It’s reunion season in Oakland. The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve signed outfielder/designated hitter Khris Davis to a minor league contract and assigned him to their affiliate in the Arizona Complex League.
Davis, of course, was a mainstay in the Athletics’ lineup from 2016-20, logging a trio of 40-homer campaigns as the team’s primary designated hitter along the way. Davis rather remarkably posted a .247 batting average in four consecutive seasons with the A’s, complementing that with healthy walk rates and top-of-the-scale power. Davis led Major League Baseball in home runs from 2016-18. Add in the 2019 season, and only Nelson Cruz and Nolan Arenado surpassed him in total long balls.
The slugger had long made clear that he hoped to remain in Oakland, and the A’s took the rather rare (for them) step of extending Davis and buying out multiple free-agent seasons. Unfortunately, the two-year, $33MM contract proved to be a misstep, as Davis’ bat fell off not long after signing the deal. He hit just .200/.303/.329 through 99 plate appearances in 2020, the first season of that extension, and Oakland flipped him to the Rangers in an offseason deal that brought Elvis Andrus to the A’s and carried payroll benefits for both clubs. Things didn’t go well for “Khrush” in Texas, either, as he slashed just .157/.262/.333 in 61 plate appearances before being designated for assignment and released.
Of course, any mention of Davis’ decline needs to take his health — or lack thereof — into account. Davis played through hip, oblique and hand injuries in 2019 as his downturn at the plate began, and while he didn’t make excuses for his dwindling power numbers, he eventually acknowledged that his injuries had impacted his swing when asked. Davis explained that he’d begun to choke up a bit to compensate for a lack of strength in his hand, which had conversely impacted his power game. Whether Davis was fully healthy in either of the two subsequent seasons can’t be certain, but he’s yet to regain the prodigious power or remarkable consistency at the plate that he displayed in his peak form.
It might be a long shot to see the now-33-year-old slugger return to those heights, at least in 2021, but the A’s will take a no-risk look and try to get one of their former lineup cornerstones back on track in the minor league ranks. Their openness to doing so should come as no surprise; Oakland designated hitters have combined to bat just .217/.292/.380 this season. The A’s were linked to Cruz in trade rumblings last month, but the AL East-leading Rays made the best offer for the now-former Twins slugger and acquired him about a week prior to the July 30 trade deadline.
Good for them.
Just goes to show you. If you’re small market don’t ever sign free agents. They got extremely lucky someone was dumb enough to take on that money. Spending doesn’t equal winning. Every intelligent fan knows that. Oh you don’t that’s reading that? Well that’s cause you aren’t well. Obviously intelligent.
Did you have a stroke writing that?
I don’t think he had a stroke, but a balloon did just deflate all over the room
If you send me that posting by 8am I can usually have it edited to make sense by 3pm.
Gonna need a BAC on this guy.
A’s aren’t small market
They are for all intents and purposes. For various reasons they can’t afford to spend like a big market.
Nope they were cut off of the mlb welfare system
Yes it’s very risky for a small market team to spend money unfortunately, but they got stuck with an equally bad player in Elvis Andrus who they were forced to play most of the season as well. Having a higher payroll obviously helps because the Dodgers can sign three of these guys and cut them the next day without any issue, but one bad move leaves a small market team hamstrung. Just sign one year deals or team friendly extensions.
lol
Hopefully he learned how to use a glove while out.
FYI, you don’t need to use a glove when you’re a DH.
This comment wreaks of ignorance! Dudes a DH learn the rules of American League Baseball.
*”Learn the rules of every single league on the entire planet EXCEPT the NL”
Fixed it for you. Pitchers hitting is an abomination. I’d give up Ohtani every day of the week if it meant never watching a non-professional hitter bat against a professional pitcher ever again. Unless its Ohtani, hitters pitching is bad, pitchers hitting is worse. Neither should ever happen in MLB, and its about it to be. Its over, let it go. Ohtani is a unicorn, not the norm. Never will be.
It’s not an abomination, it’s baseball. 9 men on the field, the same 9 men to the plate.
@tstats it absolutely is. Pitching and hitting are two entirely different skillsets, its playing two entirely different games. Like 75% of pitchers are bottom-heavy all-legs guys who are slow as an ox – this is the exact opposite type of body required to hit at the MLB level. Its been like this for decades, you cant change the process at this point, you just let it go.
Like 95% of pitchers currently in MLB are abomination to the art and science of hitting, the NL is a dinosaur league that despite it being a BILLION dollar game, still allows players to play a part of the game where they have the exact same skill level as you or I. Unacceptable. We all view hitters pitching as a complete joke that shouldnt really happen unless something terrible has happened, but in the NL the #9 slot hits 3-5 times a game no matter what. This is a joke. The DH belongs everywhere. I want to see professionals, not amateurs.
Camarena.
@A’sfaninUK- **The DH is an abomination.
Fixed it for you. I don’t want to watch the stupid designated hitter, either. Guess what, I don’t watch AL baseball. See how easy that is?
You’re an A’s fan, which last I checked were in the American League. You can have your DH there until your heart is content. Stop complaining about a league your team isn’t even in.
The pitching and hitting are too different skillsets is tired, and a weak argument. Fielding and hitting are different skillsets, too, but we don’t have designated fielders because it’d be dumb. The same way the DH is dumb. Can we just stop with the specialization in the game?! $#!%, at some point we’ll have a pitcher throwing a fastball on an 0-0 count, then a different pitcher coming in to throw a curveball on the 0-1 count because curveballs are a different skill than fastballs. Smh.
A DH doesn’t have the skill set to field so he is no better than a pitcher when it comes to the full game of baseball. He is by definition an “amateur” when it comes to fielding
Unless he’s being paid for it (to field) a la Stanton in Miami over the weekend.
In which case, he is by definition a “professional”.
Thank you!
Mornings Duckster,
I’m really pleased about this.- he can be a depth piece or a bench piece, whatever.
We’ve already struck gold with Lazarus Lowrie,- other prominent posters suggested Lowrie wouldn’t last twenty games. Popped one into the bleachers again this afternoon.
He (Davis) can get warm in Vegas for 3-4 weeks (which would actually kill me) and so long as Random Rob Manfred (slave and prophet to the gluttons) doesn’t make too many more silly rules can be part of the forty man with a bit of a shuffle & September roster expansion.
Plus the Khris Davis and Anthony Slocum meeting & mutual shirt signing thing remains a favourite moment.
Nothing to dislike, no risk, nice feel good factor for everyone (except possibly Mitch Moreland)….
London…
You’re joking right. Firstly, MLB pitchers are a better hitter than you. Unless you have played competitive baseball for two decades, through the college ranks and above. What you are trying to portray as fact is not, but rather your opinion. I prefer the NL approach to having strategy rather than just swinging for the fences. I’d rather have a pitcher hit and play both sides of the game than have some guy like an Nelson Cruz who has an iron glove. Last time I looked defense was a part of the game. You want to see professionals…comical.
Hey, what’s up, @London.
Can’t see how a fan of any team wouldn’t care to get Davis on a MiLB deal. This goes extra for you guy’s.
Looks like it’s shaping up to be a real scrum between the Yanks, A’s, & Jays for the WC2. Every little bit helps.
Power hitting and baserunning are two different skill sets. Any time a bigger or overweight power hitter gets on base they should have an automatic, designated pinch runner.
The pitcher usually only hits about twice a game on average. The rest is a pinch hitter.
There are only 3 Pitchers in the National League with an RC+ over 100 right now. Max Fried, Jacob deGrom & Huascar Ynoa. The 4th best pitcher in the NL has an RC+ of 70 something. That’s not the Average RC+ of the position…its the 4th best. Having Pitchers Hit is an abomination. Giving the NL the DH rule & then making us go back to the Stone age in 2021 has been absolutely brutal. It makes the sport so boring. I love strategy but let’s face it; Strategy alone cannot compensate for the amount of excitement the Game is sacrificing by having Pitchers Hit!!!
Don’t you mean “reeks” of ignorance, Mr. Intelligent?
My bad on the incorrect word usage.
Now he can sign that 1 day contract and retire an “A”
Why does he need a glove? His most glaring issue in the field was the inability to throw the ball. Besides, who would he displace in the field? Canna, Marte, Laureano…?
His inability to throw the ball was, IIRC, matched only by his inability to catch the ball
But that swing…
That’s the #1 reason why the Brewers gave up and traded him way back when. I’m a Brewers fan and he was always a defensive liability
I fear the halcyon days of perennial .247 averages are a thing of the past.
True but as listed above Moreland and the rest are really not producing much above that line. At least with Krush we know he’s comfortable in the confines of the decrepit O.Co where they play on Rickey Henderson Field. God the names of that place have really gone off the rails over the last decade.
Hopefully he can start up the .247 streak again!
KHRUSH
The A’s seem to continue to play the same mediocre, losing hand year after year – this move just seems to fit the mold. Lightning in a bottle is a big ask with this one.
Really? What losing hand? They won 97 games in both 18 and 19 then last year they were on pace for the same. It’s not like they’re relying on him to recreate peak seasons either it’s just a minor league deal
This is a minor league signing, bozo
Not sure I would call signing a 33 y.o. former HR leader to a minor league contract after just trading for a CF’er having an All-Star season a “losing hand”
Yet they always seem to make the playoffs, or come close.
@FullMontilla – clueless. How can you be smart enough to find this site and make an account and log in and write something, but you chose to write something that is 100% false, like a dumb person would???
The A’s make the playoffs 50% of the time under Beane. Almost all other teams don’t have that record. The A’s actually destroyed everyone at the deadline, they upgraded
Garcia to Gomes
Piscotty to Marte
Kemp to Harrison
Weems to Chafin
Those moves are going to get them to the playoffs, period. Beane killed this deadline.
Are you unfamiliar with the Dodgers in the UK, or Scherzer and Turner?
