Baltimore Orioles: Concern over Chris Davis’ Contract

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles’ held Fanfest over the weekend, and the event was another rousing success.  But out of it, at least one story is raising a lot of eyebrows, both among fans and among media types.

Dan Duquette claimed during Fanfest that the Orioles have offered a long-term contract to slugger Chris Davis.  That is the good news, everyone wants Davis to be an Oriole for a long, long time.

The bad news, Davis’ response.  “Really?” Davis said. “Did he say anything else? Dang it. Keep me up to speed on that.”

Oh No.

Now, Davis goes on to say that he isn’t worried about his contract status, and the fact of the matter is that he is signed through 2015.  Davis also goes on to add that he wants to be an Oriole long-term.

But the fact that he and the team differ on where they stand as far as contract negotiations go is not a good sign.  One of the goals, and a reason the Birds are saving so much money at this point, is to try to get new contracts for J.J. Hardy, Matt Wieters and Davis.

Davis and Wieters are both Scott Boras’ clients.  The Orioles realize re-signing Wieters is going to be difficult, but they want to try to extend the contracts of two of these three players soon.  Duquette said Saturday that the goal is to have a new contract for J.J. before Opening Day.

After the contract physical debacle involving Grant Balfour, and to a lesser extent Tyler Colvin, the Birds’ Front Office has a little work to do to repair its image among Major League Baseball.

This latest news involving who some consider to be the best player on the team, does not help at all.