2K24: Baltimore Orioles

[madducks]

Jorge Mateo looks like the Orioles new starting 2B after they claimed him off of waivers last week. He's already OF eligible and has 2 starts at 2B so far. Statcast says that the 26 year-old Mateo is the fastest player in baseball. He's got 2 steals in his first 3 games with the Orioles. So, if you need stolen bases...

[madducks]

Chris Davis has taken the exit ramp off of the interstate:

Chris Davis has announced his retirement from baseball.

Davis had one year and $23 million remaining on the seven-year, $161 million contract that he signed with the Orioles in January 2016, and he'll still get all of that money in a restructured settlement with deferrals, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The 35-year-old needed hip surgery back in May and had not played in a game this season after also being limited to just 16 games (55 plate appearances) during the shortened 2020 campaign. Davis finishes with 1,160 career hits and 295 career home runs.

[rhd]

Chris Davis has announced his retirement from baseball.

Finally! The O's should have "retired" him a long time ago, at least from their team.

[Ken]

Finally! The O's should have "retired" him a long time ago, at least from their team.

They will get him off their books after 2037 (seriously)

[rhd]

And Davis is getting the entire amount he is due under his contract, altho some of it is deferred. He reportedly has said all along that he wouldnt eat a penny of this contract, even tho for the last 5 years of this 7-yr, $161 mil deal he's been worse than useless. I dont know what kind of guy he is - he reportedly has done a lot for the community - but to me the classy thing to have done would have been for him to say at some point "I havent been able to perform as well as I anticipated the last few years. The team has been good to me and I have more than enough money to last me for the rest of my life so in the best interests of the team I am forfeiting the rest of the money on my contract." Easy for me to say, obviously - it's not my money. Some athletes have done something like that in the past, altho I cant think of any examples.

[Art Vandelay]

And Davis is getting the entire amount he is due under his contract, altho some of it is deferred. He reportedly has said all along that he wouldnt eat a penny of this contract, even tho for the last 5 years of this 7-yr, $161 mil deal he's been worse than useless. I dont know what kind of guy he is - he reportedly has done a lot for the community - but to me the classy thing to have done would have been for him to say at some point "I havent been able to perform as well as I anticipated the last few years. The team has been good to me and I have more than enough money to last me for the rest of my life so in the best interests of the team I am forfeiting the rest of the money on my contract." Easy for me to say, obviously - it's not my money. Some athletes have done something like that in the past, altho I cant think of any examples.

a KC pitcher passed on the final year of a 5 year contract. $12,000,000 sounds like the number he left on the table but I am probably wrong

[chancellor]

And Davis is getting the entire amount he is due under his contract, altho some of it is deferred. He reportedly has said all along that he wouldnt eat a penny of this contract, even tho for the last 5 years of this 7-yr, $161 mil deal he's been worse than useless. I dont know what kind of guy he is - he reportedly has done a lot for the community - but to me the classy thing to have done would have been for him to say at some point "I havent been able to perform as well as I anticipated the last few years. The team has been good to me and I have more than enough money to last me for the rest of my life so in the best interests of the team I am forfeiting the rest of the money on my contract." Easy for me to say, obviously - it's not my money. Some athletes have done something like that in the past, altho I cant think of any examples.

Once MLB creates decent conditions for minor leaguers and pays younger players something resembling their worth, I might consider this. MLB expects players to play for their contracts, no matter how undervalued; when they screw up and overpay, I'm glad their feet are held to the fire. Even better, this sounds like a Bonilla-like payout, so Baltimore ownership will get to be tormented for another 15-20 years.

Every player should make sure they get every penny and every benefit out of MLB and its owners.

[Gregg]

And Davis is getting the entire amount he is due under his contract, altho some of it is deferred. He reportedly has said all along that he wouldnt eat a penny of this contract, even tho for the last 5 years of this 7-yr, $161 mil deal he's been worse than useless. I dont know what kind of guy he is - he reportedly has done a lot for the community - but to me the classy thing to have done would have been for him to say at some point "I havent been able to perform as well as I anticipated the last few years. The team has been good to me and I have more than enough money to last me for the rest of my life so in the best interests of the team I am forfeiting the rest of the money on my contract." Easy for me to say, obviously - it's not my money. Some athletes have done something like that in the past, altho I cant think of any examples.

On June 13th 1994 Ryne Sandberg retired giving up $16M in salary for that year. He was 34 years old.

