Baltimore Orioles were in on Yoenis Cespedes

The Baltimore Orioles continued their pursuit of Yoenis Cespedes after the Chris Davis deal.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Baltimore Orioles continued their pursuit of free agent slugger Yoenis Cespedes even after they inked Chris Davis to the biggest contract in team history. If you read the article that I linked above, the Birds had a five-year contract on the table to Cespedes. The net worth of the contract was unspecified, however it’s duration was for five years.

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The Washington Nationals were also involved in trying to land Cespedes on their team, however the article above states that lots of the money in their offer was deferred. I’d be very interested to hear what the offers were year-over-year, however at the end of the day Cespedes stayed in NY. While I suspect that the Orioles’ and Washington’s offers were probably for less than $25 million per year, the Orioles’ offer at least was for five years – which should have been attractive to a player like Cespedes.

My view is that at the end of the day he wanted to stay in NY. I think that while he was only there for the pennant chase and World Series run, he enjoyed playing there. So all things being in the same general ballpark (in terms of year-over-year salary), I suspect he simply decided to stay in NY.

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The good news for O’s fans is that it does show that the Birds are still trying to spend money to upgrade the team. Granted some would justifiably argue that the money should be put into pitching at this point, however a lineup featuring Chris Davis, Yoenis Cespedes, and others would be a murderer’s row. It would probably resemble some of the BoSox’s lineups of the mid-to-late 2000’s. Offensively the Birds are in pretty good shape as it is, they just would have looked better.

But once again, this is indicative of players liking where they were and doing all they could to stay there. Many fans probably thought that the offer to Cespedes probably was a red herring and a message to Davis more than anything else. Needless to say, it didn’t hurt in those negotiations. However the Orioles were serious about bringing him in and having him play for the orange and black.

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Whether it’s pitching or hitting, we’re starting to get to the point in the off season where prices might start to come down on guys. Pitchers and catchers report in a few short weeks, and lots of players are probably getting a bit nervous if they don’t already have a team. So that could bode in the Orioles’ favor.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: Steve Pearce off the board

On an unrelated topic, I want to mention that today is the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger exploding. I was five years old and watching the lift off on live television after coming home from AM kindergarden. I was stunned and devestated, as a kid that loved (and still loves) space and the stars. May the “Challenger Seven” continue to rest in peace, and know that their contribution to America and her space program has never been forgotten. Some events rock the world; that was one of them.

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