yankees did not have a beter pen than the Orioles only Houston had a better bullpen era. The yankees and Orioles had similar team eras and did they lose 6 of the last 7 including gwtting swept at Camden Yards.
That’s cause of several Yankees pitchers in mop up roles having a terrible year (Esmil Rogers, Chris Capuano, etc).
Better numbers to look at when judging a bullpen are leads after X inning, high pressure situation stats, etc
WPA – Yankees 3rd, Orioles 5th
LOB% in High Leverage Situation – Yankees 1st, O’s 9th
Blown Saves – Yankees 1st (as in Fewest), O’s 8th
O’s ERA likely better to do better long relievers/some middle relievers
You can’t just grade on a curve like that for a bullpen. Every team has mop up men. They aren’t usually the best arms of the pen, but they are a part of it. And they always post worse numbers than, say, your closer and set up man.
What makes good bullpens good is that the whole bullpen performs well. If every pen was allowed to throw out the stats of their worst 2-3 arms, they’d be statistically even better.
That’s true, but that doesn’t argue against the stats that I posted. I’d rather have a late inning shut down bullpen than a bullpen with a good longman/middle relievers
just to note, this is not a knock on the Orioles bullpen. it’s very good. I just wouldn’t say it’s better than the Yankees (or the new revamped Sox pen)
Yea forget they also have a top bullpen, top defense, and a really good coach. They will be contenders this season whether u like it or not troll.
Wow! This is arguably a MLB team’s worst, most foolish contract since Texas signed A-Rod. Why in the world would Baltimore give Davis even more money than he turned down? And then give him a full no-trade clause? No other team in the world was going to be anywhere close to the $154M the Orioles allegedly offered. This is a stupid decision that would haunt the Orioles for years to come. Keeping Davis does not make them contenders, and this is a contract they will have difficulty—either in reality or self-imposed—working around to fill other needs. What a moronic move by ownership.
Dude, it’s not even the worst contract of the day.
On what planet? Are you suggesting that Kennedy’s deal is worse? 5 year and $70M? Kennedy’s deal is decent…he’s not great but not terrible, and he’s earning mid-rotation money. The Orioles are paying superstar money to a one-dimensional player into his late 30’s when no one else would. It’s not only the size of the contract, it’s that they overpaid drastically (by about $40M or so) and they aren’t a team that can/will play in that financial arena, so it will hamstring them. If the deal is backloaded—which it probably is—the Orioles will be paying somewhere in the vicinity of $30M for a 36/37 year old. Not smart business.
Kennedy has a 5.47 ERA in his career against AL clubs.
Not a big sample size only 14 games
Try 34 games and 32 starts
14 games and 12 starts with Yankees (all against AL clubs) and 20 career starts in Interleague (all against AL teams)
“Kennedy has a 5.47 ERA in his career against AL clubs.”
And? My point wasn’t that Kennedy is a better performer than Davis, it’s the differences in the contracts. Kennedy is being paid for what he is…a mid-level pitcher, and if it’s an overpay it’s minimal. He got 5yrs/$70M; it’s not like the Royals could have signed him for 3yrs/$36M. The Orioles overpaid Davis by tens of millions of dollars. The maximum they should have offered him was 6yrs/$115M. It’s quite obvious that no one was anywhere in the same financial area so why did they go there?
I don’t disagree that the Orioles overpaid for Davis at all. They bid against themselves. But he was expected to get in the $130 million range I believe. Kennedy has the numbers of a #5 starter against the AL. Don’t be shocked to see him become very mediocre and the Royals stuck paying him $14 mil a year.
Davis posts decent OBP numbers and plays pretty good defense, so he’s not a one-dimensional player like someone like Howard was, and age 36 isn’t that bad of an age to finish paying a free agent top dollar. It’s when you go past a player’s age 36 season that teams usually get into trouble. They may have bid against themselves a little, but I’d certainly agree that Kennedy was a bigger overpay.
Definitely an overpay but nowhere near the worst contract since Texas signed A-Rod. HEll, it’s not even the worst contract in the AL East. Rick Porcello and Hanley Ramirez both making over $20 mil per year for Boston and CC Sabathia making $30 mil for New York are way worse deals.
