Baltimore Orioles: Staying put

Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles isn’t the only one staying where he is this winter.

The Baltimore Orioles were able to keep Chris Davis this winter as we already know. However the same appears to be true in other places, such as Queens, NY. The NY Mets last night re-signed Yoenis Cespedes to a three-year deal worth $75 million.

Go figure, the deal includes the dreaded opt-out clause – and my aversion to those is well-documented. If that was a major selling point, the O’s would have never had a chance. However keep in mind also that the need for Cespedes was marginalized after the Davis signing.

However either way, I think it’s interesting that we’re seeing lots of free agents now staying with their old teams. In Cespedes’ case it’s perhaps a bit different in that he was traded to New York midway through the season. However he was a part of something great in the second half and in the post-season, and he obviously liked it enough to want to stay.

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I also heard that there were other teams who made bigger offers on Cespedes. That’s not a confirmed fact, it’s just a rumor that’s floating around. If that’s true, then it shows you how much Cespedes wants to stay in New York. On the flip side, it could also be an indication that players are starting to take the attitude of once you get into a certain income bracket, does it really matter if it’s one or two million a year more or less?

And that would be a good thing – in theory. People say all the time that athletes are way overpaid. Maybe they are; but sports is a lucrative business. But if this trend of athletes wanting to stay with their teams continues, could it change free agency or the baseball business in general?