Report: Orioles make contract offer to Cespedes
The Baltimore Orioles appear to have run out of patience with Chris Davis.
Desperate to add a power bat to the lineup, the Orioles have reportedly made an offer to free-agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, a source told Roch Kubatko of MASN.
News of the reported offer, believed to be in the neighborhood of $90 million over five years, came moments before ESPN's Jerry Crasnick tweeted that the Orioles are growing increasingly frustrated with Davis' demands and could be close to walking away from a potential deal altogether.
The market for Cespedes, meanwhile, has been slow to develop, with the Orioles and Chicago White Sox believed to be among the most interested teams in the Cuban slugger.
Cespedes - who Kubatko notes the Orioles like more than fellow free-agent outfielder Justin Upton - would fill a major need in not only the corner outfield, but also in the middle of the order. The 30-year-old is coming off a year in which he hit .291/.328/.542 with a career-high 35 home runs and 105 RBIs in 159 games.
Manager Buck Showalter insisted Thursday that the club's interest in Cespedes is unrelated to Davis, saying instead that the club is more concerned with whether to surrender a compensatory draft pick to sign either Upton or Howie Kendrick, another player Baltimore's been linked to.
''We've talked about all of them. We talked about Upton, we talked about Kendrick," Showalter said. "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.''
Orioles general manager Dan Duquette opened the offseason hoping to lure Davis back, even extending a seven-year, $154-million offer to the eight-year veteran that has since been tabled. Duquette said he still hasn't given up on Davis, who had 47 homers and 117 RBIs last season.
''We've been looking to upgrade our team and we'd like to sign another hitter," he said.
- With files from The Associated Press