Entering this offseason, the Baltimore Orioles knew they’d have to stretch outside their normal limits with regard to making roster decisions. They’ve been successful in doing that during contract negotiations with first baseman Chris Davis, but they’re just waiting for his camp to finally come around.
While the free agent class this winter is rather deep on talent, Davis can provide one thing nobody else can: pure power. Since a monstrous 2013 campaign, he leads all of baseball with 126 home runs, and has provided this kind of production at quite the discount.
Entering his age-30 season, it’s time for the Scott Boras client to cash in on a contract worth a life-changing amount of money. The biggest question was whether the Orioles would take the gamble be a part of the bidding.
As it turns out – and much to Boras’ dismay, I’m sure – Baltimore is the only legitimate team in the race for Davis at the moment. Despite never handing out a $100-plus million contract in team history, a seven-year, $154 million deal was extended to the first baseman.
That offer was presented during the Winter Meetings, just about a month ago. They rejected it and were rumored to be looking for something in the $200 million range. After pulling what appears to be a very generous offer off the table, Baltimore is monitoring the situation and is willing to re-visit serious negotiations. However, they’ve also held up virtually their entire offseason plan until finding out where Davis lands.
We hear players on the verge of free agency say all the time that they’d like to return to their current team, but the business side is out of their hands. In fact, Davis said it himself during the last series of the season (quote via CSN Mid-Atlantic):
“I think the biggest thing for me is to go in the offseason and look back, reflect, really take everything in and then just make the best decision possible. That’s all I can say. I would love to be here. I would love to be back here. It’s out of my hands now.”
If there was a large amount of teams vying for his services, it makes sense to let the agent take care of it. After all, that’s why players employ them in the first place. However, that’s not the case, as Steven Martano of SB Nation’s Beyond the Boxscore said.
Of all the teams that could theoretically commit that much money long-term to one player, Martano noted that none of them have a real need for Davis, whether it’s because of how rosters are currently constructed or certain self-mandated restrictions on free-agent spending.
Except for the Orioles.
Boras is doing what he feels is best for his client, touting him as this unique power source that can not only play first base, but man both corners in the infield and outfield. But in reality, it’s not like he’s a Gold Glover at any of those positions. He’s serviceable, but the reason he’s on the field is for his bat.
As good as Davis has been, he does come with a healthy amount of risk. His two superb seasons of 2013 and 2015 sandwiched an incredibly rough .196/.300/.404 triple slash with 26 homers and 72 RBI in 2013. That year also included a 25-game suspension for taking a banned substance (which he gained the proper clearance to use last year).
Even in his big bounce-back campaign this past season, he walked a career-high 84 times, but that coincided with a career-high 208 strikeouts. There should be some concern as to whether he’s a consistent 40- or 50-homer threat if he’s not playing half his games at a hitter-friendly park like Camden, as well.
One would assume these red flags would be enough to make potentially interested teams hesitate in engaging in serious negotiations, especially after the Orioles’ offer was rejected. Clearly, that’s been the case – unless something is happening that we don’t know about just yet.
Despite these issues that are preventing others from jumping in, none of them know Davis like Baltimore does. They gave him his first real chance at being an everyday player, and he blossomed from that opportunity. He’s also a favorite of Angelos, which is part of the reason why the pros outweigh the cons and the organization is willing to pay him more than any Oriole in team history.
Baltimore is showing its loyalty by offering such a large sum of money with no true competition for his services, but they’re waiting for that loyalty to be reciprocated. Or, Davis just needs to take charge and end this staring contest himself.
Whenever most people hear an MLB player is represented by Scott Boras, virtually all of them think, “Well, that guy is eventually going to get paid.” Normally, it’s true, but sometimes Boras’ willingness to wait out the market to maximize the value of his clients doesn’t work out (Stephen Drew is one example of that).
When it comes to signing new contracts, there are a few things Boras’ clients almost never do. One is agree to the one-year qualifying offer (Orioles catcher Matt Wieters was the first ever to do so this winter). The other is signing an in-season contract extension.
Davis has said the things we’re accustomed to hearing free agents say, but there’s one thing in particular he said this year that’s not typical from a Scott Boras client (quote via CSN Mid-Atlantic):
“I know I said in spring training that I didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t want to be a distraction, and I don’t think it has, inside the clubhouse. But when you see guys like [Adam Jones] and [J.J. Hardy] who have been locked up in the season and have at least had communications during the season, it’s a little frustrating, a little disappointing.”
This is just a small bit of proof and more of my own speculation than anything else, but it sure seems like Davis would’ve been more than willing to not only talk about an extension during the season, but sign one like Jones and Hardy did. Despite the lack of in-season communication with regard to a new contract, the Orioles have done everything possible to show he’s their top priority this winter.
As even more evidence that Davis loves being in Baltimore, check out this tweet he sent on Tuesday after a friendly exchange with Jones:
https://twitter.com/CrushD19/status/684507064425656321
This can be taken a million different ways, but with no deal seemingly in sight, we don’t see players send this kind of stuff out on social media, especially if they don’t want to stay with that particular organization.
These negotiations remind me a lot of Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees after he opted out following an MVP season in 2007. His value seemed to be as good as it’d ever be (which ended up being true) and while a bunch of teams would have probably wanted him in the immediate term, only the Yankees were willing to give him the amount of years and dollars he was seeking.
Plus, throughout the entire 2007 season, Rodriguez continually said the only team he wanted to play for was the Bronx Bombers.
Instead of testing the open market – which was probably what Boras wanted to do – Rodriguez met with the Yankees himself and agreed upon the 10-year, $275 million contract he’s currently finishing out. Then, the player and agent split up just about three years later.
With the way things have gone thus far, it’s time for Davis to put his foot down if Baltimore is where he wants to be. From the subtle hints I’ve seen, that’s what it looks like.
Since the calendar has now flipped to January and there doesn’t appear to be any real change in his market, it’s time to end this charade, step in and tell his agent to get a deal done. The Orioles need Davis, Davis needs the Orioles, and it’s time to come to terms with it, both literally and figuratively.
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter so we can get through a winter without baseball together: @mmusico8.
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