The Mets were one of the most active teams in the pre-lockout frenzy, adding Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha. Those signings, along with Robinson Cano’s return from serving a season-long PED suspension, have given them a crowded position player mix. This has led to some speculation that the club could end up moving a player like Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith or J.D. Davis, with all three of those players appearing on MLBTR’s list of the likeliest post-lockout trade candidates. It seems that Davis was garnering his fair share of attention before the lockout, as Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that the Cubs, Red Sox, Twins and Athletics all had interest in his services before the transactions freeze took hold in December.
The fact that various teams are interested in Davis is hardly surprising, given his excellent offensive skills. Since being acquired by the Mets from the Astros prior to the 2019 season, Davis has made 893 plate appearances in 269 games and has a line of .288/.373/.472. That’s good enough for a wRC+ of 130, fifth-best among third basemen with at least 850 plate appearances in that time, ahead of big names like Rafael Devers and Josh Donaldson.
Unfortunately, Davis hasn’t been as good on the other side of the ball, as advanced defensive metrics don’t look kindly upon his work at either third base or left field. For instance, Statcast’s Outs Above Average gave him -8 in 2019, followed by -6 in the shortened 2020 season and -3 in the 2021 campaign, despite playing just 73 games due to injury.
Despite those flaws, Davis should still hold plenty of appeal. The 28-year-old (29 in April) qualified for arbitration in 2021 due to reaching Super Two status and earned a salary of $2.1MM. Due to injuries holding him back last year, he is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a modest raise to $2.7MM in 2022 and can be controlled for two seasons beyond that. Those factors, combined with his bat, could make him a fit on plenty of rosters, especially now that the universal designated hitter is official.
The Cubs have spent most of the past year-plus subtracting from their roster, trading away Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and others. Since then, however, they have shown that they don’t have designs on totally tanking, as evidenced by their pre-lockout pickups of Wade Miley, Yan Gomes and Marcus Stroman. They currently have Patrick Wisdom pencilled in at the hot corner after a nice breakout campaign last year. However, he struck out in a whopping 40.8% of his plate appearances, making it questionable if he can be a long-term solution at the position.
There has been some speculation that Rafael Devers is destined to be moved off of third base in the long run, due to his defensive limitations, though Davis isn’t really an upgrade in that department. However, putting Davis in left field could be an option, if the club feels he would fit in front of the Green Monster. Jarren Duran struggled in his debut last season and could perhaps be sent to Triple-A for more reps there. Or perhaps the lefty Durran and righty Davis could complement each other in a platoon capacity.
The Twins have Josh Donaldson at third but he’s also seen significant time at DH, only taking the field in 92 of his 135 games last year. Given his age, 36, and injury history, it would make sense to acquire another option for the hot corner to help keep him healthy. Luis Arraez could fill that role at the moment, but he hasn’t produced the same level of offense as Davis thus far in his career. There also could be a path to playing time on the grass, as youngsters Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach both had tepid debuts last year, putting up a wRC+ of 93 and 89, respectively.
The Athletics already have an excellent third baseman, technically, in Matt Chapman. However, it’s widely expected that the club is about to embark upon a major selloff, with Chapman being one of those most often mentioned as a trade candidate due to his increasing salary and two remaining years of control. Acquiring Davis could be a relatively affordable way of filling Chapman’s absence after a trade. The club also has big question marks in its outfield right now, after Marte and Canha both went to the Mets. Ramon Laureano will be in center field eventually, but first has to serve 27 more games of his PED suspension. Seth Brown had a decent campaign, but none of Stephen Piscotty, Chad Pinder, Skye Bolt or Luis Barrera did much to inspire confidence last year. Tony Kemp could play the outfield but may be needed at second base.
Though his ultimate destination is unknown, the sense of an impending trade seems to be growing with Davis himself. “It’s kind of 50/50, kind of a flip of the coin,” he said back in October. When asked the same question by Puma today, he said, “Now it could be say 60-40 out of here, but you never know.” Davis then elaborated, referencing the fact that Cano, McNeil, Smith and Luis Guillorme are all lefties. “Baseball is in a situation of bench players, and something like that, three or four lefties and I’m maybe the only righty, so strategically I could see myself back there, but I don’t know. Anything can happen.”
No moves so far. Are teams waiting until tomorrow so Manfred doesn’t think they were tampering?
I want at least one big signing/trade tonight.
I’d imagine that with around 300 FAs the agents are really busy reestablishing contact with teams. That’s going to take several hours to do. I’d assume that the insane chaos of signing players and working out trades will pick up in earnest tomorrow, with teams reporting on Sunday. I doubt the radio silence is a sign of trying to avoid Manfred thinking there is tampering going on.
What would Manfred do? Nothing really
yeah, i kind of half expected one like 10 minutes in.
I don’t know even know that trades would even count as tampering. Did he ever say that teams couldn’t talk to each other?
Stay away from the Mets curse. The team he signs with will serve as a sacrifice for the next team he goes to after that…assuming that neither is the Mets.
Derrrpppp good one
He holds value as a cheap, above average hitter. But he’s a liability at 3B and in LF. Not sure who is willing to trade for that other than the cheapest of teams. Marlins, Pirates, A’s seem most likely. Probably too expensive for the Marlins though. I’m so happy baseball is back and we can talk about these things!
