Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis announced his retirement on Friday, citing a hip injury that would prevent him from playing ever again. As unfortunate as that is for Davis, there’s a pretty significant silver lining for him.
In January 2016, Davis signed a seven-year, $161 million deal with the Orioles. That contract proved disastrous for Baltimore, as Davis struggled to the tune of a .196 average after signing it. Worse, he only added 92 home runs over the life of the deal. His 2019 season featured a brutal hitless streak that set unwanted records.
2022 would have been the final season of the Davis deal, and Baltimore still would have owed him $17 million. That’s in addition to $6 million in deferrals Davis had already agreed to. Dan Connolly of The Athletic reported that the Orioles had agreed to spread out Davis’ 2022 $17 million salary over several years beyond 2022 in order to avoid paying a lump sum all at once. That's in addition to previously agreed upon deferred payments.
According to Spotrac, the Orioles will pay Davis just over $9 million per year through 2025. After that, the payments will be reduced to $3.5 million per year in deferred salary through 2032. Then they’ll pay him $1.4 million annually through 2037, at which point Davis will be 51 years old. In total, Davis will pick up another $42 million from the Orioles over a 15-year period starting in 2023.
Davis’ future payments have some similarities with what the New York Mets are still doing with Bobby Bonilla, albeit in a more condensed timeline. The Mets still pay Bonilla just shy of $1.2 million every July 1 as part of an agreement they made with him when they released him after the 1999 season. That has prompted July 1 to be recognized as “Bobby Bonilla day” by many Mets fans, which even the team’s owner has made light of.
Davis will be getting paid money he was entitled to make either way, so it’s not quite the same scenario as the Mets have with Bonilla. That said, Orioles fans might have to start recognizing Chris Davis day the same way.
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