I would disagree about A-Rod’s initial contract considering he was still in his 20s and was without a doubt the best all-around player at the time. No one even considers that a bad contract considering his production at the time. If you’re looking for worst contracts, A-Rod’s 10 year contract with the Yankees in 2007 (I think) or Josh Hamilton’s contract with the Angels so he could play in Texas are arguably worse.
Considering that no one was within $100M of the Rangers offer for A-Rod, it was an extreme overpay. Yes, it was speculated at the time that A-Rod would get $200M/10 years, but the closest offer he had was around $150M by the Braves. The market is what it is, and if you foolishly pay way over what anyone else will pay, then it’s a overpay…which A-Rod was. His 2007 contract was foolish because of the length given to a 32 year old, but the $27.5AAV was about market value for him at the time, which was set by his Texas contract—and the deals that followed it (Ramirez, Jeter, etc.).
A-Rod’s deal in 2007 was a bad contract; his deal in 2001 was a severe overpay. Davis’s deal has the potential to be both.
If someone turns down your offer, it’s because it’s not enough. That’s why you up the offer, if you want to continue. That’s how negotiations work.
Every O’s FAN is elated and loves CD for what he brings on
Huge overpay. Gotta love this contract if you’re not an Os fan. But the sad part is that Boras wins yet again. Upton and Cespedes have to be scratching their heads right now.
This is an overpay for sure, but 50 home run potential is pretty much dead in this era, so the Orioles really needed to lock Davis up, especially with what was previously a very righty heavy lineup. I still don’t see them as competitive because of their rotation, but with a bounceback year from Tillman, another solid year from Ubaldo, a breakout from Gausman, and one of Harvey or Bundy surviving spring training without their arm falling off, they could have a decent rotation. A decent rotation coupled with an excellent bullpen is a good enough recipe for success, as the Orioles showed in 2014.
That’s a lot of if’s for a 5 man rotation. Smart teams don’t pay for homerun “potential”. They pay for what is. Smart Agents sell that “potential”. Another win for the agents.
Right, it’s not “potential” – he actually hit 47 HR last year, and 53 in 2013.
But with the contract they are paying for the “potential” for Davis to continue hitting 40-50HRs well into his 30s, something that has NEVER been done in baseball history outside of the PED era.
It is potential. He hit 33 HR in 2012 and 20 something in 2014. He’s not going to hit 50 HR a season, but he has the ability to. Hence, potential.
Pujols hit 40 HRs at age 35 last year.
the o’s don’t have a choice for bundy, they have to put him on the roster because he is out of options.
I know. I meant if he doesn’t finish Spring Training on the DL or in the bullpen.
I hope it works out for the O’s and their fans. I really do. But years 4 though 7 could be cringe-worthy.
This is great news!!! The haters are in full force but they are wrong. Davis is a stud leading the league in homeruns since 2012 despite a terrible 2014. His defense at first is gold glove caliber. You add obp machine in Kim and another slugger in Trumbo plus the health of Wieters in his prime this team might score 800 runs. Now the pitching is suspect so either go get Gallardo, Fister, Lee, or Latos. Or instead punt the pitching hoping for bouncebacks from Tilly and Gonzalez plus the emergence of Gausman and Bundy then add Cespedes or Upton and make the offense the best in the league.
Haters? No. And his UZR/150 at 1B is 0.2, far from Gold Glove caliber.
You guys also keep bringing up his great OBP, which is fine, but just 2 years ago his OBP was only .300
His OBP the last 3 seasons is 15th. No, not 15th in all of baseball. That is 15th among 1B
His power? Well one can’t argue against that, he’s a beast.
It’s not really fair to bring up his mental health-impaired 2014 season. If he’s on his meds, he’s a beast. 2014 was an outlier because he wasnt allowed meds to the point where he even knew it, so he went back on them and got suspended.
As long as he doesnt make that mistake again, he’s an elite player in the game, and deserving of 23M a year.
lol Adderall and mental health, there are other meds (that do not require MLB approval) for ADHD/ADD but they are not amphetamines.
Yes and be took one of those amphetamine less meds last season and hit 47 homeruns.
UZR is a meaningless stat in the context of 1B, where fielding batted balls is less important than being a receiver.
