Hearing from Chris Davis and Scott Boras

As Chris Davis waited to learn whether the Orioles were serious about keeping him, his agent flew into Baltimore to meet with managing partner Peter Angelos and executive vice president Dan Duquette.

Scott Boras made it clear that his client wanted to stay in Baltimore, that the team, city and ballpark were a perfect fit. He later joked that it might not be the best strategy for the representative of a free agent, but it worked out in the end.

Everyone got what they wanted, with Davis agreeing to a seven-year, $161 million contract that became official this afternoon after he passed a physical.

Boras attended tonight's press conference to re-introduce Davis to the local media. He remained in the back of the room while Davis, Duquette and manager Buck Showalter fielded questions at the dais.

There's a ton of transcription. Here's what I have from Davis and Boras. Check Steve Melewski's blog for quotes from Duquette and Showalter.

Davis' opening statement: "I appreciate the Angelos family, Scott, Dan, Buck, everybody that was involved this offseason, I know it was a fun process for a lot of people. We're excited to be back here. As a player, any time you get to a place where you feel real comfortable and a place where you really feel like it's home, it's always hard when you know that might be coming to an end. At the end of last season, I was going through so many different emotions. To win the last game at home with the situation that we were in, it was kind of a funny feeling. But I just felt like, deep within me somewhere there was a little bit left in the tank and a little bit more to be seen. That gave me peace of mind really throughout the whole offseason.

"We are ecstatic to be back here for a number of years and hopefully kind of continue the tradition of winning that started really from the time that I was traded over here. That's something I take a lot of pride in, the fact that we've been a winning team every year that I've been here and we have a lot of good guys in place, and hopefully we can keep that going."

On whether he thought this deal wouldn't happen: "I don't think so. I think it was kind of the same as when we talked at the end of the season. I didn't ever want to go there. We knew that we have really enjoyed being in Baltimore. For the last four years, that's really all I had known and we've had a lot of success here and it just was a comfortable place to be. My family enjoys it here. I think the fact that we knew they were interested obviously made it a little bit easier. It was a little bit different process than I expected."

On difficulty of the process with negotiations becoming public: "As a guy who kind of tries to stay out of the mix as much as I can, it was a little more stressful, I think, at times than I expected it to be. But it was excited to see that the Orioles signed Darren (O'Day) and that Matt (Wieters) was coming back and to kind of see the direction the team was heading in. I'm glad I went through the process, but I'm glad it ended up the way it did."

On the Orioles keeping O'Day and Wieters: "I'm extremely excited about that. The feelings that everyone had the last few days were well-warranted because of really the group of guys we've had the last few years. ... The fact that we have such a good group of guys and a warm, inviting clubhouse should draw players to Baltimore and it should make you want to be a part something special. I think the longer we can keep that going and the more that we can keep that focus our central theme, the better off we're going to be as a team."

On whether there's pressure to live up to the contract: "I hope there is. I hope there are expectations. I've always kind of thought of pressure as something that you really inflict on yourself. As a professional athlete, really a professional in anything that you do, you're going to expect yourself to be great and you're going to hold yourself to high standards. I'm happy to be here for the next seven years and be in a place where I've had success in the past and we've had success as a team in the past. And I think these next few years are going to be a lot of fun and hopefully very successful years."

On whether playing right field was a distraction: "I'm not playing anywhere but first base. No, I think that's one of the great things about our relationship is we have that openness. And that goes for any players in our clubhouse. Every guy in there knows what's expected of him and every guy wants to do what's best for the team. And in my situation last year, I realized that at that point in time that was the best thing for the team and I felt pretty confident. Maybe sometimes I'm a little too confident in my outfield skills, but the game has a way of humbling you quickly. But it is a point of pride for me to stay in shape and to keep that versatility because it gives us a lot of different options and flexibility as a team. I will never pitch again, though."

On taking in the magnitude of the contract and this stage of his life: "I don't think so. I think that's one thing that I've really tried to instill not only in my small child but something that was instilled in me as a child is, who you are is not defined by how much money you make, what you do. Who you are is where you were raised. It's your family, it's your core values, and I don't think any amount of money could change that. That being said, I do understand the commitment that was made. And to me, it's actually a flattering, more humbling gesture that the Orioles decided to make this kind of commitment to me and it really motivates me to work that much harder and do everything I can to show them that their faith was well placed."

On whether he thought team wouldn't be competitive if he didn't sign: "As far as that's concerned, I tried to stay out of it as much as I possibly could. I let Scott handle pretty much everything. My goal was to continue to prepare to play 162 games for whoever that was. I did, obviously, see that Darren signed and Matt accepted the qualifying offer, and I think those were things that really made me happy because it was one of those signs that these guys really are moving in the right direction. As far as the timing of everything, I really relied on Scott to kind of do his job, so to speak, and for me to continue to prepare myself for this season."

On what else the team needs to do: "We lost (Wei-Yin) Chen, so obviously we need another starting pitcher. That's kind of been our M.O. the last few years. We've never been the sexy team, the easy pick to win. I think we kind of like that role. We have a tight group of guys in the clubhouse. A lot of us were guys who were traded or kind of passed over by a previous team. For whatever reason, it works for us. I don't know if the chip on the shoulder attitude is something we've adopted or something that's been kind of instilled in us, but it really works for this. I have a lot of confidence in any guy that comes in, or with the 25 guys that we leave with on the last day of spring training. For whatever reason, Buck, Dan, all the coaching staff, everybody involved, we understand the mission and make it work."

