The Orioles have continued to talk with agent Scott Boras about slugger Chris Davis, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. Boras has been reaching out to other clubs on Davis as well, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets.
As Kubatko explains, it still remains unclear — publicly and to the O’s — what other clubs are serious about pursuing Davis. Baltimore appears to be comfortable waiting, he suggests, and doesn’t seem motivated to up its bid. The previously reported offer reached about $150MM in total value, after accounting for deferred money. Kubatko adds.
If Davis doesn’t end up taking that offer, the Orioles don’t have plans to re-allocate the funds to another major free agent, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports. Owner Peter Angelos has already gone “out of his comfort zone” in pushing the offer to Davis as high as it is, Connolly writes, because of Davis’s unique standing in the organization and his unique ability to generate long balls.
All said, then, it doesn’t appear as if much has changed since the Winter Meetings wrapped up. But that’s notable in its own right, as the lack of alternative suitors and targets, respectively, arguably leaves Davis and the O’s as the most comfortable fit. Of course, whether or not the sides’ contractual differences can be bridged remains to be seen.
gorav114
I say the Orioles lower the offer by one million each day. Maybe that will get Davis involved instead of letting Boras be his pimp. He loves Baltimore. Baltimore loves him. No other offers out there. Only obstacle is Boras ego.
mcase7187
I love your play I wish all teams will do that
jd396
They’d call that collusion if the league did. If the players did it in reverse they’d call it… every offseason
Kershawshank Redemption 2
You have to applaud Baltimore for being comfortable with their strategy and not going down the negotiating hole with Boras. I don’t think there are many other interested teams at this point, so I doubt Davis gets more than $150M whether it’s with the Orioles or elsewhere.
beyou02215
The Orioles have to decide if it is worth giving Davis $150 million-plus for instant gratification, and then sucking up what will be an albatross of a contract 2, 3 or 4 years from now.
sddew
I agree with you guys on the Orioles’ strategy. Don’t bid against yourself and don’t raise the offer beyond what you are comfortable with. I think the offer is quite a fair one, especially when you figure in the risk to the team of him tanking one or more years.
not_brooks
Yep. Spot on.
Aside from unrealistic scenarios in St. Louis and Boston, there hasn’t been a whisper of interest in Davis’s services at his current price tag. I don’t think it would even be a huge deal for the O’s to decrease their offer if Davis doesn’t make his decision by today.
If they have that money to spend, they can spend it on Upton and Gordon and get similar value. They’re really in the driver’s seat here.
Michael Macaulay-Birks
I doubt seriously that Boston is in for another huge contract this year, it sounds like Baltimore is bidding against itself
not_brooks
I would so much rather see that $150MM spent on Justin Upton. Signing a 30-year-old with a 30% K rate seems foolish. But Angelos is involved, so unless Davis gets a better offer from another team (which I don’t see happening), he’ll be back at first base for the O’s next season.
gorav114
I would love to have Upton too, I wonder how much he will end up costing. I know they want a lefty but Upton seems capable of hitting really well at OPACY and he wants to be an Oriole. Rochs post indicated PA was only comfortable with this type of contract for Davis which seemed to mean to me they will not pursue Upton either way. IMO if they were able to get Upton, Davis, and replace Chen with something close they could be a championship contender in 2016.
mike156
interesting in-between on negotiating stances. Previously we heard they had taken the offer off the table. Now, what it seems to be is that “we like you, but this is what we can afford to pay, and it’s not going higher than that.” Boras will still use baltimore’s interest as a negotiating tool with other teams, but he may not be able to say to them there will be another bidding war should they choose to top what Baltimore may or not be still offering. Now, the best he can say is “player gives hometown discount to O’s, you have to do substantially better” But Boras never likes to say that–he thinks free agent means fully priced–few Boras clients have given the discount.
gorav114
The thing is though it wouldn’t be a hometown discount. Name the teams lining up to even pay more than 100 million. It’s easily the biggest contract offer in the franchises history and Boras is being his usual egomaniac. I will fully support the O’s if they decide to not bring the offer back to the table or move in a different direction.
Bob Smiley
@ 1st i thought the Astros might be buyers, not sure they will pay so much when they have AJ Reed in the wings.
gorav114
The Astros are the one team that scare me the most, I could see a 7/164 offer out of nowhere. they don’t usually spend like that obviously but they have a stacked team right now and need a Davis type to plug into the middle of the order during the 5-7 year window they just opened. I could see Toronto too as their window is soon closing and it would help them to keep him away from Baltimore but I doubt it with Shapiro in charge now opposed to JP.
SabermetricsForLife
Reed is a better option in my humble opinion. I would rather use some of that ridiculous money and put it towards a solid MOR SP. The offense was there last year and now that we have added Giles all we need to do is tie a bow on the offseason with a solid veteran SP. Then let spring training commence!
peterangelosisataintstain
Boras found someone thats a bigger d#ck than him at the neg table lol
Ragrayson
He sure would look good in a Cardinals uniform
mstrchef13
This disturbs me for two related reasons.
1) Because Angelos is “out of his comfort zone”, that tells me that if he signs Davis he will not authorize signing anyone else to a significant contract, despite the desperate need for a top SP and another LH hitting OF.
2) Because Angelos is “out of his comfort zone”, that tells me that if the team signs a good SP (they have been pursuing Gallardo) there will not be any money to sign Davis even if he wants to come back.. and the team will resume dumpster diving hoping to find the next Nate McLouth.
Both of these options give me little hope that the O’s will be a long term success as a franchise and even less hope that the team will retain Machado longer than his arbitration years. Although I respect Angelos’ right to make a profit and run his business as he sees fit, it is disheartening to see half the teams in baseball getting billion dollar television rights deals while Angelos is in a Catch-22 with MASN and the rights to O’s TV and Nats TV. The best thing he could do is sell MASN to Fox Sports and them maybe he could make the money that other franchises make.