8:52pm: ESPN’s Buster Olney provides further detail on Davis’ incentives (Twitter link). He’ll earn $100K for reaching 500 plate appearances, $150K for reaching 550 plate appearances and $200K for reaching 600 plate appearances.
8:40pm: After spending much of the offseason looking for a center fielder, the A’s announced on Tuesday that they’ve signed free-agent outfielder Rajai Davis to a one-year deal that will reportedly guarantee him $6MM. The 36-year-old Legacy Agency client is also said to be able to earn up to $450K worth of performance bonuses in the new contract, which will bring him back to Oakland for a second stint with the A’s. Davis previously played in Oakland from 2008-10.
[Related: Updated Oakland Athletics Depth Chart and Athletics Payroll Information]
Davis will give president of baseball operations Billy Beane and manager Bob Melvin a much-needed option in center field, although he could also shift over to left field in the event that Oakland adds an additional center-field-capable outfielder. He’ll join an outfield mix that currently includes Khris Davis, Matt Joyce, Brett Eibner and Jake Smolinski. Presumably, Davis will be in line for regular work in the outfield, with Khris Davis and Joyce regularly finding their names penciled into the lineup (though Khris may see frequent time at designated hitter, depending on how the rest of Oakland’s offseason shakes out).
With this new deal, Davis will receive a slight raise from last year’s $5.25MM salary with the Indians, and he’s a good bet to make good on that modest investment based on his glovework and baserunning alone. Davis posted a fairly lackluster .249/.306/.388 batting line in 2016, though he did tally the second-most plate appearances of his career and belt a career-best 12 homers (not including his dramatic home run against Aroldis Chapman in Game 7 of the World Series, which cemented Davis in Cleveland sports lore and will forever live on as an iconic Indians moment).
Davis’ batting line was still decidedly worse than the league average, but he managed to add value in the outfield (depending on your preferred defensive metric) and was among baseball’s best baserunners. Per Fangraphs, the only player in baseball who provided more value on the bases than Davis was Cincinnati’s Billy Hamilton. Indeed, Davis swiped an AL-best 43 bases and also proved adept at taking extra bases in first-to-third situations, second-to-home situations and other baserunning scenarios.
Strong baserunning has been a hallmark of Davis’ career, as he’s averaged 39 steals per season and 52 per 162 games played since cementing himself as a semi-regular player with the 2009 A’s. While he isn’t a force at the plate, Davis does have a very strong track record against opposite-handed pitching, as he’s hit lefties at a .288/.343/.437 clip over parts of 11 Major League seasons.
MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently ran down the Athletics’ top three remaining needs of the offseason, and adding a center fielder was tops among those yet-unresolved priorities. From a payroll vantage point, Davis will send Oakland’s projected total to about $70.3MM, as MLBTR’s Jason Martinez outlines in the above-linked Roster Resource payroll projection. Oakland was reportedly willing to offer a two-year, $50MM pact to Edwin Encarnacion and is still about $16MM shy of their payroll from Opening Day 2016 even after adding Davis to the fold, so the team should have the spending capacity to add help at first base and/or in the rotation — both of which were also on Jeff’s list of remaining needs for Beane and GM David Forst.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported the agreement and the terms (via Twitter). Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle added details about Davis’ potential incentives (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
He’s a legend after that home run in game 7.
Not really legend material if you lose. Had they won, then yes, I’d tend to agree with you.
He took AROLDIS CHAPMAN yard – in ANY situation where that happens you have to show some respect, but in the World freaking Series? You need to sit all the way down on this one.
A legend after costing them earlier in the game? He needed that to erase that memory.
Recognized and respected for it, sure. But legend? Not quite.
Finally!
Omg omg omg
What? Are you really that excited about this?
Surprised it only took 1/6 to get Davis. I know he’s already 36 but he’s still an elite baserunner and managed 2 WAR last year in 134 games. Should be an easy contract to flip at the deadline if/when the A’s are out of it. Solid move.
I agree that’s why they signed him. Good comment.
Never going to forget that game tying home run off Chapman
That was the most exciting, gut wrenching game I’ve ever seen in my 31 years. A clutch homer for sure.
You obviously haven’t watched many games then.
Troll.
36 year old who should not play on a regular basis = $6 Million. Brilliant.
Do you realize what $6 mil gets you in this market? Teams are paying $7-9 mil for 1 WAR… Davis was worth 2.0 WAR last year so even with some age related decline he’s still easily worth $6 mil.
Using FanGraphs version of WAR, are we? How about the fact he’s racked up less than 12 WAR for his career…and he’s entering his age 36 season. A minor leaguer at league minimum would provide more WAR than Davis.
He’s been a part time player his entire career… And he’s been worth over 1 WAR for 4 straight seasons. $6 mil gets you a .8 ish WAR player. That’s literally nothing. So all of a sudden he’s gonna lose his baserunning and defense? He doesn’t even need to hit to provide value. Lol give me a break.
Don’t mind him, rols. Zachary doesn’t understand baseball.
Wrong. WAR = Wins Above Replacement. A “minor leaguer at league minimum,” by definition, would provide 0 WAR.
Using WAR to justify salary is asinine considering different sites have different methods to calculate WAR. Use actually stats…..he’s 36, low AVG, low OBP, with speed.
The $/war is calculated by fangraphs using their formula for war and uses the production of free agents/what they are paid to come up with what a war costs to buy via free agency.
Different formulas for war have absolutely no bearing on the ~8m/war figure that fangraphs uses atm
We are using a valuation tool to analyze the value of a player (as defined by Oakland, the team that paid for him. That is the furthest thing from asinine. It’s actually the best possible use of the aforementioned valuation tool.
