The seven-year, $161MM contract the Orioles gave first baseman Chris Davis before 2016 continues to look worse: Manager Brandon Hyde admitted Monday that the lower back strain that has sidelined Davis since early this month could force him to begin the season on the 60-day injured list, according to Dan Connolly of The Athletic. Davis, who turned 35 last week, has gone from star to liability over the past few years. He slashed a horrendous .115/.164/.173 with no home runs during an injury-shortened, 55-plate appearance 2020. Davis is in the penultimate season of a contract that has long been an albatross for Baltimore.
More from the American League East…
- Yankees left-handed reliever Justin Wilson departed Monday’s game with tightness in his pitching shoulder and will undergo an MRI on Tuesday, the team announced. Wilson’s importance to the Yankees increased when fellow lefty Zack Britton underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery a couple weeks ago, but now it looks possible that the club will begin the year without the top two southpaw setup men in its bullpen. Wilson was a notable offseason pickup for the Yankees, who signed him to a one-year, $4MM guarantee.
- In further unfortunate news for the Yankees, the right hand/wrist issue that has kept third baseman/outfielder Miguel Andujar out for the past week isn’t healing quickly. Andujar won’t return to game action “anytime soon,” manager Aaron Boone informed Erik Boland of Newsday and other reporters. Health problems have slowed Andujar since he burst on the scene with a terrific rookie campaign in 2018. Shoulder troubles limited him to 12 games in 2019, when Gio Urshela took his third base job, and then he hit an uninspiring .242/.277/.355 with one homer in 65 plate appearances last year. Even if he stayed healthy this spring, Andujar probably would not have earned a major league roster spot.
- The Blue Jays will go without injured closer Kirby Yates to start the season, but they won’t designate one pitcher to replace him, manager Charlie Montoyo told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and other media. Jordan Romano, Rafael Dolis, David Phelps and Tyler Chatwood are all in the running for high-leverage innings with Yates on the shelf.
Comments should be closed on all things Chris Davis. It’s just not fair.
That was pretty good.
I feel sorry for Chris Davis. Yes, he is rich, but it was must suck to have to play out that contract. Few people are as bad at their job as he is, yet he does it publicly.
I guess being filthy rich is enough to offset being a punchline for the next 50 years, but still…
Yankees need to reconsider Robertson and bring him back.
Why they have plenty of depth.
Not really. They’ve lost Britton, Wilson, Schmidt since start of Spring training and traded Ottavino. Don’t think D Rob is the solution but the oldest rule in baseball, “You can never have too much pitching.”
Whatever became of D-Rob’s audition day for scouts? Or is his unsigned status the conclusion drawn by those on hand??
Yep, agreed. Some people may think having that much money would make you feel better about the situation but I have to imagine he feels awful. If I were him I wouldn’t want to be seen in public at this point. Easy for me to say but if I had the bank account he does at this point I’d probably just retire and give up the last 2 years.
If he really felt that bad, wouldn’t he go to ownership and try to work out some sort of buyout and retire?
It’s pretty shocking on both sides of this situation.
How can Baltimore continue to play him?
How can he want to continue to play when he’s this bad?
Lars, would you turn down an opportunity to earn an extra few million dollars, guaranteed, if you could? Chris Davis may be suffering from hurt pride, but it’s not too hurt to turn down all that money, which could finance any dream his grandkids might have. Also, don’t underestimate the player’s union here- they have a lot of influence over what a player does and the last thing they want to see is a player walking away from money. They would tell Davis he would be screwing over the next generation of players, etc.
So why should anyone feel bad for him?
I just have to throw a name out there. Gil Meche.
There is no way the MLB Players Union would allow that.
It works the other way as well.
That’s what I’m sayin Jim. You stick it out and your able to fund a generation over those 2/3 years whatever.
Agreed. The MLBPA never wants to players to leave money on the table. Whatever anyone thinks of Davis, he’s entitled to keep receiving paychecks.
If it’s the second last year, I think the team should just release him. He’s entitled to his money. What fan is gonna be outraged at this point? Time for all sides to move on.
The union wouldn’t allow that.
I think you misunderstand how unions work.
You will struggle to find a more anti-union poster than I.
& – yeah – that’s a pretty crazy take.