Defensive Runs saved at 1st base – Negative 3 (though it’s +12 over the past 2 seasons).
Fielding is something that can be improved on into someone’s late 20’s. I’d put more stock into those recent numbers.
Ryan Howard 2.0. Just with better (but not good) defense.
Coming from a fan of the team that gave a speed based injury prone player 7/153 I’d really refrain from calling out bad contracts as a yankees fan
@Niekro, not sure what Elslbury has to do this. And thank you for proving my point, my favorite team gives out bad contracts, which means we know them when we see them.
Is MB saying that Ellsbury wasn’t a bad contract? If he’s not, then I’m not sure what your point is. At least Ellsbury is two years in, while Davis is just starting.
i agree. smells too much like Ryan Howard to me
He’s a way, way, WAY better athlete than Howard. Howard’s fall was due exactly to his bad body, Davis’s body is fine, and he plays multiple positions. Howard’s been a DH his whole career, but stood at 1B because the NL promotes bad baseball by making pitchers hit.
I see you’ve been drinking the Boras kool-aid.
Expected Chris Davis to re-sign with Baltimore. Shocked it was for more than their initial offer from earlier this offseason with his seeming lack of a free agent market.
Gotta love teams bidding against themselves.
White Sox better get one of these OF free agents now. All the other suitors keep dropping out one by one. Knowing the way they operate though, Upton and Cespedes will probably end up taking 1-year pillow contracts with other teams because the Sox are too cheap. That’ll be fun to watch unfold.
I think this was the Sox plan all along.
Wait until the field goes down and then try to get someone on a much cheaper deal than the original asking price. You offer low and then once the suitors start to dry up, the players come a bit down and you meet in the middle. I don’t expect the players to come down a lot but I think at a 4 year or even 5 year deal the Sox would bite. All of their other good players are tied up for about the same amount of time, so it would create a pretty good nucleus for the future.
No, their plan was to have Cabrera-Eaton-Garcia as their OF, and that is what they are going to do.
I’m sure this was their plan all along, and quite frankly, it’s working out great for them so far. That being said, I’m sure other teams were counting on this too. And why would one of these FA’s choose the Sox if multiple teams are willing to go in at lower prices? They’re going to need to outspend most of these other teams if they want a chance. Otherwise, I see these guys trying to take a pillow contract with an established contender rather than the Sox.
I hope you’re right, because Priggs is also right. The White Sox are not in a position where they can sell players on anything else but the most money. If they don’t got 5 years and they don’t go $100 million+, there is very little chance they will sign either player. And let’s be honest here – without signing one of these players, their offseason becomes the worst in baseball. The White Sox were at a crossroads, and chose to acquire players instead of trading their core. As it stands, this team is a superstar bat AND more pieces away from contending. Stopping now or forgoing the largest piece of that puzzle only ensures another 70ish win campaign and more lost fans to the north side.
I think it’s safe to say they screwed up by choosing to acquire players instead of trading their core, but that was to be expected. I don’t see these guys ever blowing it up while Jerry and Kenny are around, which is very unfortunate.
They made this decision though. If they want to be “all in” to try to win now (which it appears like they do), they have to be willing to make more moves to acquire impact players.
@sportingdissent
I agree that they’ll have to out spend the others and I never said it was a “good” plan. I just stated that it was their plan all along.
I disagree though that the team is in need of “many” more pieces to compete. They’re not WS bound but the improvement made this off season has addressed several of their major problems like their bad defense and has improved their offense a bit.
Now Orioles trade with reds for Bruce. Give up mychal givens or trey Mancini. And they have their left handed right fielder.
Improvement? What’s the end game?
They’ve got a core in its prime now. Not three years from now, not five years from now. Right now.
They either win now, or they trade that core. Because if they wait 2, 3, 5 years to get the remaining pieces of the puzzles, they’re just going to need to replace the core as well.
The White Sox really needed to blow it up. But I understand saying “well, we have Eaton, Quintana, Abreu, and Sale in their prime and a young Rodon emerging, lets go for it. But then you HAVE TO GO FOR IT. You can’t just plug a few holes with replacement level guys, there’s too much talent in the American League. They have done a good job so far, but short of Upton, Cespedes, or a trade for Carlos Gonzalez, no amount of additions will be enough because they just don’t have enough high end talent like other AL teams do.
