BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles have run out of patience in their effort to re-sign free agent slugger Chris Davis.
Executive vice-president of baseball operations Dan Duquette said Saturday that the team has rescinded a contract proposal to Davis believed to be in the vicinity of $150 million.
"There is no offer on the table right now," Duquette said. "At some point we’re going to have to look at some other options. I can tell you this: We’re going to have a good ballclub either way."
Baltimore has been persistent this off-season in its pursuit of Davis, who had a major-league leading 47 homers last season along with 117 RBIs. He hit 53 home runs in 2013 and has averaged 40 long balls with the Orioles over the past four years.
Despite being considered to be a mid-market team, Baltimore put up big bucks in an effort to get Davis back in the fold.
"We’ve been very aggressive on that front and it didn’t yield a deal," Duquette said. "We’ll have to find some left-handed hitters to balance the lineup."
If Davis doesn’t return, the list of prospective first basemen for the Orioles includes recent addition Mark Trumbo, Steve Pearce, and minor leaguers Trey Mancini and Christian Walker.
That’s one reason why manager Buck Showalter did not express disappointment over the break in negotiations with Davis and his agent, Scott Boras.
"I don’t dwell on it," Showalter said. "We have been competitive to a point. They’ve got to make a decision on how much is enough. We’d like to have him, but we’ll be fine either way."
Duquette, Showalter and many of the team’s players gathered for FanFest, an annual event designed to generate enthusiasm for the upcoming season.
Much of the talk centred on Davis. While it remains uncertain if Davis will return, many of the Orioles were happy that the team at least made an effort to get him back.
"I think they’ve been aggressive. That’s all I can ask for," centre fielder Adam Jones said. "It’s up to the player. I would love to have him on my team, but he’s going to have to make the best business decision for himself."
Shortstop J.J. Hardy said: "It’s nice to know they’re willing to go out there and spend that much money to stay competitive. Hopefully he accepts and we get him back."
It’s already been a positive off-season for the Orioles. Catcher Matt Wieters accepted the team’s qualifying offer, Trumbo was obtained in a trade with Seattle and Baltimore is about to close a four-year deal with set-up man Darren O’Day.
"We just have one more item to get done on that contract," Duquette said. "Hopefully we can get that resolved in the next couple of days."
So if Davis doesn’t return, Duquette will look elsewhere for a left-handed hitter.
"The good thing for the Orioles is we’ve been able to add Trumbo, who’s a solid power hitter," Duquette said. "We got Wieters back, and we’re returning Jones and (Manny) Machado, and Jonathan Schoop and Caleb Joseph. We’ve got some power up the middle, but we could use some balance from the left side."
Duquette is willing to wait for Davis. But he said, "We’d like to have our roster in place if we can by Christmas."
Unless Davis signs, Jones will remain the Orioles’ highest-paid player. Before last season ended, the outfielder said he asked Duquette and owner Peter Angelos to make sure the team opened its wallet in the pursuit of talent.
Jones is thus far satisfied with the results of the conversation.
"By what they’re doing, offering (Davis) seven years north of $150 million, I think they’ve grabbed hold of what I wanted to get through to them," Jones said. "That’s all I asked: show the effort to keep this team intact."
