Baltimore Orioles: A New Era of Larger Spending?

With the signing of Chris Davis to a large contract, a 2016 payroll already larger than ever, and news that the Baltimore Orioles are alleged to have offered a five-year contract to Yoenis Cespedes, is this a new era of spending for the O’s?

The reputation of the Orioles is one of being cautious to spend easily on high-level players and free agents. Historically, the team is annually near the middle of the pack in MLB salary obligations, perhaps just a step or two above the center point.

That fact is often lost on many Orioles fans, believing that the Angelos reputation of being tight with the checkbook would mean that the Birds are more likely in the bottom third of the sport.

It is also a surprise to a majority of the fanbase that the Orioles were willing to lay out $161 million to Davis, even factoring the extensive deferrals that are a part of the contract structure. Beyond that, the O’s went to the necessary extent to return Darren O’Day. And even more beyond that is having the return of Matt Wieters, the ongoing high-level salaries for Adam Jones, Ubaldo Jimenez, and J.J. Hardy; and this does not factor the need to lock up pending stars like Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop.

So the Wednesday morning news that the Orioles were in on Cespedes just last week (so after the Davis deal) to the extent of a five-year offer is practically unimaginable. This news was tweeted by Jon Heyman …

In previous considerations with Cespedes, guesses were that the Orioles might have been offering about $18-20 million a year. The outfielder settled for three years at $75 million with the Mets, obviously believing he will do well and collect more eventually in fourth and fifth years on another deal. More than likely he will do that.

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But oh my, what a lineup that would have been! But also, what an addition to the payroll. Such an addition that it cannot be conceived in Baltimore. And beyond that, this news raises the question as to what the Orioles might still be willing to do.

Of course, we don’t know the number within the offer. Maybe it wasn’t very impressive at all. And if he accepted it, what other players might the Orioles have shed through trades to lower the costs?

An article yesterday on MLBTR.com goes into some speculation about deals the Orioles could make, not that any of them have rumors or much of substance connected. But it is interesting to see considerations like Austin Jackson or Yovani Gallardo.

I confess to being of the opinion that the Orioles are not going to make any large moves with the remainder of this offseason … that instead, the Birds and Duquette will look for a last-minute bargain on a free agent or bounce-back player. I still think this is the more likely scenario, but I would have never believed the Orioles would have been in on Cespedes, if it is true.

Again, the prevailing conventional wisdom is that the Orioles have no chance to seriously compete without a major move to address the starting rotation. This was flatly stated yesterday in an article in the MLB Daily Dish on SB Nation, calling the Orioles, in the style of Donald Trump, “losers” in the offseason. Of the rotation, the writer says …

"Simply put, that starting staff cannot help carry a team to the playoffs. While bringing back Davis and O’Day helps the Orioles maintain production at those positions, Dan Duquette just didn’t do enough to elevate Baltimore back to a playoff-contending team."

Without doubt, this is the largest concern approaching the new season. But there is enough talent in this group if they pitch at a high level. Nobody predicted the 2014 rotation to have a 3.61 ERA, while everyone thought they would perform well in 2015. As I’ve written in the past, I don’t completely buy the conventional wisdom on starters being the absolute necessity for success, nor does Steve Melewski, who in his recent MASN article gave more statistical reasons to not panic about a sub-average starting staff.

Next: Evaluating the Efren Navarro Acquisition

Now let’s get this snow melted and get to the best season of the year.