Dan Duquette has not had very good luck trading for guys from the NL Central. Just about every one has done worse than their ML average with the O’s. Parra being the latest example.
Trading for Bruce would be bad for the O’s.
A team that is paying their current LF $14 and $15M a year for the next 2 years is “too cheap” to bring in another, more expensive LF….even though they already have an expensive LF?
Do you even understand how team construction works? You can only have one LF.
Do you understand how baseball works? You do realize that just because the player has played LF doesn’t mean they can ONLY play LF, right?
RF and DH are huge holes on this team right now, and either spot can easily be filled by any of Upton, Cespedes, or Melky. They have LaRoche and Danks coming off the books after this year (if they can’t trade them sooner). This is the ideal time to sign a backloaded deal IF they really want have a chance at winning, and you don’t make the Frazier/Lawrie deals if you aren’t serious about winning.
Not to mention that Upton played exclusively in RF his ENTIRE time in Arizona…
You do realize that the AL has a position called the designated hitter or are you new to this sport?
Just Another Fan –
Upton and Cespedes are RF who have played other positions because of the teams they were on and the needs of those teams. Heck, Cespedes played a ton of center.
Cabrera is at a crossroads season. Yeah, he’s making a lot of money. But he wasn’t nearly that good last year. He’ll have a spot because of money and the amount of roster holes. But Cabrera has played RF as well, FYI. And really, the White Sox are looking for upgrades at DH, LF, and RF. They’ll likely only acquire one player and do some shifting. Though getting two outfielders and having Cabrera, Garcia, and LaRoche compete for DH at bats would probably be the best case scenario.
So, going back to your point, yes people understand team construction. And right now, this team is constructed poorly. Hence the need for new players.
Instead to contend, decided to make big money… i’d do the same! Lol
For putting pitching first, they really haven’t gone anywhere.
They still need a right fielder, unless they put Davis in right Trumbo at first? That is a big power line up. Machado, Davis, Trumbo, jones, weiters, schoop, Kim, hardy, then ???
yeah a big power lineup that wont hit for average or reach base lol
Just my opinion but in 2 or 3 years the Orioles are going to regret the last 4 or 5 years of this deal.
Love or Hate Scott Boras, there is no doubt in the world that he is the absolute best of the best at what he does.
Ian Kennedy for 5 years and $70 Million & Chris Davis for 7 years and $161 Million on the same day.
All you can do is just sit there and marvel in amazement at how good Scott Boras is at what he does.
Yes, those 2 are quite close comparables. I was thinking Kennedy was a shoe-in for $150M and the market had dried up considerably for 2015’s HR king to warrant a miniscule deal south of $100M.
Boras is very good at milking the “bromance” between player and owner. He really scored well in the Fielder/Detroit deal. Now with Baltimore,by sending out an offer to Cespedes, they came to the table wearing their war paint.
First volley of wanting 8/$200MM was met with a 7/$154 offer.Then the “no blinking contest” was broken with a 5/$90MM offer to Cespedes.
A deal for 7/$161MM,seems to be a “Boras wins” compromise considering there were no other teams in the game. He got the 7 years(which could have been lowered to 6 with the Y.C. deal on the table),and more money. Now with the info that there is only a partial no-trade,deferred money, and no opt out it seems to be a draw.(The no-trade aspect is really marginal since he will have “10 and 5” rights after 2017.)
Baltimore biggest mistake was their first offer of 7 years instead of 6. Hard to back away from that and the extra year could really hurt.
Wow some owners never learn. Just amazing how the modern PT Barnum swindles these fools. Signing a 30 year old player long term is a proven recipe for disaster. The Orioles were bidding against themselves. It cripples the team for the foreseeable future with an aging player who is boom or bust with a high strike out percentage. A defensive liability too. I feel badly for Orioles fans who will be asked to pay his salary in rising ticket prices. Not a single other team was serious about him. What does that tell you?
While the deal is ridiculous and its definitely problematic going forward. he’s certainly not a defensive liability. He’s borderline gold glove and one of the top defensive first baseman in the league..