On whether teammates and fans were recruiting him: "It's obviously interesting when you've got a couple of guys in my life that I've played with for a few years, one of them being Darren O'Day, because he pretty much says what everybody's thinking but doesn't want to say, and then he shows up at a press conference with a Wyatt Earp mustache and he doesn't ever pull any punches. The biggest recruitment tool is like I talk about, the clubhouse atmosphere. When you do what we do, day in and day out for as long as we do it, there are going to be go days, there are going to be bad days, but really having that atmosphere where you feel like you can come in and relax and be yourself. I think that to me is the biggest recruiting tool that anyone of us can have because you want to be comfortable in a place where you work and place where you spend so much time."

On whether he had other competitive offers: "As far as other teams, I'll let Scott handle that. He did the bulk of the work. Like I said before, I tried to stay as busy as I possibly could. As far as the fans are concerned, I actually ran into a fan just a couple of days ago that said something really interesting to me. And I have a special place in my heart for Baltimore fans for a number of reasons, the way they have treated me, and the way they have treated my family and accepted me, it's something that I can't put into words, the way I feel about them. That was what kind of me the last few days here, the last few days of the season, tough because you could hear the shouts, all the people trying to woo you back, trying to tell you not to leave."

"The fan that stopped me the other day and said, 'We're so happy to have you back.' And I said, "I appreciate that. It means a lot to me, and my family is excited to be here and we're excited to be a part of Baltimore for the next few years.' This guy said, 'You know it's so much fun to watch you guys. Don't ever lose that. Don't lose that fun, happy-go-lucky attitude.' That really struck a chord with me, because I feel like the fans here really relate to the players. We don't have a bunch of guys here that don't necessarily care about the community. They spend time in the community. They get to know fans. That real big sense of family and sense of community here, and I think that's something you don't find everywhere."

More on fans wanting him back: "I wouldn't say it was a distraction. It's something I obviously took a lot of pride in, the fact that people wanted me back. It was something I tried to take with a grain of salt. I didn't want any one thing to influence my decision too much to where I couldn't think clearly. It can really cloud your judgement. One of my buddies said something the other day about being in Baltimore and very few players get to spend the majority of their career. Not only do i get the opportunity to spend the majority of my career in one place, but the opportunity to be with a franchise that has had so much success in the past and has so much history. It's something that not a lot of guys get the opportunity to do."

On Angelos' involvement in negotiations: "Most of the conversations Peter and Scott had were between Peter and Scott. He did reach out to me at the beginning of the offseason and that was obviously huge, because I've known Peter since 2012. That was really the first time I had a chance to meet him. To know the history of the team and what's gone on in the past, I really appreciated him coming forward and showing his interest in me."

Boras on whether he was surprised by the Orioles' initial offer: "Offers that go public and all the other offers you receive, you have a pretty special ballplayer, so the category of where teams are making offers are certainly, there's a historic value to it. There are a number of players that are in that market, so to answer your question, I've done this a long time (and) no, it wasn't surprising at all. The problem is things get portrayed in the paper that aren't quite accurate, and when you're finalizing deals ... sometimes deals are interesting because sometimes they don't happen then all of a sudden they happen with a flurry. And then sometimes you get 90 percent of the way and it takes a long time to get to the last portion."

"Each negotiation has its own agenda and spirit, but the one thing that I did in this negotiation is I flew out here and met with Peter and Dan and let them know that Chris and I had talked, and this ballpark and this community, I wanted him to know. I said, 'I don't do this very often. It's not exactly a great free agent tactic to fly here and meet with an owner and let him know that we're very interested in re-signing here.' We did at the forefront of free agency. Sometimes it's good for a lawyer to know from another lawyer, what the real intent of free agency is. Being able to have that meeting, I think, set in motion the clear intentions of Peter and Dan. I was able to communicate that to Chris. It allowed us in our free agent direction to look at this deal in a little bit different way."

Boras on what got this deal done: "These deals are complicated because you're talking about power. There's very little power in the game. We've had eight pitchers sign five-or-more-year contracts in this market. That's unheard of. The demand of pitching quelled the market in offensive power, because the teams were so focused. So many teams needed pitching, and needed offense, but the competitiveness for the pitching took a focus that really ... I'm not saying teams didn't express interest. They kept saying, 'I've got to get something done,' and it was not something that had to do with the category of an offensive player. It had to do with a pitcher. So that part, for me, and I've represented three of the starters in this market, it really represented an interesting, almost ... It was like one side of the road was working and the other was watching. But it wasn't about value. It was about owners and general managers realizing they had to build their team first in that category before they could move to the other side."

Boras on knowing offer wasn't off the table "The line of communication, Dan and I talk a lot in this process, so it was something where we had to cross some bridges and I had to figure some things out about the structure. These things have complicated dynamics to them when you're talking about how the economics work, how the deferrals work, all those things. You have to really map that through. Really, again, it was more about the financial, economic last bridge, if you will, more so than the mutual intent of what probably both sides knew what was going to happen in the end."

Boras on whether Davis had other serious suitors: "You know, when you go to a wedding, you never talk about your girlfriends. So the idea is, look, Chris Davis, there's only one other man I know in recent time who has hit over 45 home runs in a five-year period twice, and he did pretty well in his career, too. These are rare guys. I think the key part was that everyone knew that in this ballpark, Chris Davis, it was built for Chris Davis. This is where he can execute and be most effective, and I think when you work for players and you do things, one of the messages you want to tell them is that their comfort and what they do, you want them to be successful and you want them to execute. That was always in the back of my mind in the advice of Chris and what we've done. It was really about getting to an economic place where we felt it was within reason in comparison to what we knew was available elsewhere."