Baltimore Orioles: Chris Davis Offseason Fatigue

Fans of the Baltimore Orioles are increasingly experiencing fan fatigue relative to the offseason free agency situation of former first baseman Chris Davis.

There really should be no surprise that a Scott Boras client is hanging around and hanging around … without a signing and waiting for a better offer — like those that have indeed come through for certain of his represented players over the years.

But for fans and writers alike, the ongoing saga is like a clog in the drain. You can’t really ignore it and go on to many other topics and possibilities. This unresolved shadow is bigger and longer than a Crush Davis shot onto Eutaw Street.

All of us who write about the Orioles, and probably most of you who read about them, are up to date daily on the writings of Roch Kubatko and Steve Melewski from the MASN Orioles page. Both of them on Sunday had Chris Davis articles: Kubatko reviewing yet again the frozen nature of the situation, with Melewski speaking to the issue of what measure of loyalty Davis should feel or fans should expect.

Other Orioles beat writers weigh in on the mostly lifeless proceedings regularly as well. We have also done so here on The Baltimore Wire. And from the point of view of page views, it has been good for us; but I am weary of it, as are clearly so many O’s fans as can be seen from their comments. And Roch’s inimitable style of opining demonstrates in colorful ways that he would wish to be able to move on to other topics.

But there really is no moving forward until this is resolved in some definitive way. And that definition does not feel very imminent, though clearly fans are interested in checking in frequently in the odd event that something has broken.

A takeaway point from Sunday’s articles would seem to be that various Orioles management personnel in the Warehouse would like to write Davis off and move on to new opportunities, but that it is ownership that continues to wait and hope for a deal to transpire. That’s a different twist from history.

Most of us out here in Realville find it incomprehensible to be offered $150 million and walk away from it as insufficient. Most of us will be doing well if our cumulative lifetime earnings tally up to a couple of million dollars.

It raises the question about Davis, as has been raised with the vast majority of top-level professional athletes seeking the big contract of their lives, “When is enough, enough?”  What can you do with $175 million that you can’t do in life with $150 million?

Another question that has surprisingly only been raised occasionally relates to how Davis’ faith component factors into this. His evangelical Christian values system is not something he hides. So is there not some critical and central theological teaching about greed that should inform Davis at this juncture of his life?

Though I share a spot on the religious/theological spectrum at essentially the same place as Davis, let me say that I do not know him personally. Like most of you, I feel like I know him through his public life in interviews, tweets, and articles written by those with him first-hand.

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My guess — and that is what it is — is that Davis would be content to sign for whatever amount the Orioles offered that was at all fair. I think his statements of affection and appreciation for the Orioles and the city of Baltimore are fully genuine. But I believe he has an agent to do a job for him, to advise him and to handle the negotiations fully. That agent is advising him to be patient and to hold out; and I believe he is following the advice of the person he is paying to give him advice — that’s why you pay someone rather than handle it yourself.

My further guess is that Davis feels the weight of being in a peculiar circumstance at the top of the class. He feels very blessed to be in such rare air. Few others get this chance. What he does has an impact on others who will come after him. He stands on the shoulders of others who went before him and stood strong and resolute to build the system of rewards that exists today … that he is on the cusp of gaining from in a significant way. Those people did not cave in easily with an attitude of “I’ll just be content with this large amount offered, rather than fight for more.”  I am guessing that Davis feels an obligation to those both before him and after him to play out the hand fully and not lay down his cards.

Next: 5 Reasons for Concern for the 2016 Season

In shorter fashion I previously rendered this basic opinion and was a bit taken apart by someone who accused me of just casting the blame upon Boras, an easy target. If it looks like that, that is not my intent; I’m just trying to make sense of the situation in a way that is consistent with the persona of the person we feel we know, being unwilling to see Chris as merely motivated by all-out greed. I just don’t think he’s that guy.