MLB: New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles
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The Orioles have announced that designated hitter Chris Davis has undergone surgery on his left hip labrum and that he will miss the rest of the season with a four- to five-month recovery period. Davis has been on the shelf all season to this point with back and hip injuries. 

Davis, 35, still has one year left on his seven-year, $161 million deal. He signed it after getting some down-ballot MVP love (finishing 14th) in 2015, when he hit .262/.361/.562 (147 OPS+) with 31 doubles, an MLB-best 47 homers and 117 RBI. He hit 38 homers in 2016 and then 26 in 2017, but the rate stats steadily declined to .168/.243/.296 (49 OPS+) by 2018. 

During the life of this current deal, Davis has hit .196/.291/.379, good for an 80 OPS+ and -2.6 WAR. 

Davis is still owed $23 million for next season, but that's not really that big a deal at this point. They are running one of the lowest payrolls in baseball this season and right now only have Davis' deal guaranteed for 2022. Even adding up all the arbitration and pre-arbitration players, Baseball-Reference estimates right now the Orioles project for a payroll in the ballpark of $64.8 million for 2022. 

That is to say, if general manager Mike Elias and the rest of his front office feel like spending big in free agency this coming offseason, there's plenty of room to do so. Davis' deal hasn't even remotely worked out, but it also doesn't change much in the present. 

The Orioles aren't a good team without him and wouldn't have been a good team with him playing at his ceiling. The contract also doesn't handcuff them from making other deals. It is simply dead weight.