The current Baltimor Orioles all-time player has formally announced his retirement due to his wife.
The Orioles’ Chris Davis era is officially over. The team unexpectedly revealed on Twitter on Thursday morning that Davis is retiring from baseball, effective today. Here we are, years after it was unclear what would happen or what would be done with Davis. He simply made the decision one August morning to declare that he was giving up on his playing career.
Davis’s remarks, which were released along with the news of his retirement:
I notified the Orioles of my decision to retire with effect from today, having spent a considerable amount of time managing my injury and undergoing recent hip surgery.
I would like to express my gratitude to the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital, the Angelos family, the Orioles organization, my teammates, and coaches.
After I retire, I will still be involved with Birdland, of course. I’m grateful to everyone for the numerous memories I will always treasure.
Regards, CD
This unexpected announcement has taken me completely by surprise; I’m not even sure how to respond. There’s not much reason to dwell on Davis’s dismal performance over the first, or if you’re being really generous, the first two, years of his seven-year, $161 million contract, which he signed after the 2015 season.
Everyone is aware. He was awful. Some wanted him cut by the Orioles the moment Mike Elias took over. Some wished Davis would simply decide to call it quits at some point. As for me, I believed there was no way, no way that It would be Davis who decided to call it quits.
The idea that Davis would be giving up money by retiring was entwined with the “Davis should retire!” debate. Veteran MLB writer Jon Heyman stated on Twitter that the team will continue to pay Davis his 2022 salary. In that regard, I suppose I was still correct to believe that Davis would not take his money and run.
In the best sense of the word, Heyman frequently has access to insider knowledge about the clients of Davis’s representative, agent Scott Boras.
If he states that Davis will receive payment, then Davis will receive payment, and anyone whose first thought is to rejoice over the O’s departure should stop It appears that is not the case from under that money.
Heyman continued, saying Davis has consented to a “restructuring.” What that restructuring looks like is probably something that will be found out later.
This might turn out to be similar to a few years ago when Prince Fielder chose to retire with years remaining on his contract, which allowed his team to collect some insurance money because he was unable to play on. Alternatively, it could be similar to Bobby Bonilla and the Mets, with Davis receiving a small payment on July 1st of each year for the next forty years.
Regardless of what happens with the money, the fact remains that over a decade has passed since he and Tommy Hunter were traded to the Orioles, and Davis is done; he sent Koji Uehara to the Rangers. His career batting average with the team was.230/.318/.459. Davis hit even better during the Orioles’ competitive run from 2012 to 2016, hitting.249/.340/.518 with 197 home runs in those years.
One major disappointment from that era is that the Orioles were not as good in 2013 and 2015, Davis’s two best seasons.
It would be best if nothing was said about his tenure starting in 2018. Following an injury he sustained during spring training that persisted until he underwent season-ending hip surgery, Davis never even made it onto the field in 2021. He spent enough time at spring training to provide an insightful interview regarding the status of the rebuilding.
putting forth an unfavorable effort, he said, “I’m the one big lump they’re kind of stuck with.”
It’s not as though the Orioles have been hindered by Davis’s salary for a number of years. In his last months with the Orioles, Dan Duquette significantly reduced payroll, and Mike Elias has carried on the tradition.
This year, the O’s Opening Day payroll was approximately $57 million, ranking them 27th in MLB according to Cot’s Contracts. In any case, it was unlikely that they would begin spending again before Davis’s contract expired.
