When Do the Orioles Play Again

Orioles get-go baseman Chris Davis has announced his retirement from baseball game. In a statement issued via the team, Davis said:

Afterward an extended time dealing with my injury and recent hip surgery, I informed the Orioles virtually my conclusion to retire effective today. I want to give thanks the Orioles partnership grouping, led by the Angelos family unit, the Orioles system, my teammates and coaches, the University of Maryland Children's Hospital with whom I volition continue to involved post-obit my retirement and, of grade, Birdland. Thank you for all the many memories I will cherish forever.

The Orioles issued a statement of their own, thanking Davis for the 11 years he's given to the organisation and his considerable charity work in the Baltimore community:

Athletes take the power to change lives and better their communities, and Chris and his family have done just that. We adore their dedication to those most in need, with hundreds of hours of community piece of work completed, millions of dollars donated, and countless other charitable efforts performed, frequently without fanfare. For every inning played and home run hit, hour of service completed and amount donated, the Davis family has made an immeasurable touch on our city and on Orioles baseball. We send our best wishes to Chris, his married woman Jill, and their daughters Ella, Evie, and Grace, each of whom volition forever be part of our Orioles family.

The announcement from Davis comes at a time when he withal has one twelvemonth remaining on the franchise-tape, vii-yr, $161MM contract he signed with the Orioles in the 2015-16 offseason. That contract calls for a $23MM salary to be paid to Davis next year, and MLB Network'south Jon Heyman reports he'll still receive that bacon (Twitter links). As part of the agreement to pay out that final year, however, he's agreed to some grade of restructuring, per Heyman.

Davis' deferral-laden contract had originally pushed out $6MM of his $23MM salary each year. He'd been set to receive $three.5MM payments on July i each twelvemonth from 2023-32 and $ane.4MM payments on July 1 from 2033-37.

While at that place's no alter to Davis' 2021 salary and deferrals, a source tells MLBTR that the size of the 2022 deferral will increase from that previously scheduled $6MM mark. He'll now have about half of next year'south salary deferred and paid out over the 3 subsequent years, further stripping down the payroll in 2022, lowering the nowadays-day value of the contract and allowing them to free up a forty-human roster spot sooner than originally scheduled. Davis, meanwhile, will still go the full $23MM, albeit a bit more slowly than originally called for. He'll likewise retain his benefits and insurance with the Orioles through the 2022 season.

It was a massive commitment to Davis, who was at the time i of the premier sluggers in all of baseball. Davis led the Majors twice — 53 in 2013 and 47 in 2015 — and was baseball'southward top dwelling house run hitter by a wide margin in the four years leading up to that contract. From 2012-fifteen, Davis hitting 159 home runs, was eight more than than Edwin Encarnacion's second-place mark of 151 and a whopping 24 more than than Nelson Cruz, who was third-highest with 135.

Strikeouts were a articulate concern for Davis, whose 2014 season looked to be a red flag. He slashed just .196/.300/.404 that yr while fanning in 33 percent of his plate appearances. A huge rebound campaign in 2015, however, saw Davis turn in a .262/.351/.562 slash and position himself for a major payday upon reaching the open up market.

The motility hasn't paid off, of course. Davis swatted 38 home runs in the first season of the contract but did then with a diminished overall .221/.332/.459 batting line. His production dipped below the league boilerplate in 2017 and continued a steady decline in subsequent years. Davis hasn't batted above .200 or posted an OBP to a higher place .300 since 2017, and his hip status has prevented him from taking the field at all in 2021. On the whole, he's batted only .196/.291/.379 in 2118 plate appearances since putting pen to newspaper on that extension.

Injuries played a notable role in his reject, equally in addition to the current hip issue he's also spent time on the shelf with forearm, oblique, back and human knee injuries. It's been the recurring hip troubles that proved insurmountable, all the same. Davis has been bothered by left hip hurting for years and underwent arthroscopic surgery earlier this season in hopes of putting the outcome behind him. Unfortunately, doctors adamant that Davis' hip status was degenerative, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (Twitter link), leaving little to no take a chance of him returning to the condition necessary to take the field.

Davis will be remembered in many circles more for the sick-fated contract than his legacy on the field, which is frankly a chip of a shame. While his top wasn't specially lengthy, he spent a half decade every bit the league'south leading home run hitter and posted a combined .249/.340/.518 batting line in that time. The 3-true-outcomes skill gear up which Davis embodied has grown increasingly mutual and increasingly polarizing in recent years, only fifty-fifty his detractors would have a difficult time denying that during that v-year run, Davis was among the game'due south most prominent offensive players.

That 2012-16 run coincided with some of the Orioles' best years in recent memory, every bit the O'southward made three postseason appearances along the way and reached the American League Championship Series in 2014.

In the end, Davis will retire as a career .233/.315/.459 hitter with 295 home runs, 228 doubles, v triples, 19 stolen bases, 707 runs scored and a 780 runs batted in. He made an All-Star team, won a Silver Slugger Laurels and finished third in 2013 MVP voting.

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Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/08/chris-davis-announces-retirement-orioles.html