Orioles Offer To Yoenis Cespedes: Good Or Bad For Chris Davis?

The Baltimore Orioles have reportedly made a contract offer to free-agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, according to a report from MASN Sports.

Although no additional details about the offer have been released, sources told ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick on Thursday that the Orioles have been discussing an offer for Cespedes for about five years, and that the bid lies somewhere in the range of $75 million to $90 million.

The 30-year-old outfielder has lasted far longer on the free-agent market than most people expected after helping lead the New York Mets to the NL East title and the World Series Last Season.

The Orioles are looking elsewhere to boost their lineup while waiting for slugger Chris Davis to make a decision on where he’ll play this year. Davis, a free-agent first baseman, has been offered approximately $150 million to return to Baltimore, although he remains unsigned. However, sources claim Davis has been very frustrating with his demands for the Orioles.

“Cespedes is an option, but it has nothing to do with Chris,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Thursday. “We’ve talked about all of them. We talked about [Justin] Upton, we talked about [Howie] Kendrick. We’re more interested in, do we want to give up a draft pick or not? We’ve got seven picks in the first 100 this year.”

Cespedes was acquired by the Mets from the Detroit Tigers on the July 31 trade deadline following a dead deal with the Milwaukee Brewers for Carlos Gomez. In 57 games after his trade to the Mets, Cespedes hit .287 with 17 homers and 44 RBI. For the entire season, he hit .291 with 35 homers and 105 RBI, as well as 42 doubles.

He was slowed during the postseason by a left shoulder injury that required a cortisone injection before the World Series. Cespedes also suffered an injury during the final game of the World Series, after he painfully fouled a pitch off his left knee.