Interesting, and confirms that the Cespedes offer was a feint. I don’t think the extra $11M is significant in the context of the size of the deal. It’s too much for too long, but that’s the nature of things.
I thought surely even BAL couldn’t have screwed the pooch on this re-signing, and although they tried their hardest, they managed to stave off not many others and do the unthinkable and re-sign someone! Extensions for the Front Office all around!
Tigers just waiting and waiting for Cespedes price tag to drop.
Looks like whoever gets Cespedes and Upton will get much better deals than what Baltimore got.
As we are now just a few weeks away from Spring Training, the desperation is clearly on the players side.
Not sure how to read this signing in relationship with others on the board. The advantage for the teams is there is one less chair at the table. But,it could be said that Baltimore really was not “in” the top of the line OF market with their favorite son,Davis, as their top target. Their low ball offer was a bluff.
The advantage to the players Cespedes and Upton is Davis got the same $23MM AAV that Hayward got a long time ago. That may encourage them to wait it out a few weeks more to see who blinks first.
LOL – SEVEN YEARS!!! THE ORIOLES GOT OWNED BY DAVIS AND HIS AGENT!!! Baltimore will be lucky to get three good years out of that awful contract.
Is that you Calvin?
Watch him put up a sub .200 season again. Do the Orioles have an opt-out?
Opt-outs go to the player, not the team. If the deal is what it’s reported the O’s are locked in for 7 years; if they had an “opt out” it would be a different deal structure…X years + option years.
I am sure there is nothing in the rules saying teams cannot have an opt out in the contracts they just couldn’t get the player/agent to agree. Maybe after some more of these contracts go bad the teams will stop being such pushovers. But that is unlikely.
I can’t wait to see O’s fans comments in 2020. Nice k. Woof!
But that’s what we do now! Haha! I think half the O’s starters strike out 120+ times a year.
So currently, the O’s have spent a ton on Davis, and O’Day, the backfiring of Weiters accepting the qualifying offer, they still look worse on paper compared to the mediocre season that the O’s had.
Congrats Duquette!
You mean Wieters? Orioles have the most solid line up in AL East. Toronto Josh Donaldson is not going to duplicate last season and Joey Bats and Encarnacion both are injury prone and 33 plus, Russell Martin is getting up there in terms of age for productivity for a catcher and Tulo guess we will see with a full season in American League. Red Sox have big Papi but no real sluggers on that team. Guess we will see how things turn out. But mediocre you have no idea what you are talking about. Unless you talking about the Yankees.
Most solid lineup? Homer much?
Not sure how the Yankees lineup is mediocre when it was 2nd in runs scored. Behind Toronto. And ahead of Boston. 3 teams who were better than Baltimore last year and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they were better than Baltimore this year.
You make me laugh. What was the O’s record last season? Mediocre! What have they done to improve their pitching? They’ve gotten worse! Their outfield is horrible outside of Jones.
I do know what I’m talking about. Please don’t compare the O’s lineup with the Jays, Yankees or BoSox.
Toronto batters are not injury prone. You sound like a typical whiny O’s fan because Joey Bats always gets the last laugh with that joke of a pitching staff.
There is not a team in the AL East besides Tampa tgat is not loaded with starters with 4 plus eras. Toronto lost their two best starters in Price and Buehrle. So they did get their injured starterback who went 4-0 but losing tehir best two pitchers hurts. Talking about outfields Yankees have Gardner and Ellsbury both who died down the stretch. Didn’t they lose 6 of 7 and get swept in Baltimore beforegetting three whole hits against Houston. Watch Eovaldi who gave up 30 plus more hits than innings pitched a guy who pitched lucky to have that catch up with him. Nova was like that his first two seasons.
ee and jose injury prone? lol funny. I am a Jays fan but nonetheless I would take either one of those guys over davis any day of the week. FYI Jays trumped O’s in every way possible except maybe triples? More HR basehits walks less K’s higher OBS OPS AVG. You get the drift. Oh ya the team is intact aside from price (what 12 starts?) and every 5th day C Navarro. O’s will be battling for 4th in the ALE with the Rays. Happy ya’ll signed Davis for 7 years. Thanks!
The O’s have a better lineup than the Rays. Anything else is debatable.
Buck’s “how much is enough?” question has been answered. Just a little more.
