2020 salary terms are set to be hammered out in the coming days. But what about what’s owed to players beyond that point? The near-term economic picture remains questionable at best. That’ll make teams all the more cautious with guaranteed future salaries.
Every organization has some amount of future cash committed to players, all of it done before the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe. There are several different ways to look at salaries; for instance, for purposes of calculating the luxury tax, the average annual value is the touchstone, with up-front bonuses spread over the life of the deal. For this exercise, we’ll focus on actual cash outlays that still have yet to be paid.
We’ll run through every team, with a big assist from the Cot’s Baseball Contracts database. Next up is the O’s:
Orioles Total Future Cash Obligation: $106MM
*includes deferred money in Chris Davis, Alex Cobb contracts
(click to expand/view detail list)
The Orioles are not a very good baseball team
….and?
Yet they have a rich history with three team name in 3 cities.
Braves… Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta… plus they won championships in each city…
The Milwaukee Brewers of 1901 (former Orioles) were only in Milwaukee for that year and did not win the championship that year.
The Milwaukee Braves that won a title is not the same franchise. They are the former Boston Braves and the current Atlanta Braves.
The current Milwaukee Brewers were formerly the Seattle Pilots (no relation to the Mariners).
There is no connection between the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers/St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles.
you just solved the world’s worst mystery
I had no clue. There not bad cause they suck. There bad because they did a full on rebuild.
One thing I would like to see in the next contract is a salary cap and floor with the ability of teams to take a salary off the books for the purpose of the luxury tax, and pay him off ( like they do in the NHL).
Not sure about that idea, if you had to count the entire salary paid at that point in the current year’s payroll it could make sense…otherwise all the big market teams will just buyout all of their bad contracts if they don’t count against the payroll
In the NHL you are allowed to buyout one contract. Hypothetically speaking, the
Reds can take Votto’s off the books ( but only Votto’s).
Wrong. You completely made that up.
Any NHL contract (except those signed when the player is age 35+) can be bought out. All have cap implications.
Coming out of the last CBA negotiation there were “compliance buyouts” available to each team, which meant no cap implications, but that has long since ended.
I simply used Votto as an example. The NHL is talking about bringing the buyout option back because of the lost income due to Coronavirus. As a fan of the New York Islanders, I am certainly all for getting rid of Ladd’s ugly Contract ( Thank you Garth Snow).
I would love to see a salary cap! It’s been needed for a long time
The fact that tens of millions are now out of work and Chris Davis is still cashing in on his nine figures is a joke. There’s nothing to be done about it, but it’s a joke. He should at least fake an injury, go away, go home and count his money privately.
Yeah I concur, totally absurd. Hopefully he is doing something to give back to society. One of the most overpaid individuals on earth.
Chris Davis donated 3mil to UMB children’s hospital. In 2019. Tremendous act of kindness!
I know him being a good guy doesn’t make his numbers allstar caliber.
Being a Baltimore Oriole fan has been tough over the years, and I’ve heard plenty of hate towards players like Chris Davis.
MlbPa would never agree to limit player salary earnings with salary caps etc. The buyout of contracts like NHL sounds like an interesting idea.
Too bad most professional teams could not adopt an incentive laden contract system. Reward players for great performance no matter years in service.
a good guy maybe but not a good teammate. he got caught twice for Adderall and could have cost his team a world series.
I don’t know if you watched any Orioles games in the last 10 years but we’ve been nowhere near a World Series
But if you did put yourself in his shoes you would also be collecting the check I don’t think you’d be sending it back
“Your crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear.”
And your response ain’t so crystal clear either…
So instead of Chris Davis trying to earn his ridiculous salary, you would prefer he pretend to get hurt and get paid for doing nothing. Faking an injury won’t work, the Orioles medical staff is usually pretty thorough. Ask Nick Markakis
Shouldn’t it work both ways? Sure it sucks if you have to pay 20 mil to a declining former star but it also sucks if you are a 20 yo superstar like soto and get the minimum. Sure the minimum is still a good living but owners also make good money and can afford a bad contract. Interestingly people always say owners are businessmen and need to make profit when they want to save money but when a player does his business he is greedy even though the owners are much richer than themselves.
I’m sure players would do away with guaranteed contracts and allow GMs to fire washed up stars without compensation if owners gave up team controll and paid young players market value.
Owners chose wisely when they accepted overpaying washed up guys in trade for not having to pay young stars especially now when they don’t give as many long contracts to older players.
Precisely. MLB players get a far smaller share of sport-related revenue than any other sport.
Translation: Compared to any reasonably crafted CBA, it’s not (pick any owner) the Lerner’s money that’s going to (pick any hugely compensated veteran) Stephen Strasburg, it’s (pick any ridiculously underpaid, established young superstar) Juan Soto’s.
The owners have money to blow, and then some, because the CBA precludes them from paying nearly 100% of players during their prime years.
