Time is the ultimate winner in any sport. Players have to make adjustments as time ages them. Players who want to stay relevant figure out how to hit, pitch, and field as age makes their bodies more susceptible to injury and fatigue.
Those who don’t adjust become frustrating to their fan bases. Especially when they have contracts like that belonging to Chris Davis of the Orioles. His contract has become the poster child for what not to do as an MLB GM.
Of qualifying batters in 2018, Chris Davis had the worst batting stats in the MLB. And, not by a little bit. Joey Gallo, who is notorious for hitting home runs and not much else, finished the season with a batting average of .208. Davis’s batting average was .168. And, the rest of the slash wasn’t any better: .243/.296 – all three of the slash stats were dead last in the MLB.
Unfortunately, 2018 wasn’t a fluke for Davis. He’s been bad for several years. In 2015 and 2016, he led the AL in strikeouts. In 2017, he hit .215/.309/.423. In 2016, he hit .221/.332/.459.
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Yet, the Orioles keep paying him. In fact, they are on the hook for an additional $92 million through 2022. The Orioles have paid him $23 million per year since 2016 thanks to him hitting 47 home runs in 2015.
Davis has been to one All-Star Game in 2013 – he hit 53 home runs that year. He has one Silver Slugger Award from that same season. Otherwise, nothing.
Davis’s contract (along with the ridiculous money paid to Mark Trumbo) kept the Orioles from being able to keep Manny Machado. Davis has become a symbol for the team, that lost 115 games. Consider how difficult it would be to get wins when your first baseman – who should be one of the best hitters on the team – out a measly 79 hits in 522 plate appearances.
The Orioles will never be able to trade Davis. They are stuck with him for four more long seasons. It’s going to be a rough four years in Baltimore, as the empty seats in Camden Yards already prove.