What an overpay!! Is it just me or is it that caucasian players seem to get overpaid regularly. . Davis is a good player but that’s just a stupid contract….seriously. As another poster wrote, Josh Hamilton was another overpay and look how that has turned out. Cespedes and Upton will not get close to this contract but are equally deserving..IMO.
It’s just you.
Love, ARod, Howard, Pujols, Sabathia, BJ Upton, et al
I believe if you look with an open mind at all the signings in recent years you will find the insanity crosses all racial and ethnic boundaries.
Johan Santana got 6/137.5, Joe Mauer got 8/184, Melvin (B.J.) got 5/75.25, Masahiro Tanaka got 7/155, Prince Fielder got 9/214, Barry Zito got 7/126, Ryan Braun ended up with 9/145.5 in 2011. Wether it be questionable deals (Upton), injuries (Santana), PED cheaters (Braun), signing an unknown (Tanaka), expected drop off in production (Mauer), or DH investment (Fielder) many ethnicities and races all have some contracts that probably wouldn’t be signed today for a multitude of reasons.
At the time of the Mauer extension he was just coming off an MVP season which was one of the greatest season for a catcher in recent memory. To say his play was expected to drop off to this level, this quickly is pure hindsight. Even when he wasn’t hitting homeruns he was able to achieve multiple 5+ WAR seasons.
A-Rod, Pujols, Bonilla, Price? Davis has led the league in HRs the last couple years. This contract is big, but AAV is low and affords the team the opportunity to work on the rotation as well.
It’s just you. Considering the top contract went to David Price and the third highest went to Heyward, I think you are looking for something that isn’t there. Not everything is related to race. With the no interest deferrals this deal is actually not bad for the Orioles.
Really grasping at straws there. Pujols, Fielder, the Miggy, C.C. and A-Rod extensions, Carl Crawford, Melvin Upton… all some of the most head-scratching deals in recent memory. Cespedes and Upton never hit .359 in a season which is why their contracts won’t approach Hamilton’s.
It’s just you being a racist ignorant troll.
I think we all intuitively know he was going back to the O’s.
What a horrible deal. Thought the Orioles were going to go after and get either Cespedes or Upton……. would’ve been better off. Makes me feel that much better about my Cubs’ Heyward deal. At least Heyward has age on his side.
Oh, Heyward was a great deal. You shouldn’t feel bad about that at all.
Heyward was a great deal your just not smart to understand it. 23 Million a year is a steal. Look at Zimmermann he is a million under Heyward. LOL. Million nothing. The Cubs are building to win now and later. Something most teams CANT DO! Heyward signed for less. If St.L paid 200 million or Washington would it have been over pay? Funny cubs got him for 184. LOL The Ops are great. People don’t see it that way. We really only need Heyward for 3 to 4 years. If he outs its best thing that can happen. Bost played same thing with Price. 2018, 2019 we have our debt paid, out billion dollar TV deal, and you know the FA coming in 2018,19 and 20. So to spend 69 million in 3 years. Think thats good. If he out then guess what that money which is 115 Million, goes to our 2018 budget, plus our TV deal, plus now our debt paid in full to Trib, that MAJOR BUCKS COMING in 2018, 19, 20. So you think Cubs spent money this year just wait in 3 years. Untill then we got one of the best players, and to help the Cubs win, mean time build for the future at the same time. But your to stupid to see that. Keep working your dead end job you never have business smarts.
13 hrs and 69 rbi does not scare any pitcher. I do not care how great a fielder he is. Two home runs a month just shows warning track power.
Both Heyward & Davis’s deals are far from horrible. They are elite, game changing players, they got paid, who cares?
Ouch. Unbelievable. Angelos’ original offer was an overpay for a guy with no other teams really interested in him. Upton and Cespedes are better fits (O’s have exactly one good and relizble OF), would be cheaper, sign for fewer years, and have a much better chance of aging well.
Talk about bidding against yourself!
Angelos apparently loves the guy. Same reason the O’s signed Roberts to the contract they did. Hopefully Davis doesn’t hit himself on the head with a bat and have to sit half the contract like Roberts did. That being said it’s the O’s and he probably will.
