Almost every long-term free-agent deal the Orioles have given out in recent years has included deferred money, which adds to the overall value of the player's contract while lessening its impact on the present-day payroll.
It's been a feature in Orioles contracts as far back as those signed by Ubaldo Jiménez and J.J. Hardy in 2014, and has been part of deals with Chris Davis, Darren O'Day and Yovani Gallardo (2016), plus Mark Trumbo (2017) and Andrew Cashner (2018).
While introducing new right-hander Alex Cobb, who has a four-year, $57 million deal that is reportedly heavily structured toward deferred money, executive vice president Dan Duquette said it's a structure that benefits both sides.