After six seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies Domonic Brown is finally a free agent, and although he’ll probably generate more interest later, the Baltimore Orioles seem to be the most serious about signing him.
When Brown came into the league in 2010 he was considered one of the top prospects in the land. But the Phillies were one of the best teams in baseball back then as well, and look where they are now (hint: Worst team in baseball).
While Brown hasn’t lived up to the hype with a .246 career batting average and more than anything unable to shake off injuries, especially his Achilles, he is just 28 and made an All-Star game in 2013. Finding himself on a new team that’s not stuck in what currently seems like an endless rebuilding cycle (the Phillies don’t seem to be in a rush until they get rid of ALL the big contracts) can give his career a nice little positive spin.
Be it Brown or someone else, the Orioles are going to be trying to sign an outfielder this offseason. Their outfielders combined to hit just .243 last season. It’s not entirely sure that Brown is the man to fix that. He is hitting just .233 over the last two seasons, once again struggling with injuries and playing just 63 games in 2015.
If they don’t re-sign him (and probably won’t) the Phillies won’t be looking for a free agent to fill their needs, or at least not an expensive one. Right now, the goal is to bring up talents from the farm system and go for bargains instead of spending money on expensive, highly sought after players. As one person from their front office said: It’s been proven more often than not that spending money on free agency usually isn’t worth it.