Another look at the Orioles' six free agents

Let the free agent shopping begin.

The Kansas City Royals are the 2015 World Series champs after scoring two runs in the ninth last night to tie the Mets and then five in the 12th for a 7-2 win. Kansas City won its first championship since 1985 in five games. With the end of the World Series, players that were pending free agents are now actual free agents.

The Orioles have six such players. Today, we take another look at these players and whether they may return to the Orioles in 2016.

Chris Davis: Davis, who leads the majors in homers and is fourth in RBIs since 2012, will play all next season at 30. While he could decline in the final years of a six-year deal, the team signing him will be getting a player in his prime. He is an above-average defender that can also play the outfield. He looks poised to break the bank. I sense the O's make a strong run at him, but in the end, he goes elsewhere.

MLB home run leaders since 2012:

159 - Davis
151 - Edwin Encarnacion
135 - Nelson Cruz
134 - Mike Trout
131 - Miguel Cabrera
130 - Jose Bautista

Wei-Yin Chen: Chen went 11-8 with a 3.34 ERA after winning 16 games in 2014 for the American League East champs. He picked a good time to have a strong season, one where he held opponents to a .170 batting average with runners in scoring position to rank first among all qualifying starting pitchers. The Orioles seem to expect him to get a deal that they are not likely to match.

One concern is a career .772 OPS against right-handed hitters. Another potential red flag for the Orioles is that Chen is 16-19 with a 4.06 ERA in his career versus the AL East. Outside the division, he is 30-13 with a 3.47 ERA. Chen did post a 3.49 ERA within the division in 2015. Despite that, I think Chen is a goner.

Matt Wieters: The MLBTradeRumors.com prediction that Wieters will get a four-year deal worth $64 million leads me to believe Wieters is a goner, too. That deal at one time might have been a bargain for Wieters. Now I see that as a big risk with him coming off the elbow surgery. However, the team signing him might be rewarded big-time if a healthy Wieters returns to his previous defensive form.

While I am no huge believer in catcher ERA, there are some stats here that cannot be completely dismissed. In 2015, Wieters' catcher ERA was 4.38 and opponents batted .272 when he was behind the plate. For Caleb Joseph, those numbers were 3.65 (fourth in the AL) and .244. In 2014, Joseph did the bulk of the catching and Wieters got hurt. In 2014, those numbers were 3.88 and .272 for Wieters, and 3.00 and .237 for Joseph.

Darren O'Day: He went 6-2 with a 1.52 ERA and six saves. In four years with the Orioles, his ERA has decreased each year. Hard to do when it was 2.28 in 2012, his first year with Baltimore. In his career, right-handed batters hit just .193 off O'Day and lefties only .235. O'Day is one of the strongest leaders in the clubhouse. At some point, his performance will begin to fall off. But I think - especially since his deal in overall dollars will be much less than Davis, Wieters and Chen for one reason - the Orioles need to go the extra mile to re-sign him.

Gerardo Parra: I don't understand why Parra had a slash line of .328/.369/.517 and OPS of .886 with Milwaukee, and a slash line of .237/.268/.357 and OPS of .625 with the Orioles. That puts me in the buyer beware category. If Parra gets offered a Nick Markakis type of deal of four years and $44 million, I pass. At a lesser deal, I am more interested.

Some fans have suggested the O's must keep Parra since they gave up minor league pitcher Zach Davies to get him. That doesn't factor in now for me. That was the price for Parra in 2015. Now it comes down to future contract and not what it took to get him here.

In 2013 and 2014, Parra hit .268 and .261. His OBP was .323 and .308. His OPS was .726 and .677. Those numers are not worth a Markakis type of deal for me.

Steve Pearce: He went from hitting .293 with 21 homers and a .930 OPS in 2014 to .218 with 15 homers and a .711 OPS. He had a big falloff, particularly against left-handers. In 2014, Pearce hit .327 with an OPS of 1.109 against southpaws. Last season, those numbers were .196 and .623.

But Pearce is a favorite of manager Buck Showalter and can play several positions. He even played some second base last year. It would seem the Orioles could re-sign him to a team-friendly one-year deal. If they can, they should do exactly that.