The utter dysfunction and stupidity of the CBA is what’s coming to roost now.
and that my friends is what we call a rebuilding team.
I bet the Marlins and Tigers make the playoffs before Baltimore does.
A new team in the next expansion, call them the London Bollocks, may make the playoffs before the O’s.
I know they gave Chris Davis the nickname “Crash” after Crash Davis in Bull Durham, but boy does that nickname sum up his career.
His nickname is Crush.
“Cash” Davis?
Maybe “trash” Davis.
I know his nickname is “Crush” but it was taken from “Crash” Davis, and Crash is exactly what happened to him and the Orioles after he signed the Contract
Of course the bright fans in new york know their nicknames. Thanks for the laugh. Let me guess yanks fans nicknamed aaron judge “the judge”. Lol.
Well it probably should be “Crash”. I get the OP’s point.
Chris Davis should be ashamed of himself
So should you, just no one is pointing it out.
Pretty sure they could pass another stimulus bill with just the amount of money left on Davis’s contract
Not so good at reading numbers there, are ya?
Was thinking over the winter that the O’s would be an interesting trade partner with the Phillies. Baltimore needs prospects close to MLB more than any other team in baseball and the Phils need a CF (preferably RH hitter) that the city can fall in love with. I love Austin Hays’ game.
Without giving up Bohm or Howard– which would be an overpay– they offer up 6 or 7 tier 2 and 3 prospects that are at least close to MLB. Consider this proposal and O’s fans feel free to chime in:
O’s get:
Nick Williams
Bryson Stott
Jose Puljos
Cornelius Randolph
Adonis Medina
Ramon Rosso
Mauricio Llovera
Phils get:
Alex Cobb
Michael Givens
Austin Hays
Phillies take on all salary obligations to Cobb. They get RH compliment to Haisley in CF, the reliever they need with the uncertainty around Seranthony and Drob and a 6th starter for the shortened season.
O’s get a future starter at SS/2B, an OF who’s still young but needs a change of scenery, two more bats and three AAA starters that are all top 12 in Phils system– plus salary relief.
Makes sense on paper but a pipe dream for sure.
According to COTS, Cobb has a limited no trade clause. He can list 10 teams he can refuse a trade to. Much like Bumgarner last year, would probably only include teams that would likely trade for him. Contending teams in big markets-like Philadelphia. Besides don’t think the Orioles want to part with Hays
Chris Davis / Mycah Givens for Ryan Braun / Ben Gamel /
I think the Orioles competitive horizon is a bit further off than you think. Also the shine came off Hays but he was still a top 25 MLB prospect, and Givens has been anywhere from very good to elite reliever.
Also, while I think teams shouldnt limit trades based on organizational assets (i.e. not trading for a 2B because you have a glut of prospects there) they do. The Orioles have a number of 2B prospects starting with Grenier who is near ready and are like to add one with Austin Martin in this years draft.
I do think once a plan is in place for a season you will see teams make trades to try and stack their rosters for this season. Particularly I think you could see NL teams try and add a very good hitter to fill that DH spot. Mancini would have made sense as that type of trade commodity, but the Orioles community is really just wishing jim the best right now.
Davis and Cobb play half a year should get half this years salary
So this logic shouldn’t apply to every player…….?
The salary is going to be prorated for the games played, so if there are 81 games it will be half the salary.
Assuming the owner’s agree to that. That’s not the current proposal on the table from them, the owners want to pay them less than prorated salaries because there won’t be any fans or concessions bringing in revenue.
which, despite what I read from most fans of the players, when it comes to money, in any way, IS the way it should be.
is it fair the owners lose tens of millions? again, players have no risk, only guaranteed contracts….
Chris Davis donated 3mil to UMB children’s hospital. In 2019. Tremendous act of kindness!
I know him being a good guy doesn’t make his numbers allstar caliber.
Being a Baltimore Oriole fan has been tough over the years, and I’ve heard plenty of hate towards players like Chris Davis.
MlbPa would never agree to limit player salary earnings with salary caps etc. The buyout of contracts like NHL sounds like an interesting idea.
Too bad most professional teams could not adopt an incentive laden contract system. Reward players for great performance no matter years in service.
Chris Davis’s contract: “the $42M in deferred money is to be paid in 10 installments of $3.5M annually each July 1, 2023-32, and five installments of $1.4M each July 1, 2033-37”
Well that stinks.
so does he….
And so do you
Davis’s Contract may be the worst in MLB History. Why? I know how bad Jacoby Ellsbury’s was, but at least it is coming to an end. I also know Bobby Bonilla’s has the Mets paying him a decade after he left the game. But if you take the worst elements of Ellsbury’s and Bonilla’s Contracts and put them together you have Davis’s Contract.
Rusney castillo
They both oughta retire ,or take significant pay cuts , disrespectful to the fan base to have those two thieves still posting terrible numbers for 20 mill a year
The thing is there’s not one human being on the planet that would do that including your cell