First Domino to Fall? (Gordon back to KC, 4 yrs $72M)

[DrungoHazewood]

Don't you find it pretty amazing that they went from 4/50 to 4/72 AND that their willingness to do so didn't piss Gordon off royally (pun intended) because of the opening bid.

IMO, either the initial reports are inaccurate OR Gordon is a pretty darn intelligent, grounded guy who doesn't let negotiations bother him at all. I know of almost nobody who could have gotten past 4/50 and settled at 4/72, especially when the predictions were 5/100

On the Royal's side, they really took a swing for the hometown discount fences with 4/50. LOL. Good for them for having the cojones to do that. It could have backfired easily.

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Imagine if the O's went public with a 4/80 offer to Davis, or maybe 3/30 for Chen. That's what the Royals did.

[DrungoHazewood]

This is exactly what they should have done. But I'm sure they didn't do that.

Man, this is frustrating. How could we not have been at least in the bidding here? We probably could have had him for less than $100 mil. Huge missed opportunity for our front office. At least make the royals commit to more years or dollars.

There is no way we should offer Davis the 7/154 deal now. If we do I will be incensed. Davis is absolutely not worth double the value in years or dollars of Gordon. He may not even be worth more than Gordon is when you factor in Alex's defense. I know Gordon took a hometown discount, but so should CD (especially in our hitter-friendly park).

Do we have any insight into what the Orioles did or didn't do?

[pastorfan]

So this could mean cheaper Davis, but does that then mean more teams in on Davis? Not sure if this is good or bad news. Let's say Davis will take less dollars from a different team and just really wants an opt out. That could be it for the O's.

You are exactly right. One of two possibilities: We could now afford Cespedes & Davis or a team like the NYY who may not have a spot for Davis this year, decides to sign him since the price is lower than expected. Again, I advocate Cespedes & Davis so we keep our pick. But Davis & Boras are going to wait a while. This is a major blow to their ego!

[Going Underground]

Be interesting to see what Davis signs for. The Oriole offer supposedly had a lot of deferred money.

[SteveO]

At that price, I would have jumped at Gordon.

That was my first thought also.

If I am the Orioles, I am seriously gonna have to consider dropping that offer to Davis some. Perhaps dropping it to 5-6 years and dropping the AAV slightly as well. Boras and Davis wanted to play the market, looks like the market may have played them.

[Machado13]

If that's what Gordon signed for, Davis should get worried. No way is he even close to 7/150 if Gordon took 4/72

[oriolediehard]

When are the O's going to sign somebody? When are they going to stop doing nothing?

[Babypowder]

I would have taken Gordon at 4/80 easily, maybe a little more. Would 8MM more have been enough to persuade him though?

[TonySoprano]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Gordon salary in 1st yr of four-yr, $72M deal is lower, giving <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash">#Royals</a> chance to make other moves. Deal also includes deferrals.</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="

">January 6, 2016</a></blockquote>

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[FanSince88]

I hope we take the same attitude that players take when comparing/contrasting their salaries with others.

Given what the Royals got Gordon for, we shouldn't be paying over $100 mil for Davis, Upton, or Cespedes. I'd actually rather have Davis than the last two but not for more than 5/100. If the Yanks want to commit to him for 6 years for $130 mil, let them. As for Upton or Cespedes, both have possible attitude issues unlike Gordon and are righties and don't play as well defensively as Gordon or get on base like Gordon does. No more than 5/100 for either of them.

[DrungoHazewood]

Exactly! The board would have gone nuts with posts about how the Orioles weren't serious about winning, blah, blah, blah.

Negotiations can't be emotional or you lose almost every time.

Remember when the Royals signed replacement-level Alex Rios and the Orioles signed Travis Snider and the Royals were bloody brilliant and the Orioles were cheap SOBs? If the Orioles lowballed Chen or Davis or, well, anyone, the Warehouse might currently be on fire.

[FanSince88]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Gordon salary in 1st yr of four-yr, $72M deal is lower, giving <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash">#Royals</a> chance to make other moves. Deal also includes deferrals.</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="

">January 6, 2016</a></blockquote>

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Jesus. These guys are dipped in it even in the freaking offseason.

[weams]

Strange. Both Heyward and Gordon's deals appear to be valued like they're average fielders. 4/75 would be paying for a player with an established value of three wins. Gordon's actual established fWAR baseline is about 4.5. By my figurin' the Royals are getting him at a 40% discount.

Free agency does not really pay for the fine arts.

[DrungoHazewood]

I would have taken Gordon at 4/80 easily, maybe a little more. Would 8MM more have been enough to persuade him though?

Would you move halfway across the country, uproot your family, get all new coworkers and friends, and go to work for a company coming off a less-successful year to take the same job for 10% more pay? For me the answer would be an immediate "No!" I think it would have taken more like 5/90, maybe 5/100.

[pastorfan]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Gordon salary in 1st yr of four-yr, $72M deal is lower, giving <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash">#Royals</a> chance to make other moves. Deal also includes deferrals.</p>— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) <a href="

">January 6, 2016</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Excellent strategy for Royals to capitalize on their window. The opposite strategy DD used last offseason for the O's. DD's strategy was to sign no one of worth and assume Travis Snyder was actually good.