[rhd]

Even better, this sounds like a Bonilla-like payout, so Baltimore ownership will get to be tormented for another 15-20 years.

You're right about this. I had thought it was going to be deferred over just 3 years but it's drawn out until 2037, w him getting $1.4 mil per yr over the last 5 years. So not as long as the Bonilla deal but pretty long.

I disagree w you about players not ever giving back a penny but obviously a lot of people feel the way you do.

Now that I think of it, I think Chipper Jones left money on the table when he retired.

[pitbull]

Many years ago Al Kaline refused a pay raise to $100,000 because he felt because he didn't perform up to his standards. Of course in those days players didn't have a choice in FA and Kaline was a classy act. That being said it a different world today. Personally if Davis continues to get paid or if he decides to tell the O's he doesn't deserve it or he gives it to charity I'm fine with whatever he does.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I see a difference between "I don't want to play anymore" or "I don't want to go through injury rehab for the chance to play again some day" versus "I'm not good enough to be a major league regular anymore and the fans wish I would retire". The latter may lead to the former, but it also may not.

[Kevin Seitzer]

MLB expects players to play for their contracts, no matter how undervalued; when they screw up and overpay, I'm glad their feet are held to the fire. Even better, this sounds like a Bonilla-like payout, so Baltimore ownership will get to be tormented for another 15-20 years.

Every player should make sure they get every penny and every benefit out of MLB and its owners.

I agree with all of this.

Once MLB creates decent conditions for minor leaguers and pays younger players something resembling their worth, I might consider this.

This part is overblown in most cases. Yes, there are probably specific exceptions where it is true. But it's not a valid representation of the whole system. Typical minor leaguer who does not get a get big bonus (first few rounds) gets a $125k signing bonus and roughly $45k in salary for four years of minor league service. That's not sitting pretty but it's a livable wage when you add them together. Medical is covered for all players, and housing is covered for some sets of players particularly at lower levels of the minors but not for most players in general. Was it worse a few years ago? Yes. Are there a small fraction of players who get significantly less than $125k signing bonus? Yes, although those tend to be the players who either (a) aren't considered very good major league prospects or (b) turned down a bigger bonus in the draft the year before and gambled they could do better the next year and lost that gamble.

Most teams are also getting a lot better about the quality of the food they provide for their minor leaguers. Nowadays you see the exceptions called out on Twitter. With the reorganization of the minors this year, a lot of the awful bus rides that minor leaguers were subjected to has been eliminated or significantly diminished. Having said all that, I am still in favor of continuing to make improvements in both salary and other working conditions.

Once you get to the majors, MLB players get a bigger percentage of the revenue pie than the players in other major sports in the U.S. No, it's not pay for performance, but the players' association doesn't want that. I'm pretty sure the owners would sign up for that in a heartbeat. Given the history that got us to where we are, I don't know how to fix all of that. Paying the younger players more means taking from the older players, if the revenue percentage stays constant. Fans want that, but I'm not sure the union does.

Summary: I wish it was better. There's room for improvement. It's not nearly as awful as some people like to portray it.

[Bene Futuis]

You're right about this. I had thought it was going to be deferred over just 3 years but it's drawn out until 2037, w him getting $1.4 mil per yr over the last 5 years. So not as long as the Bonilla deal but pretty long.

I disagree w you about players not ever giving back a penny but obviously a lot of people feel the way you do.

Now that I think of it, I think Chipper Jones left money on the table when he retired.

I'm glad he's getting paid. Like the Orioles would have paid him more than his contract had he outperformed it? There is risk built into every contract and the Orioles made an extremely poor decision at the outset. That now some billionaire owner doesn't get a refund on his stupid deal doesn't phase me one iota.

[revo]

Many years ago Al Kaline refused a pay raise to $100,000 because he felt because he didn't perform up to his standards. Of course in those days players didn't have a choice in FA and Kaline was a classy act. That being said it a different world today. Personally if Davis continues to get paid or if he decides to tell the O's he doesn't deserve it or he gives it to charity I'm fine with whatever he does.

I recall Lyman Bostock, after he signed a big free agent deal with the Angels, asking ownership to pay him less because he didn't play as well as he could have. Stuff like this would never happen today, and this wasn't all that long ago (1977).

[pitbull]

I recall Lyman Bostock, after he signed a big free agent deal with the Angels, asking ownership to pay him less because he didn't play as well as he could have. Stuff like this would never happen today, and this wasn't all that long ago (1977).

I recall Bostock. I think his career came to an end because he was murdered.