If the O’s were smart. They have an above average infield defense. Why don’t they just go out and pick up a starter that throws sinkers. Or maybe do something crazy like make Britton a starter and have Givens close.
There have been some rumblings along this line since the end of the regular season. This is why, along with a few other good reasons, that they let Chen walk. Moving Britton into a middle rotation role, having O’Day (or Givens) close, and Givens (or O’Day) as the step up man. Now that they can platoon the DH with Wieters, Trumbo, and Davis while using the other two at 1B or RF provides some punch. However, I’m hoping for a mid-rotation signing still.
Davis will have his 10-5 rights in 2 years so it doesn’t matter what his contract has he will be allowed to reject any trade in 2018 and on.
Davis has six years, 61 days of service time. He won’t have 10-and-5 rights until midway through the 2019 season.
If the o’s had Davis and weren’t good last year, what makes them think they will be better this year after losing their best pitcher who isn’t that good
I completely agree, but allow me to play devils advocate. Let’s say everything breaks their way offensively – machado, jones, and Davis all go wild. Weiters bounces back and schoop shows that last year wasn’t a fluke. If all those things happen, who are they – the answer: Toronto, pre- trade deadline with a better bull pen but a far weaker farm system. Where was Toronto in the standings before they acquired price and tulo? Trailing the Yankees by 6 games.
Baltimore doesn’t have the farm system to swing a trade for a price or a tulo with out severely impacting their 25-40 man roster. Baltimore just doesn’t have the pitching to get it done.
Let’s compare the Baltimorean offseason to the rest of the division. Yankees improved. Boston improved. Toronto maintained (but they get stro for an entire season), Tampa maintained, and so did Baltimore. Maybe guasman finally turns the corner and becomes the pitcher they thought he’d be, maybe Tillman bounces back, and maybe ubaldo isn’t quite as ubaldo like – even then, is it enough? I just don’t think so
With Davis signing for 7 years, some of the O’s top prospects are at first base. I can see them parting with some of those and maybe a SP5/ Middle Relief prospect like Mike Wright for one of Colorado’s extra outfielders.
Gausman had lasik surgery over the offseason and will be in top form this year. As long as Gonzalez, Tillman, and Ubaldo aren’t terribly below average our bullpen will more than makeup the difference in any game. Another great season from Brad Brach, Matusz playing in a contract year, more innings from Mychal Givens, plus the continued dominance of O’Day and Britton puts us in the same caliber as Kansas City IMO.
Wow, this goes from slight overpay to massive, massive bargain. $17M a year is everyday player/borderline All-Star salary. Davis has an elite, MVP ceiling.
In no universe does Davis have an elite, MVP ceiling.
Hes a low contact, high strikeout hitter with power. He doesn’t steal bases. Hes an average defender.
Hes good, but he’ll never get close to being MVP.
Perhaps. However, Davis was a gold glove finalist along with Hosmer and Loney in 2013. 2014 he’d was plagued by an oblique injury. 2015 Davis played less than 70% of the time at 1B. He’s got the potential to be better than average.
All I hope for from this contract is Adrian Gonzales consistency and 30HR+
Um…he was 3rd in MVP voting in 2013.
Some people on this site are unbelievably dumb.
And he had a .196 /300/404 in 2014. What is your point?
And where was he for the other SEVEN years of his mlb career? And you are plucking a vote from THREE years ago?!!
I would suggest that you “just.another.fan’ is the unbelievably dumb one here.
It’s extremely risky to invest that kind of money in a guy who is going to be 30 years old and who strikes out at a 30% clip (.270 batting average ceiling right there without any batted-ball outs). And while his power is elite, he is not an MVP-calibur player.
He came 3rd in MVP in 2013, genius.
He had a .08 fWar in 2014 and in 2012 it was 2.1 fwar.
Look, nobody is saying Davis is bad player. Hes a good player. But everything points to him being more the 2012 player than he was this year, and that this contract will not work out well. I’m obviously not the only one to see this.
If he was so amazing he wouldn’t have had only one team after him.
Matt Holliday only had one team after him in the ’09-’10 offseason, and his big contract has turned out quite well with one year to go.
I’m good with the resign, but that’s a ton of deferred money. This contract is serviceable and I think Davis will produce over the 7 years. It also looks to provide space for Machado and possibly Schoop when they are up. We’ll see though.
