The Yankees announced that infielder J.D. Davis has been released while infielder/outfielder Jahmai Jones has been sent outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Davis has already cleared waivers and is a free agent, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post on X.
Davis, 31, began his year by winning an arbitration hearing against the Giants, or so he thought. He was in line to make $6.9MM this year but the Giants released him after they signed Matt Chapman to take over their third base job.
Per the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, arbitration salaries are not guaranteed if the two sides go to a hearing, so the Giants only had to give Davis about $1.1MM in termination pay in letting him go. He landed with the A’s but only secured a $2.5MM guarantee on that deal.
With Oakland, he missed some time with a right adductor strain and hit a tepid .236/.304/.366 for a wRC+ of 96. He was flipped to the Yankees, who mostly kept him in a bench role, as Davis only got into seven games in over a month on the roster. He was designated for assignment when the Yanks acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the other 29 clubs evidently passed on the chance to grab Davis off waivers.
The Yanks will remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary, which is around $775K. Any other club could sign him for the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees pay. He hit .268/.352/.443 from 2019 to 2023 for a wRC+ of 120 and that past performance could perhaps intrigue some other clubs.
As for Jones, it’s a bit more surprising to see him go unclaimed. Roughly half the teams in the league have open 40-man roster spots in the wake of the trade deadline. Jones is not too far removed from being a notable prospect and has not yet qualified for arbitration, meaning he’s making a league minimum salary. He is out of options and would have needed an active roster spot with any claiming team, but could have been controlled for five additional seasons beyond this one.
He has hit just .198/.257/.278 in his major league career but without getting much of a chance, as he’s still never reached 75 plate appearances in a season. He was claimed by the Yankees back in February but was only sent to the plate 47 times in his stretch of about four months on the roster, getting designated for assignment when Giancarlo Stanton came off the injured list.
Prior to exhausting his option years, his work in the minors was strong. Over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, he took a walk in 15.2% of his plate appearances, only getting struck out 21.8% of the time. He hit a combined .254/.378/.441 in that time for a 114 wRC+. He also stole 25 bases in 34 tries while playing all three outfield spots, second base and even a bit of third base.
On top of that solid minor league work, he’s a former second-round pick who appeared on some top 100 prospect lists a few years ago, but he nonetheless went unclaimed on waivers. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency at this time. He’ll report to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for now but will qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if he’s not added back to the roster.
That would be a nice pick up for the Reds if they had roster space.
JD Davis, that is.
Why? Can’t hit. Can’t field. Bad ‘tude. Zero upside.
JD Davis, as an MLB player, is absolute garbage.
@Tom Price JD Davis has been an average to an above average hitter the previous 4 seasons. His defense is below average but hes not unplayable. You don’t have a clue
“Above average hitter”…Yeah right, J.D Davis is an “above average” hitter in a league starved for offense. I’m sure that’s why 3 teams, this year alone, have essentially fired him and told him his services are not especially helpful to winning baseball games. I think J.D must have high level connections, because I’ve never seen a well below average player get so much press or get so many chances.
@mlb fan I don’t like advanced stats but even his OPS+ hasn’t dropped under 100 since 2018
Don’t the Reds have enough Infielders?
Maybe the Marlins can find a spot for him at the end of their bench.
Giants sign him for the minimum #PlayingTheLongGame
Just kidding
That would be hilarious.
Dam, now we have no one to bat cleanup!
Davis went 2 for 19 with 9 strikeouts for the Yankees. As Michael Kay would say “See ya.”
The worse HR call in the history of HR calls.
It’s not the best but it doesn’t bother me much. I don’t hate Kay like a lot of Yankees fans do. He’s ok when it’s him Paulie and Cone.
I really like Kay, Paul, and Cone. Kay and just about anyone else is not nearly as good a complement.
I cannot stand Flaherty’s announcing, but even worse is Eduardo Perez.
“I really like Kay”..It’s not so much that I “like” the Yankees broadcasters but they’re not terrible and I watch so many Yankees games I’ve gotten used to them. They’re not bad or offensive people and you do get used to hearing them and they become another part of the game. I pretty much felt the same way about umpire Joe West.
@YC We as sympatico there. Flaherty and Perez are my least favorite by far.
I can’t stand that HR call. It feels aggressive and mean-spirited. Like, “In your face!”
Wouldn’t it be funny if Giants pick him up
Where are all his fanboys now? I told them back in the spring that he was just about done as a major leaguer. But they thought he was going to be so great with Oakland. Lol
Seriously, I’ve always been wondering that, too.
I was also shouting it from the top of Oracle Park, but all these Giants fans just loved that dude. There’s some weird new generation of SF fans that won’t ever say anything bad about a player, and proclaim anyone who’s ever played for us to be a “Forever Giant”, no matter how much they stank.
sporcle twins power activate!
The Astros are playing Jon Singleton every day at 1b.
His OPS is .660 (.715 vs RHP/.468 vs LHP)
J.D. isn’t much but the Astros need someone who can play 1b vs LHP. (.638 this year/.768 in his career)
He would be a big improvement
Very surprised they didn’t land a 1B at the deadline. Guys like Josh Bell and Ty France changed teams and as bad as they are they are still better than Singleton
Davis was drafted by the Astros in 2014, so perhaps a reunion in the making?
Wasn’t he traded to the Rays for like 30 seconds at the trade deadline? Guess they could get him without giving up a player now if they wanted to
JD Davis is a national league guy. Hes not used to american league pitchers. If I was the Dodgers, I’d take a chance on him. I garentee he’d hit .280 with around 8hrs in about 50 games played for them
I’m surprised no one wants Jones. He was okay not great but better than DJL if given more of a chance. I saw Jeter Downs is now playing elsewhere. Downs/Pereza/Vivas all deserved a chance to replace DJL and Torres. I was also disappointed the Yankees gave up on the catcher for nothing to the Mets.
Shaved a goat for nuthin.
Damn Yankees.
“Shaved a goat”..Since J.D Davis has essentially been fired by 3 teams this year, I’m guessing he has many more important issues to consider than the 2-3 weeks it will take to grow out his goatee again.
It’s safe to say this season hasn’t played out the way J.D. envisioned it in March.
Am I dreaming or didn’t the trade deadline show that he was traded to the Rays?
That depends. Do you live in a legal Marijuana state?
I wonder if J.D. has a Matt Chapman dartboard at home…