Yanks did this with A-Rod in ’16.
Paid off the rest of his deal (year & a half). Pay the contract & the union is cool. Which is a good thing. I respect that.
So yeah. Maybe he meant “onion” & it was an autocorrect event.
At least Meche walked away from the last year of his contract
They let Gil Meche retire early when he knew he wasn’t gonna live up to his contract.
I’m sure he feels about as awful as Jacoby Ellsbury did when he was riding out his Yankee deal from the IL.
There is nothing that sucks about a $161m contract. 99.99% of people would trade places with him in a heart beat and probably 95% of MLB players wish they had his contract. He’ll be retired at 37 and still getting deferral payments on his contract for 15 years.
Jacoby ellsbury, David Wright, Dustin Pedroia, all walked away “hurt”. Chris davis, Albert pujols, Miguel Cabrera are all riding out the sunset of their careers laughing all the way to the bank. They’ll never be heard from again by the baseball world once they retire.
Listen for $160M you could say ANYTHING you want about me & I’d walk down the street w/my head held high, “yep, that’s me” Ahahahaha!
Hahaha…….Yep me to!
Except at Cooperstown
609 is dead on right. 2/3 of the dudes you mentioned are riding that sunset into the Hall.
I think Wright and Pedroia are the tough ones because they were franchise icons. All those other guys changed teams.
Davis was traded for Koji Uehara. Looked like a steal. Koji blew up in the postseason that year. Davis mashed. Later, Koji had one of the best years in history. Just for a different team.
I actually think a lot of teams do a pretty good job of assessing talent. The problem is you can’t tell for sure when talent will come to fruition. You also can’t tell when talent won’t come to fruition. It’s the major leagues, the highest level of competition. There are a lot of variables and moving parts.
Miggy is a first ballot HOF player.
Pujols is a first ballot HOF player.
Davis is a … well… I will let you fill in the rest.
Cabrera and Pujols are first ballot Hall of Famers who you will likely see as ambassadors of the game in the future. Davis will go down as a cautionary tale of not spending big money on a player who has one skill and one skill only
Wasn’t the Davis signing 100% ownership’s doing? I’m pretty sure he went skipping into Free Agency and didn’t get a single phone call. I heard a rumor that he went to the Orioles front office looking for a deal and they saw him coming from a window, quickly shut off the lights, put a “gone fishin” sign on the door, and hid under their desks. Duquette thought he was gonna sign some good pitching when ownership surprised him with the Davis signing.
Maybe he should have revamped his swing or made some professional hitter adjustments?
Honestly, I’d love to read a discussion from Orioles fans regarding what he’s tried. Stances, hand positions, philosophies, bats (weight, length, drop), anything. Steroid influenced production? I’ve never seen him linked.
What has he done to NOT be a .170 hitter? Is he still upper cutting and trying to pull everything? Have his eyes failed him? Are his tendencies so obvious that every other team knows exactly what he will do and he cannot/will not adapt?
I think part of the blame has to fall on coaches and manager. The manager should be putting the best team on the lineup card each night, not just the highest paid.
For someone who was so good, it’s incredible that his production plummeted seemingly over night.
Astros fan- think of it this way. He got paid for what he did pre contract just as all guys do. Sure, nobody expected him to fall off like he did, but he was likely never going to live up to his contract anyways because he was signed based off of what he had been. Not what he was going to be.
Chris Davis for Jim Davis, who says no?
Garfield
Toss in a lasagna, then.
Aww, man.
Well, there’s been a torrent of pitcher injuries already.
Hope this isn’t anything major with Wilson.
Yanks’ll weather whatever is thrown at them. We all know that. See 2019 for reference. But…man, I’m just not all that excited to experience a season like that again.
On the bright side, it looks very likely that Lucas Luetge will make the team
So there’s that.
I watched Wilson’s outing and he certainly didn’t look loose but it doesn’t look serious. Fingers crossed that nothing shows on the MRI.
Yanks shoulda never let Refsnyder go…..
Lmfao
Or Nick Solak
No comment section is complete without a Rob Refsnyder reference. Jays traded a prospect to the Yankees for him too.
To paraphrase Little Carmine from The Sopranos, “The Chris Davis contract has been an albacore around the Orioles’ neck.”
Id wear a purple wig, a dress and sing “It Was Agatha All Along” in front of a crowd with rotten eggs if it got me 161 mill. That kind of money sets up a family for generations. And in the end, family is all that matters.
I understand, but it really does depend on how he spent his money as well. It’s all relative to his lifestyle. With that said, if he was smart about it, even just accidentally did some things right, that money would carry his family through life incredibly well.
Nothing against Davis personally, but as far as character in the game, he’s an embarrassment with performance / pay. To keep trotting out there, yikes. They should have the skipper in an investigation asking, “Who ordered the Code Red?!”
In the end, I think God matters most, but family certainly matters most on earth.
What does Davis’ character have to do with his performance/pay? He’s well-liked in the clubhouse and I haven’t heard anything negative about him. It’s not like the O’s will be competitive if they were to swap Davis out for Mike Trout.
Well, my point is one with respect for the game itself doesn’t continue to embarrass himself, his team, or game by going out season after season and doing what he’s doing. That’s a character flaw, in part. He’s a good clubhouse guy, hire him as a coach.
He’s not the only one either. There are a lot of contemporary players that could fall into this category but he is the clearest and most extreme example because he will just kee right on walking to the plate hitting .110.
In decades past guys would walk away because they respected themselves and the game, their team and the fans. This isn’t that.
Say what you want about the money, leaving it on the table or not, but speaking directly to this issue, without muddying the water, he is horrible and cannot play baseball at this level without PEDs.
Remember when all the posters on here were saying that the Indians should trade for Andujar? Hahahaha!
I was high on Andujars bat too. He still could make it big… but future looks murky.
Reply hazy try again
He could still. Nothing says he can’t. He came back from injury. Maybe he flops big, maybe not.
But, I will be rofl if he goes to the Team Formerly Known as *ndians….
If the Yankees would’ve offered a pkg of Frazier and Andujar to start, I think they walk away with Lindor and carrasco. And I’m a die hard mets fan.
Not a chance that Frazier and Andujar would get that package from Cleveland unless a lot more was added to the trade package. Andujar has little trade value and can not play a defensive position. Cleveland did not need a DH.
No, not even in the ballpark.
Is there a contract over $150MM in history that is worse than this?
That would be an excellent poll for the readers to debate after. The worst contract issued to a player – list the top 5(?) and let the voting / debates begin.
Ellsbury pretty bad.
That has to be one of them I would think.
Fun fact: He was released in pre-pandemic Nov. 2019 so he received his full 2020 salary making him the second highest paid MLB player next to Chen Wei-Yin who made $22m. Mike Trout made a pro-rated $14m. The Yankees also lost their case with arbiters in attempt to void his contract.
Maurer? Helton? Votto? Cano? Not sure what their actual contracts involve, but thinking more from the long term aspect.
Mauer… stupid autocorrect.
The second ARod contract was pretty bad. But Davis’ bat went in to hibernation almost as soon as the ink dried (Tigers and Astros dodged bullets on that one as the other teams linked to Davis) how much of it has to do with Davis not being able to use his ADHD medicine anymore remains to be proven
ADHD medicine…… is that what the kids are calling it these days? Man, with Bonds we called it ‘roids.
Being on the disabled list might actually increase Davis’s stats.
Certainly keeps him from making more record strikeout numbers ……
Baltimore should just admit that Davis is a sunken cost and release him. A .550 ops over the last three seasons and a 50 ops+ isn’t going to cut it. It’s time for him to go somewhere else.
But what about his defensive value?
With even a fraction of a chance of a shortened season and prorated salary, not a chance Davis gets cut and guaranteed his full 162 game salary.
David should Be released, They gotta pay him anyway so why not cut him since he’s either hurt or striking out all the time.I’d much rather pay him to stay home than have him suit up.
Maybe Baltimore is using the contract as a way to create media attention? “How long will he be on the team?”
Davis should be gone. Anyway. Anyhow. The Orioles and the MLB and players union have got to get this done.
Not Andujar.. how else are the Yankees supposed to acquire Trevor Story straight up for him .. signed every Yankees fan
Easy, prospect #142
How long does Chris Davis keep the crown for worst contract ever? I just looked at Stantons deal and he still has 7 years left on it so he might be a contender in a few years. At least Davis is actually on the field striking out consistently. Stanton only strikes out consistently for a 3-4 week period when he’s healthy enough to actually play.
