Cashner negotiated exemption to Orioles' beard rule before signing

For Andrew Cashner, free agency was about much more than money.

Receiving $16 million over the next two seasons surely helped persuade the 31-year-old to join the Baltimore Orioles this winter, but it wasn't the deciding factor. Cashner ultimately decided to join the Orioles when the team agreed to grant him an exemption to their facial hair rules and allow him to keep his beard, he told Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun.

Orioles' club policy prohibits players from sporting any facial hair outside of well-kept goatees. Cashner, who usually sports a very long beard, agreed to a compromise and is now keeping it nicely groomed.

"I just think it's a part of who I am, and it's a part of my personality - it's just me," he said about his beard. "I think this length is kind of what it's supposed to be, I guess."

This isn't the first time Cashner's trademark look has become an issue. During the 2016 season he was traded from the San Diego Padres to the Miami Marlins, who, at that time, banned all facial hair.

Cashner reluctantly shaved his beard for the Marlins, but was so upset by it that he buried the remains. That offseason, he refused to sign with any team that wouldn't let him re-grow it.

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

After fully restoring his glorious beard upon signing with the Texas Rangers last offseason, Cashner delivered one of the best seasons of his career, posting a 3.40 ERA and career-high 138 ERA+ in 28 starts.

In the era of advanced statistics, it would seem to behoove Cashner's teams to let him grow the beard. His career beard-to-clean-shaven splits actually show that the facial hair may indeed be a magical source of his pitching powers: