Amid the wildly-flowing dollars and multiyear commitments that exist every offseason during free agency, the Orioles aren’t afraid of signing players to a one-year deal.
They’ve done it before and reaped tremendous benefits of a make-good, single-season pact. When Nelson Cruz went unsigned into the early weeks of spring training as teams were scared off by his connection to BioGenesis and him being tied to draft pick compensation, the Orioles swooped in with a team-friendly one-year, $8 million deal.
It might have been the best signing in Dan Duquette’s four years at Orioles executive vice president.