The Orioles did it. They spent big money on a free agent. After missing out on slugger Kyle Schwarber just a day ago, the Orioles pivoted to signing Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155 million contract on Wednesday afternoon. The news was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Entering this offseason, I did not believe the Orioles would actually do it. I figured Mike Elias’s talk about wanting to add a bat was just a smoke screen, that he might lurk around but not be serious. Yet it seems that the fact that the Orioles were the team that escalated the Schwarber bidding to 5/150, which the Phillies then matched, was actually a harbinger of things to come. They stepped up and spent the money to sign Alonso, the other big power bat on the free agent market this winter.

The immediate rationale f

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