Maybe they have their opening day rotation already, but there’s still some possibilities for someone to get signed there. Maybe a corner outfielder could show up too, but I’m not holding my breath at this point.
But in the AL East, walking in with this line up is pretty impressive. If Wieters and Schoop get on track like some writers are predicting, the results could be very impressive to add them in Davis, Trumbo, Machado, and Jones. Then a lock down bullpen, particularly in the back end with Givens, O’Day, and Britton (if he doesn’t start) places the Orioles in a good place for 2016. Gotta get that farm system up and running though and having 16 picks in the first 100 for the draft is helpful.
They caved in but they will pay the price for years. Too bad not an Orioles fan but like them to be competitive and this will handcuff them from making other moves in years to come.
As usual, Boras proves why he’s so good.
I’m going to be honest I don’t see why signing a potential 50 homer bat and a lock for at least 25 with 75 RBIS, a guy who is solid on defense at first, third and left field, who can DH when needed to a deal to keep him in a hitter park to solidify an already good lineup is such a bad deal. Did anyone read what Kennedy got? This is by far not even the worst contract in baseball and to say this is worse then hamiltons doesn’t make sense, Hamilton completely fell apart and Chris Davis is three or four years younger (I forget) then josh was when he signed the deal he got with the Angels, I think Baltimore did good with this one and I just don’t see him falling apart like Hamilton and I think it’s unlikely he repeats 2014 again, that is just how I feel about it
Yeah, I don’t get all these people saying Davis is a below average defender. I’ve been an O’s fan for 30+ years and Davis is one of the better 1st basemen I can remember in an O’s uniform. Not quite David Segui but he doesn’t hurt them at all wherever they play him.
Exactly, idk what he does wrong that deters people from liking him, maybe it’s all these people obsessing over WAR, idek what his WAR was but I don’t see a problem with Davis, most players of his caliber get 200 million so this was a steal
Maybe it is the .199 batting average in 2014 or paying a first base man $23,000,000 a season for seven years ?
But some are saying MVP type player. He couldn’t hit .200 two years ago. Power and strikeouts with average defense is true. When he loses more bat speed which will be soon it won’t be pretty especially with Jones wanting a big payday.
Honestly, if someone can hit 30 home runs and drove in 90-100 runs, I could care less how many times he strikes out, They should take that kind of production anyway, I really don’t think a strikeout is the worst way to get out, a rally killing double play is ten times worse, I feel as if he will be a good run producer for more then half of this contract and maybe tail off somewhere at the end, that’s just how o see Davis
I love this post! Someone gets it.
Anyone who has over 300 Total Bases is elite. Davis has 2 of those in the last 3 years, and in the other year he famously had his drug suspension for the ADHD drug he needs to be as good as he can be.
He finished 3rd in MVP in 2013 dummy.
2013 is a long time ago in baseball years genius … and there in lays the problem when you pay for what happened instead of what shall happen.
I just want to point out that not having a State income tax is not a “tax break.” He just doesn’t pay State tax on income made while living in Texas. Texas state sales tax is 8.25% which is how Texas mostly collects taxes. It’s more like he gets a tax break by not working in Maryland… FWIW, I think Baltimore overpaid. I never heard any rumors any other teams coming close to $150MM contract offered originally. Which makes the market slim to begin with.
I was a strong supporter in not resigning Davis and trading Jones for a group of young players (probably an OF and SP near or at MLB ready.)
As is stands, this didn’t happen. Still seems like a better idea to me. The O’s really haven’t added anything to last years painfully average team.
the o’s don’t have the best starting pitching they should keep their eye on gallardo,lee and latos or we could trade dylan bundy (who’s always injured) and another prospect for starting pitching such as sonny gray or throw in 2 more prospects and then maybe jose fernandez
not even close lol
o’s should focus on latos,lee and gallardo make sure to get a deal soon
I’m sure glad the Dodgers didn’t do this deal
In all reality, Davis’ deal is a 22 year deal with only 7 of them with him as a player.
Still the biggest oof of the 2000s for the Orioles. Letting Nelson Cruz walk and Nick Markakis walk for this schmo is laughable and a nightmare.