The Rays have not acquired infielder J.D. Davis from the Yankees. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported on X that Davis was going to the Rays but later recanted it, also on X. Davis had been designated for assignment by the Yankees a couple of days ago and is presumably still in DFA limbo. He’ll have to be put on waivers in the coming days now that the trade deadline has passed.
Davis, 31, has had a strange year. Back in February, he and the Giants went to an arbitration hearing, which he won. That set him up to make $6.9MM this year instead of the $6.5MM figure the club requested. But after the Giants signed Matt Chapman, they put Davis on waivers and released him.
Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, arbitration salaries are guaranteed if they agreed to prior to a hearing, but not if a hearing takes place. The Giants only had to pay Davis about 30 days’ termination pay, which was roughly $1.1MM. He then signed with the A’s, earning a $2.5MM guarantee. Even when combined with the termination pay from the Giants, he was making only about half of what he thought he earned in arbitration.
He hit .236/.304/.366 in his time with Oakland, leading to a subpar 96 wRC+. The rebuilding A’s likely hoped to turn Davis into a deadline trade chip but it wasn’t trending that way so they designated him assignment and flipped him to the Yankees in a small deal. But he didn’t receive much playing time as a Yankee, getting into just seven games in over a month before being designated for assignment again.
Davis slashed .268/.352/.443 from 2019 to 2023 for a wRC+ of 120. Though he has struggled this year, teams looking for roster upgrades won’t have much choice now that the deadline is done, so perhaps his past track record will draw someone’s attention. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining all of his salary, so he’ll end up a free agent if he clears waivers. At that point, a team could sign him for just the prorated league minimum with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees pay.
Whoa
JD for who? Hopefully Fairbanks. Haha
Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
Sick of the Rays buying all the talent.
HaHa
The steal of the day. Congrats Rays fans.
Mets JD Davis was actually really good and also unlucky.
Led the league in xWOBA – WOBA iirc.
Surely the rays see something…. Right?
Versatile and hits for some power.
He can play multiple positions*
*very poorly
The curse of Ji-man Choi 2.0. Just wait
If it’s only cash considerations who cares.
That sounds like one of those straight to DVD movie titles you find in the bins at Wal-mart. The cover looks exactly like “The Mummy 2”, but it’s “The Curse of Ji-Man Choi 2.0.”
Paredes who?
Now Davis can grow back his A’s beard!!
That’s probably why he failed. He looked like a hipster eww…
Paredes who? Just Dingers Davis is here to save us! (I’m delusional)
TB could have had Torres for a bucket of baseballs
@TBFERN-After watching him play for the Yankees that last few weeks, he’s more like Just Doodo Davis now. He was just atrocious during his brief stint in the Bronx. Maybe if he can turn it around if he’s given the chance to play everyday, but if the A’s had seen enough of him, that should be a sign.
Rays would be better off trading for Geena Davis.
Thelma & Loiuse Davis?
Or Now?
We’ll take Cash (the manager), international bonus money or Rays can take Cashman.
Right now, JD Vance could probably hit better than JD Davis.
No this is baseball not couchball…
So could officer JD Tippit.
Course, he’d have to shave first.
Fake News.
You were correct!
Watch the Rays sneak in and make the playoffs after that fire sale – I think they can do it!
JD Davis
West-coast -> East coast -> Southern coast
Nation traveler
oops rejected! I guess tampa is waiting for minimum cost once DFA clears
Pro Rated Minimum sounds a lot better.
Heyman made a mistake. Davis wasn’t traded to TB
Will pundits never learn that flight logs are unreliable?
A plane landed in Tampa. JD Davis must be on it. No response from Davis’ agent. Tweet.
Nooooo. Really???
I’ve never seen an article saying a player wasn’t traded to a team, it sounds so weird
DFA trades needed to be completed by the deadline as well, correct?
Yes. They can only do trades for players not on the 40 man going forward.
Dodged a bullet, and didn’t have to give anybody to the evil empire. This is about the only Rays move I’m happy with in the past 2 weeks.
What a shock!!!!! Heyman with bad information.
Is it true that he reported that Davis was traded for Arson Judge?
No. He actually reported that Geena Davis was traded for Orson Bean.
And with that the Rays win the trade deadline!
BREAKING: Pete Alonso NOT traded to the Dodgers.
We’re reporting on who has not been traded!? You have some work to do!
So he cost himself several millions by going to arbitration hearing to fight over $400k?
From the man who brought us Arson Judge