JD Davis to the Marlins makes a lot of sense given his projected salary will only be $2.7M. I know Jeter left because they planned to control spending but any good player under $5M-$7M should be well within the range of what the Marlins are willing to spend. He’d be a primary DH for them, filling in at 3B and LF when needed.
Marlins won’t trade with the Mets.
Dotty, don’t the fish already have plenty of oafish corner lumps like Aguilar, Anderson, Cooper and Sanchez? Plenty of DH’s in waiting.
Yes, the Marlins have no need for JD. They have GG caliber 3B Anderson, Aguilar will be their 1B with Cooper at DH, and will move to DH once Lewin Diaz is completely ready.
I’m not sure how Jesus Sanchez is being tied into this when he’s a solid corner OF.
I’m not as smart as Jed Hoyer, but why would you covet a RH hitter who plays poor defense?
If Manny was capable of playing LF in front of the Monster, Davis will look like a gold glover out there.
DH
Starting in 2001 through 2009, Manny Ramirez started in LF in 55, 64, 128, 132, 149, 123, 120, 119, and 101 games.
Got to hide his glove in the Gatorade bucket. On second thought, that’s where JD stores it.
JD is actually short for JatoraDe
Swing and a miss.
Cano was well on the way to the good old lead glove award. Looks like he was saved by the NL getting the DH.
he will test positve again or only hit .210 his days are over
Cohen will buy him out by August.
Cubs need a LH power bat.
Wouldn’t mind the Rangers swinging a deal for him with the absence of Jung. I’d rather not see IKF slotted in the lineup everyday.
You don’t want IKF–who produced nearly 4bwar last year–in the lineup everyday?
No, I’d rather not see the 85 OPS+ hitter slotted into the lineup everyday. His defense is what spikes his bWAR, and even that is short-sighted as BR is an outlier when it comes to rating his defensive stats. Fangraphs gives him a 2.3 fWAR, and all of his 2022 offensive projections are in the high .600’s OPS, which is in line with what he did in 2021 (.670).
I think he or Smith would nice adds for the Rangers. Perhaps B. Martin and a just out of top 30 prospects for either one.
As long as he gets out of the NL east so I don’t have to listen to chip caray annunciate the J and D 90 times a year
Doesn’t it drive you crazy when he over- enunciates “And” when he begins a sentence?
The A’s wouldn’t sign Davis unless he was 42 years old and a DH
I got to thinking when reading this article, if the Mets might be in the market for Chapman, a clear 3B upgrade, perhaps condensing their glut of infielders/outfielders by attempting to put Davis and McNeil on the block, they are the type of players Oakland seem to like and get the best out of.
Think Davis goes to Milwaukee for Adrian Houser.
That would be a steal for the Mets
But now Davis can DH
That was my thought as well, platooning with Smith. Both are inexpensive, can play the corners and LF (in case of an injury). It’s the bench teams try to build, so I’d question the Mets dealing either of them or both unless they’re getting something back that will be decent, like a strong RP.
What do you think they’ll do with Cano?
Pay Cano $20 million annually through next season. Don’t be down, it’s almost over.
Cohen will buy him out by August.
Mets Marlins are a perfect fit. JD Davis for Jesus Luzardo straight up. Marlins need cheap hitters and the Mets need a 3rd starter. Marlins have plenty of pitching in their farm system. I think Luzardo has the potential to be an ace.
FYI – Marlins have a GG caliber 3B in Brian Anderson; a !B and DH combo of Aguilar and Garrett Cooper, which Cooper will be out once Lewin Diaz is completely ready with the bat to match his HR power and glove at 1B.
Therefore, JD Davis is not a fit for the Marlins. And they sure as heck aren’t trading Luzardo for him after they got Luzardo for Marte.
Actually, the Marlins got Luzardo for Starling Marte, Caleb Smith, Humberto Mejia, and Alex Frias and and the $4M that was remaining on Marte’s contract.
Bloom should pick up Davis, trade Dalbec for bullpen pitching if they can….they need Correa though first
Bogie 4 life at ss
Mariners. Stop gap?
I don’t think the Twins need Davis. 3rd base is covered by Donaldson and AAA star Miranda! Arreaz and Sano can cover in case of injuries there.
I think the Twins are more in the market to replace Cruz, switch him off some with Donaldson.
Why does the writer seems to think a solid team would plug him in at 3B or even the outfield daily? J.D Davis has a really good shot at being a DH over playing the field. If a team plays him every once in awhile and he plays 20-50 games on the field, then the team doesn’t have depth in front of him. The guy is a defensive liability
Yeah I’m with you on this. 15 more spots are now open for DH types and JD fits that
Yuck
There is no way the Met’s should give him away. He has value as a hitter and there are over a dozen teams that now officially have an opening for a DH. The Met’s need to get back a viable bullpen ar for the guy, otherwise hold on to him for now. Same thing with Dom Smith although he can also actually play 1st as well. They need to retain McNeil as a utility player. I think they should consider releasing Cano outright. I can only hope he fails another drug test so he’s gone forever.
See Dominic Smith playing a more positional than I do with JD Davis.
At least with Kelenic falling on his face as an overhyped rookie (.181/.265/.350), the trade for Cano doesn’t look so bad these days. Justin Dunn is a nice arm but looks like a 5th starter with a #4 ceiling if he can learn to throw something other than a fastball or a curve. Edwin Diaz hasn’t been what he was in Seattle, but it’s not the worst trade in Mets history based on the results to date. That title still belongs to the Kazmir/Zambrano trade.