Ravens Watch

Friday Replay: Should We Re-sign Chris Davis?

And four other things that happened in Baltimore sports this week.

1. Should we re-sign Chris Davis?
It seemed quite fitting on Sunday’s last regular season win against the Yankees that Chris Davis hit two home runs. After all, he leads all of baseball with 47 this year and has, undoubtedly, been the Orioles MVP for the season. Now that we are officially in the off-season, fans are nervous. We let go of Nelson Cruz last year, and have watched him power hit for the Mariners all season long. Do we want to repeat the same mistake with Davis? Even Adam Jones has promised that he will talk to the front office to try and make better off-season moves than last year. A move like re-signing Davis would show the fans, and current players, that the Orioles are willing to invest in franchise players, which will do wonders for intangibles like morale and team reputation (and, not to mention, if he keeps this up, for future run production).

But it’s tricky. Of course, like with everything, it comes down to money and the uber-complicated math problem that is baseball. According to Forbes, Davis’s value hovers close to the eight-year, $180 million deal Mark Teixeira signed in 2009—averaging between $20-25 million per year. Given the Orioles’ track record, that is crazy money. Jones’s six-year, $85.5 million contract was the largest in franchise history, and what we’d pay Davis would far exceed that. Signing Davis would eat up a significant amount of money that could be spent on free agents Matt Wieters and Wei-Yin Chen this year, Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop next year, and various upgrades that we need to revive our starting pitching and bolster our lineup.

So, basically, it’s complicated. I think, collectively, our heads are telling us it’s a huge risk. But our hearts, especially as we choked up during his two homers on Sunday, are saying we are all in.

2. Steve Smith and Crocket Gillmore out; Eugene Monroe and Chris Givens in.
Normally, playing the Browns at home would be an almost shoe-in victory. But, with the way our season has started out, it’s no guarantee. With veteran receiver (and so far dominant) Steve Smith out with a back injury and tight end Crocket Gillmore out with a calf injury, the newly acquired Chris Givens will have to step up with fellow receivers Marlon Brown and Kamar Aiken. (Another plus is that tight end Lorenzo Taliafero practiced on Wednesday, so could play on Sunday, too.) Of course, it also calls for a solid run game, which looks likely after Justin Forsett rushed for 150 yards against the Steelers last week and trampled the Browns last time the two teams met. Lineman Eugene Monroe will also play Sunday, which will gives the Ravens the best version of our o-line so far this season. And in classic Cleveland style, the Browns have been even worse than Baltimore, committing 13 pre-snap penalties and are last in the league for total defense. All in all, seems like the Ravens have a pretty good shot on Sunday.

3. Terps field hockey coach Missy Meharg wins 500th career game.
Terps sports outside of football and basketball don’t get a lot of love, but we want to give a shoutout to head coach Missy Meharg of the eighth-ranked Maryland field hockey team, who picked up her 500th career win on Sunday. Not only has her tenure been considerable (this is her 28th season!), but she is the fourth Division I coach to ever reach this mark. In her career, the’s led Maryland to seven NCAA titles, 16 Final Fours, 20 conference championships, and has been named NFHCA National Coach of the Year nine times. Her total career record is 500-122-9 (.800). Hey, I wonder if she’s thought about coaching football since…

4. Randy Edsall will probably be fired after this weekend.
According to a report from InsideMDSports.com, athletic officials said that Terps head football coach Randy Edsall will be fired after Saturday’s game against Ohio State. Edsall has taken a lot of heat from fans and media during a 2-3 start in a competitive Big 10 conference. Not only was it that the Terps lost, but it was how they lost, by an average score of 40-11. The report also states that players have begun turning on him as well. “Nobody in the locker room would leave next year because Edsall is fired,” one source told IMS. “He doesn’t have too many fans left in the locker room.” It would be a blow financially to the athletic department, as Edsall just received a three-year extension in July, and $500,000 of the $7.5 million extension is guaranteed. For his part, Edsall tweeted this strange thing:

5. Joe Flacco reads If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to elementary schoolers.
In a Friday Replay moment of you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco read children’s classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to students at Charles Carroll Barrister Elementary School on Wednesday. As a part of its community programming, the Ravens organization funded a library and computer lab for this Pigtown school, where 95 percent of its students receive free or reduced lunches. A highlight of their day must have been gathering on the newly built stadium-style seating in the library to hear No. 5 (in his New Jersey accent, no less) recount the tale of a mouse and his favorite food pairing.