The Orioles remain in contact with outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and have made a five-year offer to the free agent worth $75-90 million according to MASN.
While the Orioles await a decision from Chris Davis they have been active trying to pursue other options. Davis has been offered around $150 million but is still deciding his options for 2016 and beyond. While the Orioles must be growing frustrated that Davis remains unsigned the offer to Cespedes may not impact their ability to re-sign the league leader in home runs.
The Orioles avoided arbitration with outfielder Mark Trumbo on Thursday agreeing to a one-year deal. If Davis is unable to be re-signed the Orioles would figure to play Trumbo at first base.
“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.”
Last season Cespedes had a career year while splitting time between the Tigers and the Mets. He totaled career bests of 42 doubles, 35 home runs and a .291 batting average.