I love analytics and read Bill James long before Moneyball was even coined, but I have to agree. It doesn’t take advance metrics to scout a 36-year old. With that being said, I sure think the Indians would be much better off with him on their team in ’17. When Brantley misses time again… It’s going to be a problem.
yeah i agree. this is why people hate war. wins above fake imaginary player. it’s a cool stat to try and justify how awesome a player may be. but i’ll pass on a defense-first type of stat. They say that 1 war is what 8mil? so mike friggin trout is easily best contract in baseball since he tends to be worth 8-10 war a year and only costs what 25mil a year?
That is probably correct. Mike Trout returns a huge surplus value on his salary. Pre-Arb guys like Bryant, Corey Seager, etc. do as well.
WAR isn’t a be-all and end-all metric, but it’s very useful as a sorting mechanism, and tends to line up pretty well with our ideas about player value. The top ten players in WAR in 2016, in order: Trout, Betts, Bryant, Altuve, Donaldson, Cano, Seager, Machado, Verlander, Kluber/Dozier.
Even if you don’t believe in WAR as a metric, or think it’s phony because it values defense and baserunning, it would be hard to look at that list using any other statistical measure and come up with much of a difference, right?
Agreed, ppl need to remember WAR is a relative term so we can compare everybody to replacement, it’s is not a counting stat like so many other stats ppl use
Six million dollars is basically nothing in 2017. Oakland needs to spend their money somewhere.
Worth every single penny of that deal. Should have played way more for the Indians last year. He deserved to start everyday. That’s probably why he went to the A’s. It’s disappointing to see he’s going to a new club.
It’s all that crown pizza he’s been eating
Good move by Oakland. I agree with some of you, people don’t seem to realize that 6M$ in today’s market isn’t very much
Wow, crazy no one outbid that. Very good deal with little risk.
I hated him till he was an Indian, now I am gonna miss him. Solid move by beane
He should have returned to Detroit. He could have played CF and he would have been cheaper than Maybin.
Agreed, he would have been a nice fit. He stays healthy and can still run.
I thought they were trying to get younger?
They say that every year, and then they remember they are the Tigers.
Hmm, f they are trying to get younger why did they sign Avila?
Let’s see, the CF options are Gose, Collins, Jones and other unmentionables.
Wish he signed with the Orioles. We need an outfielder, and his speed would’ve helped us a lot.
Wish he signed in Baltimore. We could use his speed and we need an outfielder.
nice sign
I’ll always remember Rajai Davis for a great State Farm commercial from a few years back.
He’s good at baseball too I guess.
Haha silly mods, what a joke.
There’s no reason for straight up trolling, and that’s all your comments were. If all you want to do is piss off other readers/commenters, there are plenty of sites online that won’t remove your comments, and there’s always Twitter.
In the future can you make a post that lists off the rules of commenting just so that everyone knows. There may allready be a page but I think that more people would see it it came in a post.
Off topic in a way, but thanks for bringing back thumbs up and thumbs down.
Always liked Rajai. Seems to play the game the right way. Hope he has a nice year and gets traded to a contender.
He’s already playing for a contender now.
Just kidding.
All teams are tied for first and in contention as of right now!
I agree too. Always liked him. Glad he’s got a shot at playing every day and excited for him!!
Oh god not again
Awesome! That’s a relief. I was worried Smolinski would start out there. I like Smolinski as a 4th OF, not our starting CF.
Worth every penny! Does anyone realize that 6 million dollars is what Zach Greinke gets paid while just warming up for a game…jk but for reals a guy like Jay Bruce, almost making double is the antithesis of Rajai lacking speed versatility and decent glove, Bruce has thump but very similar value as players. Plus has anyone seen Davis just RUN the bases!! Like not steal or how fast but how smart, knows how to manufacture runs.
And he’ll go to a contender in July. Would be funny if theo traded Jon jay for him. That’s a steal for the cubs though. I don’t get why Davis would even want to have his agent call the A’s. He should fire his agent.
Because he wants to be a full time player and knows the team and culture in Oakland and he’s more than likely going to get flipped to a contender at the deadline? It’s a smart move.
Last year the A’s signed Rich Hill to the same amount $6 million. Same thing was said last year that is crazy to give him that much money. A’s flip him to a contender for 3 top prospects.
Too much $$$.
nooooooo
Seems like a lot of money for a 36 year old OF with a .701 career OPS but he did swipe 43 bases at age 35. I guess that’s the going rate for a quality defensive 4th OF even if he’s at the age were dramatic fall off in performance is a real possibility.
one year. they’ll trade him in july
Very very shocked the Indians did not make a run for Rajai especially for what he did in the postseason. GM Mike Chernoff should have offered a 2 year- 14 million dollar deal to Rajai. He brings great defense, speed, flexibility to teams and Oakland made a great pick up but very surprised he didn’t sign with the Indians
Feels like a reasonable deal. He’s a below-average hitter that creates most of his offensive value via base running. He’s had an OBP hovering around .300 for the last couple years.
Excellent range fielder, but with a terrible arm.
He’s also a .235 hitter against LHPs. So he provides incrementally less value the more ABs he draws. If Oakland, or any other team platoons him and combines this with late inning relief for better-bat bad fielders, he could get 400AB, and say WAR.
From Rajai’s perspective, he gets a short deal, and if Oakland fails to contend he has a very good shot at playing for a playoff contender come fall 2017. Could make a worse deal as a 36 year old in the twilight of his career.
I like this move. I’d like it even more if we could supplement it with Austin Jackson or Desmond Jennings as a reclamation project