Steve Davis: Orioles Showing In It To Win It
With the Yovani Gallardo signing, no one can complain that the Orioles aren't willing to spend what it takes. As of writing this at 10 am Monday morning, the Orioles hadn't followed up Gallardo with Dexter Fowler, but everyone seems to think that is next.
The Orioles went on a huge spending spree to build the 2016 team. They outbid everybody for Chris Davis and Darren O'Day. While it didn't cost a tremendous amount for Gallardo, they were willing to do what other teams weren't by giving up a draft pick. They're giving large one year deals to Wieters and Trumbo. They didn't non-tender any of the arbitration eligible players (like Matusz) to save money. The Orioles will have a payroll in excess of $150 million, and maybe $160 million, which will put them in the top 10 in baseball.
Whatever complaints people had about ownership being too cheap to spend, you need to drop those now. The owner has opened the checkbook, and if the Orioles don't win it, it won't because they weren't willing to compete in the payroll game.