1) 3 40 run HR isn’t lightning in a bottle
2) Khris Davis is literally the most consistent player basically in league history
3) this is a minor league deal and has zero impact on the major league team.
Points one and two should be past tense. Davis is no longer a 40 homer guy. He WAS very consistent statistically for several seasons. Saying he is “literally, basically” is kind of weird.
No argument he isn’t that player anymore. He wouldn’t have been waived had he been. My argument is calling him lightning in a bottle “again”
Lol
Seems like the most sense.
Eminem- “We Made You” that beginning part. That’s the vibe today with this and hamels
Yaaaaa ma man is baaaaack!!
They’ll call him up during the Bay Bridge series, and he’ll kill the Giants because of course he will. He even did it while he was on the Rangers this year.
The Hamels signing pisses me off. The Phillies should have tried harder to bring him on board. But, in fairness, Ranger has earned that rotation spot and they need to know what they have in him.
At best Hamels will be able to pitch early in September. Even then he may only go 4 or 5 innings. If Eflin comes back having Ranger as the 5th starter is a solid position to be in.
I’ve seen to many pitchers try to catch on in the middle of a season because that’s when they finally signed, didn’t ramp up like normal and so just performs like garbage. But some teams are desperate by this time and so will take a shot at it.
Maybe you’re right and the Phillies should have signed him or maybe just reserve your opinion and let’s see how Hamels does. You might not be as annoyed with the Phillies if Hamels goes and stinks his first three starts up.
Good. Another guy who can’t get a runner in scoring position in with less than 2 outs. He’ll fit in perfectly
I lost faith in him. After he hit a home run as a Brewer. Then skipped over home plate after a home run.
lol
Davis currently has 220 home runs and 807 hits, it would be nice if he could reach 250 and 1,000.
He won’t.
They’ll be signing Bert Campenaris next.
That would be truly awesome!
And Bert can play ANYWHERE!
September bench bat
Khush
I can appreciate paying homage to Davis’ past, but face it, it has passed. This is nothing more than a shot in the dark with blanks in the pistol. We all would love to see Davis return to what was, but it isn’t going to happen. Good luck anyway.
Who thought Khris Davis would be released before Chris?
Everyone
Why not?
Well, A’s got nothing to lose signing Khris Davis… He did hit some important homers here so who knows?
This seemed inevitable.
Ducky what’s up bro
Man, just my normal for this time of year: getting sick of 80 hr weeks while counting down the days until early goose season openers begin (17!).
& yourself?
This signing is more for Vegas than Oakland. Vegas had a outfield opening after the deadline deals so by having Davis go there and they can cover the outfield with Bolt no longer DH. The upper minors are pretty bare for position players for the A’s
Will he hit 247 again?
Thing about Davis is, he’s VERY streaky. In small samples he can look bad. If his injuries are healed, he has the chance to go back to that masher like he was, but keeping in the minors to test him out is a totally fine choice here. They are under no pressure to put him on the A’s big league team. Let him find his stroke in LV where anyone can mash, see what happens.
Nice , and it should help the ACL Athletics . Only 3 guys on that team could hit their way out of a paper bag .
I am not sure Davis had healthy walk rates. That’s a pretty slim diet.
A healthy Khris Davis in Las Vegas (AAA) would be fun. I’d rather watch Tony Kemp swing his empty bag of pixie dust than suffer through Davis at the major league level, again.
From all accounts from his Rangers teammates, he is a heckuva nice guy. I wish him well, even though he was always a Ranger killer.
Khris Davis would benefit from PEDs to help him recover from injury. I think that PED’s could be legalized for use in MLB to recover from injuries. This is a perfect situation for that. Policing it might be a problem though. Good luck to Khris. Age 33 is young to be washed up with his skillset.
Without knowing and having studies of the long-term health effects of continuous use, I’d disagree. Kids also watch this game.
It wouldn’t be right if he doesn’t hit .247 again.
Davis Was a good hitter… but the analytics and research makes him obsolete. It’s nice for oak to pick him up.. but he will never be a hitter in mlb again
AL managers make out the lineup and sit back to watch the game. Baseball now has very little base stealing almost zero hit and runs and in the AL no strategy because of the DH. Next year the NL will most likely also have the DH. With old star veterans and guys who were never good trying to hang on all trying to hit every pitch 500 feet averages are down and strike outs are up. Not exactly entertaining baseball
“Davis rather remarkably posted a .247 batting average in four consecutive seasons with the A’s…”
Since when is .247 a remarkable batting average?
when you do it four consecutive years.
sj – Let’s say he did it for 20 years. A .247 batting average is not remarkable, in a good way anyway. Perhaps I’m reading the sentence wrong.
Do you not understand how adverbs work?
Cosmo – Don’t understand the snarky response but how do you read that sentence? I read it as they considered .247 remarkable, aka good.
She sounds hideous!
Well, she’s a guy, so…..
Khakis
Was only a matter of time. Hope Davis is able to find his swing.