Miggy Cabrera as a worse contract. Stanton has already earned a decent portion of his contract with a bWAR of 18.5 from 2015-2018. And he is still capable of putting up a 3 WAR season. Even if healthy, Miggy will likely be below replacement for the next 3 years.
One is a future Hall of Famer and the other is Stanton. Use your bWar crap, Miggy earned his contract.
Stanton can miss 100 games and still produce far more than Chris Davis. Stanton has probably been the Yankees best bat in the postseason the last couple years.
Awww, Reilly.
I don’t think the two are comparable in any way. Stanton has never not hit.
Look. In ’18 he carried us down the stretch when Judge was out.
In ’19 when he was able to play (which – yeah – didn’t happen much) he put up an OPS of .894.
Last postseason he showed exactly why the Yankees picked him up. Mercy. He damn near dragged us past the stupid Ray’s all by himself.
Davis is just a flat out terrible player at this point.
Modern baseball is rife with high strike out rates.
Yeah, Stanton K’s a lot. But that’s endemic to TTO baseball. & no team has embraced that philosophy more than the Yanks have, uh?
I just don’t see these as similar in any way. Ya know?
All Stanton needs to do in order to contribute at a high level is stay on the field. So far, so good! If he plays 120 regular season games & can is healthy for the playoffs he’ll more than make up for his $22MM salary.
He’s a feared hitter. Pitchers don’t want to see him at the plate.
Davis is a pitcher’s wet dream. Pitchers look forward to seeing him in the box.
Nah.
Ellsbury? Yeah, that’s comparable. But Stanton ain’t.
I’m not thinking about Stanton now or even the next couple of years. I’m thinking about him the last 3-4 years of his deal. I always thought Chris Davis and Stanton were a good comparison in terms of stats/skill set. Their careers lineup quite a bit when you put them next to each other up to when Davis fell off a cliff. That’s why I’m so nervous about Stanton.
But luckily the Yankees are capable of eating deals like that if players fall below the replacement level line. I guess the Orioles are just hoping he retires to save the embarrassment of going down as the worst player ever. How annoyed is the guy sitting behind Davis right now busting his butt to get a shot in the bigs?
If you aren’t thinking about Stanton’s contract now, you’re about two years too late.
He will still produce when he’s on the field for the next couple of years. But man when all those aches and pains start setting in from all these injuries I am VERY worried. Especially considering he is an all or nothing hitter like Davis and based on recent history it doesn’t seem like that skill set ages well. But on the flip side you have guys like Thome who hit bombs on his way to his AARP card. Trading for Stanton was a horrible move from the start and I have never wavered from that opinion but it’s mainly bc it just didn’t make sense for the Yankees and their roster. It doesn’t mean he isn’t a good player though.
Statcast shows Stanton is not the same profile as Chris Davis.
Davis needed adderall anyway when he was in his peak.
On the subject of Stanton:
Let’s say David Ortiz bought the Angels and then proceeded to trade Trout to the Red Sox for Devers. Immediately the heads of every yankee fan on the planet would explode. The Stanton trade was pretty frustrating. Nobody outside of yankee fans cares about this guy any more. In fact, most see his constant injuries as karma. In fact, if Trout went to the Red Sox in a lopsided trade and got injured all the time, yankee fans would be perfectly happy with that.
I’m not being judgmental or anti yankee even though I am most of the time. I’m just pointing out reality.
I think most people will agree with your underlying points. I was not a fan of the Stanton deal when it was completed, but it has actually grown on me, believe it or not. Sounds weird, but I thought we had much greater needs at the time. Stanton, however, has been absolutely clutch in the postseason, and when in the lineup, definitely creates havoc with the way the lineup is pitched to. Does suck that he is injured often though.
This drives me bonkers, @Clip.
Perhaps you were more prescient than most of us. But I remember the thread over @RAB when the Stanton deal went down.
7K+(!) posts.
& no one was negative.
Now, “I was against the deal from the beginning” is standard fare.
Perhaps you were. Entirely possible.
But amongst the thousands of comments, there were no posts panning the “redundancy” (debatable) or HOTTAKE!’s claiming he was going to prevent us from “signing a [sic] ace” – or whatever.
None. Zero. Zip. Zilch.
Quite the opposite.
We were dancing in the streets, man.
This wasn’t Ellsbury which was questioned (truth: not by me. I was excited about that deal, too) soundly by fans & media.
It’s some pretty interesting revisionist history. Again, I’m not saying that describes you. You’ve fairly savvy takes. But generally when someone posts how they were always against it my thought is, “bull-slop”.
Ducky you are dead on! Disqus was still being used at RAB back then so I went back and checked. I was one of the only ones who was against the trade and I was being massacred over there. I finally wrapped it up by saying word for word (I’ll send you the screen shot) “That’s fine. Just don’t complain when Judge-Stanton-Sanchez go 0-12 with 9 k’s in the playoffs. Because it’s going to happen.”…..I was killed haha
Also going back and seeing old comments is weird too. Was right about Yankee fans losing it once Stanton-Judge and Sanchez all had bad nights on the same night, but I swung and missed a lot too haha. I was in favor of the Yanks not trading Andujar to the Pirates for Cole. Yeeeeesh.
My, man!
You checked it! Merci.
I’ll give you a pass on it then. But you were rare. Bet. My heavens, if you stood up against that tide of Internet hammering you’ll withstand anything that’ll happen here.
Did I rip you, too?
I still like having him, though.
I hope I was gentlemanly in my disagreement if it occurred. But there were pockets all over that thread.
I’ll freely admit to being swept up in the moment. I’m sure I was calling 140 jacks from Stanton, Judge, Gary.
Again, I remain pro Stanton. I don’t think he’s a problem. That’s not always a popular take.
Sorry but this Yankee fan doesn’t take pleasure in seeing ANY players being injured regardless of the team they’re on. As a baseball fan first, I want the best product on the field at the highest level of competition. Seeing the likes of Dustin Pedroia, David Wright, Prince Fielder, Roberto Alomar, Tim Lincecum, Andruw Jones, Miggy, Pujols, etc. diminish/detoriate/fall off a cliff is a sad reality, not karma. Not everyone has such a cynical fan-view of baseball as you are led to believe.
You are correct in your realistic assessment, but his position that most anti-Yankee dorks feel that way is probably true as terrible as it is.
It is reprehensible, and if Yankee fans were to say something similar they’d be verbally accosted. It’s just jealousy, but doesn’t make him wrong. Look at these boards as a prime example.
What I didn’t say is that I feel the same way. I’m just being objective on the matter when it comes to most other people.
No fans of any team are any better or worse than fans of a different team. I’m a total anti-yankee dork, one of the worst here. But I will tell you I was crying when Munson died. It was three months after my best friend took his life. He and I had epic Munson versus Fisk arguments. It was a gut punch. And not just because I had just lost my best friend. Heck, Bucky Dent and Goose Gossage lived in my town. So 1978 kind of sucked but it was very quickly put in perspective for me.
I mostly get bent of shape because some yankee fans don’t see themselves the way the rest of us see certain yankee fans. Not all of them by any stretch. But there’s a reason that the yankees are not well liked. It’s mostly the obnoxious fans. But hey, every team’s got them, who am I kidding?
My wife had brain surgery for a tumor in 2009, it was successful, so I love 2009. And coincidentally, Derek Jeter’s dad had the same kind of tumor more recently and he had the same surgeon. So how can I be mad at the yankees winning in 2009? And how can I not like Derek Jeter.
Life is complicated. Baseball should be for fun.
Isn’t this actually a positive for the O’s? This way they don’t have to play him but insurance will defray part of his salary.
Why is it a bad thing if Chris Davis goes on the 60 day IL? The Orioles are better with him out, as they can then play guys who can actually hit the ball. I’ve never blamed players for taking the money. I have blamed owners for shelling it out. Angelos liked Davis personally so he gave him a 7 year contract, with no apparent outs for the club. You just can’t do that. As for Davis himself, if you can read between the lines of the reporting over the last few years, it’s pretty obvious Davis has been resistant to swing changes. True he’s claimed over the years he’s made adjustments, but reading what coaches and managers have said, this isn’t so. This year Davis again claims he was making major changes to his batting mechanics. I’ll believe it when I see results. In the meantime we will see if it’s just hot air pr cover for just taking the money or if he’s really committed to change.
Im sorry but i think they should just bite the bullet and release Davis. Such a shame too. Had a few great seasons, got paid, got caught taking some kind of meds that got him in trouble and ever since then has been just horrible. Doubt he plays many games this year which either way is a massive waste of money. Not like he is needed also because he does nothing when in there so its taking a spot from someone who may actually be able to help. So again i think its time to just pull the plug and let him go. That would pretty much end his career. With all the injuries and lack of production, no one will probably sign him.
The O’s still may be on a push for higher draft pick rather than a better standing in the division, so technically he helps them more than most other players possibly could. They should really try to get Khris Davis as well.
Far past time for the Orioles to cut ties with him. Its a sunk cost and he will never contribute. All he does it eat a 40 man roster spot.
They might be waiting for him to get to 300 career HR’s first Koamalu
Season hasn’t even started yet and my predictions continue to come true. I hope all of you have been as aggressive as I have betting the Yankees Under 95 wins. It’s Free Money guys!!! Another bullpen arm going down. Another left-handed bullpen arm going down. Yikes. Yankees Under 95 wins …… It’s Free Money!!
Disagree. You will continue to be wrong, but conveniently forget and change your narrative. 95 wins? I’ll take the over.
@Yankee Clipper – Let me educate you guys a bit. The current line is Yankees Over/Under 95 Wins for the season. I am telling you this is an incredibly bad line, and to bet Under 95 wins hard!!!!!!!!!! Free Money!!!!!! Take the Yankee goggles off and make some cash man!! I am also telling you that Bitcoin is going to 100K in 2021. Buy, hold and keep buying and holding! Buy Ethereum as well. Currently trading at about $1700 right now. It will be over 100K at some point in the next 3 years. Ethereum is the currency that is leading the Decentralized Finance movement that is in the process of replacing the banks! Crypto is the future guys!!
95?
Push.
But, yeah. That’s backing way the hell off, man.
Noted.
Let’s not tell Barry no games of record in ‘21 have been played yet. I think he’s already trying to add…….
World’s away from “fourth place & won’t make the playoffs”. So we’ve already seen…man… what’s that, a 13-15 game jump?
Next stop: “Won’t win over 110* games.”
*Again: push
@Ducky – The reason why I can’t keep betting the Yankees under 95 wins is because that is what the betting odds are right now. I ABSOLUTELY believe the Yankees will be battling the Red Sox for 3rd place in the AL East. This season will be a disaster for the Yankees …. I Repeat!!! ….. Yankees Under 95 Wins is FREE MONEY!!!!!!!!! Not backing off of anything!!!! I am further emphasizing the fact that this is FREE MONEY!!!!! I am getting mine!!!!! Bet this line and KEEP betting it all the way down to 85 wins. Britton and Wilson already down in the pen. Starters after Cole shaky. Schmidt is hurt. German???
Very Barry keep drinking that Yawkey Way juice.. lol… focus on Bosox junkbox rotation, pacific league defense & no show offense… LOL last place Sox!
Dude if you want to be taken if moderately seriously pay attention to the world a little.
Is it 94.5 or 95.5?
See, bro.
Your takes are just childish. Ya know.
& your posts read like a text message from my son’s!!!!! girlfriend!!!!!!
Lord.
& no. I didn’t read anything past the first sentence because it’s worthless.
Have a great night though.
You can get 95 or 95.5 depending on the Sportsbook. This is the rare time when I am not concerned about the .5 in the least. Yanks ain’t gonna sniff that number!!! I wouldn’t expect anything less than “I didn’t ready anything past the first sentence …. “. Yet still deciding to post an “informed” comment. Like I said before ….. White Claws have ruined the Yankee fan base.
I am so thoroughly confused at what you’re actually saying….. It does look like you write clickbait ads for online spam sites though.
Just put a bit of neon around your free money sign.
Yet the orioles will still be paying Davis still after his contract is up. There’s all those deferrals payments until 2035. The orioles will never have his name go away like Bobby Bonilla.
They have to pay him until 2037 lmao