Reynolds nontendered…what it means for the offseason

Here’s the Orioles’ take:

“We had determined that his value in arbitration was beyond our resources to bring him back to the team,” Duquette said. “We like Mark and he gave a good effort for the team, so we certainly appreciated that. But with some of the other commitments we have, it was hard to fit him into the team the way his contract is structured. We tried to find a way to do it, but we couldn’t find a way to make it fit.”

Mark Reynolds was non-tendered last night by the Orioles.  He was expected to receive around $9 million in arbitration. This comes a somewhat of a surprise to Orioles Nation who didn’t expect the Orioles to pickup the $12 million team option, but to offer him Arbitration to save them some money.  However, that was not the case as evidently the Orioles don’t have the resources to sign him to the given value.

The above quote from Dan Duquette indicates that the team didn’t have the financial resources to offer arbitration to Reynolds or even offer a reasonable contract extension.  Reynolds has indicated since that the Orioles were never even in discussion with him or his agent this week until the decision was made.

I have a major issue with the wording in the above quote from Duquette.  The notion that the Orioles don’t have the resources to sign someone for a $9 million contract is ridiculous.  The Orioles TV revenue alone has accounted for an additional $159 million for Mr. Angelos, and the notion of the inability to afford contracts bodes poorly for this offseason and also for the contract extension of Matt Wieters.

I hope I’m wrong just like I was when the Duquette stated at the beginning of the season last year that he wouldn’t resign players during the season.  However, it’s beginning to look bleaker heading into the Winter Meetings once again Orioles fans.

Here is an Ode to Mr. Reynolds:

The Good:

The Bad:

And The Amazing: