Chris Davis to leadoff?

[MikeAD]

8 hours ago, Moshagge3 said:

Davis is a hole in the lineup whether he's hitting first or fifth or eighth, so I'm not fretting over this experiment yet. Maybe I'll feel differently once the Orioles lose a close one where Davis strikes out with the bases loaded leaving Manny on deck.

I guess so.  Kind of like giving up an out once through the lineup when you play a person down or have too many of the same gender in a row in co-ed softball.  Poor guy I hope he puts it together.  Huge fan of him.  

[Reboulet'sStache]

9 hours ago, spleen1015 said:

I'm surprised at the folks defending this idea and defending CD.

.327 is not a good OBP. The guy is on the wrong side of 30 and he had a terrible year last year. He's not going to be much better, leadoff or not.

I hope he's worth the $23 million as much as anyone, but he looked so lost last year. I don't see how its going to be any different this year.

2023 can't get her soon enough.

Yeah, it really is just shuffling deck chairs on the titanic at this point.  Which isn't to be unexpected.  The day he was signed I think most honest people knew this how it was going to be, and really quickly into the contract. 
The question going forward probably this year and really for the rest of his contract isn't: where should he be playing in the lineup?  It's going to be: "should he be playing at all?"

[ChuckS]

25 minutes ago, Reboulet'sStache said:

Yeah, it really is just shuffling deck chairs on the titanic at this point.  Which isn't to be unexpected.  The day he was signed I think most honest people knew this how it was going to be, and really quickly into the contract. 
The question going forward probably this year and really for the rest of his contract isn't: where should he be playing in the lineup?  It's going to be: "should he be playing at all?"

At the time of signing, I was thinking he would be a negative WAR player and finished by year four going down as the worst contract in baseball history.  

This is a worse case scenario.  While most of us new a tail spin was possible only the most pessimistic among us could expect him to be finished as a productive player in year two of the contract.  

I think he's reduced to a PT role in the second half of 2018 and DFA'd by the end of 2019.  Hope I'm wrong.....and that it's dictated by performance rather than the millions left on his deal.  

[0ld school]

He should be batting 9th maybe then he will get the message.

[Why Not?]

Davis is still figuring out a new approach at the plate. If he sticks with what he's doing, he'll be a totally different hitter than he's been. I don't know if that new hitter will be GOOD and I don't know what to make of it, but he'll be different.

'Davis has struck out once in four games, which is downright remarkable considering his history. He's also drawn three walks despite having the team's best hitter behind him. These are good signs. Davis has not been hitting the ball particularly hard, but his .071 BABIP won't continue.

[Frobby]

On 4/2/2018 at 9:25 AM, DrungoHazewood said:

Yes, if something doesn't get the expected results in four to eight plate appearances then immediately abandon the idea and apologize for your wild-eyed lunacy.

That's what Babe Ruth did after two games of trying this totally mad "power hitting" experiment.  That's why we know him as a briefly successful pitcher who did well in the 1916 and 1918 World Series, then hurt his arm and retired in 1922.

ESPN stole your idea.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22933770/should-shohei-ohtani-stay-two-way-player-exactly-100-years-ago-red-sox-faced-same-question-babe-ruth

[interloper]

 

[DrungoHazewood]

11 hours ago, 0ld school said:

He should be batting 9th maybe then he will get the message.

Isn't that really the story of all poor teams: They forget to tell the players they're doing things wrong, and that they should fix that by doing things right.  It's a simple failure in messaging. 

[DrungoHazewood]

13 minutes ago, interloper said:

 

While the information revolution has led to countless benefits for mankind, it has also enabled a million sports fans to assign deep meaning to essentially random occurrences.  And then use those random numbers to agitate for immediate change to long-term planning.

[Bahama O's Fan]

If nothing changes with Davis, what's the over/under on how long Buck leaves him in the leadoff spot?

[Sir_Loin]

I think about it this way: your leadoff hitter will get the most ABs during a season. Is Chris Davis the guy we want getting the most chances of an AB during a game? My thought is no, Manny should be getting the most chances to hit. 

Then you have the folks that will call for Manny to remain where he is so that when he launches on out someone is on base (as long as CD doesn't K).

[interloper]

55 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

While the information revolution has led to countless benefits for mankind, it has also enabled a million sports fans to assign deep meaning to essentially random occurrences.  And then use those random numbers to agitate for immediate change to long-term planning.

I hear you, but  one is calling for immediate change regarding the offense. It is what it is and we all know that. I just thought it was interesting to point out that it's one of the worst starts, offensively, based just on batting average (which, whatever, we also know they have a crazy low BABIP), in the history of the organization. Which is interesting! It doesn't tell us anything, really. If anything, the pitchers we've faced have all been at their very best so far, which is also pretty random. It's a confluence of things. 

I'm not drawing any conclusions other than it sucks as a fan to watch!

[Bonecrusher52]

12 hours ago, 0ld school said:

He should be batting 9th maybe then he will get the message.

If he's playing in NL, I would put him in 9th spot behind the pitcher hitting at 8th. Let us all pray Buck will read this before tonight game.

[interloper]

no* one

[Catch 8]

5 hours ago, Why Not? said:

Davis is still figuring out a new approach at the plate. If he sticks with what he's doing, he'll be a totally different hitter than he's been. I don't know if that new hitter will be GOOD and I don't know what to make of it, but he'll be different.

'Davis has struck out once in four games, which is downright remarkable considering his history. He's also drawn three walks despite having the team's best hitter behind him. These are good signs. Davis has not been hitting the ball particularly hard, but his .071 BABIP won't continue.

I agree that one strikeout in four games as the leadoff hitter is remarkable for CD.  Do you mind sharing or elaborating on your observations insofar as adjustments he is making or attempting?

While I didn't watch Spring Training, Davis looks more of the same through four regular season games.  He is still swinging around everything, taking hell cuts ahead in the count and neglecting left field.  I recall him stinging a ball into the shift, but not really barreling anything else.

It will be interesting how frequently Chris makes hard contact on hittable pitches vs. taking/missing/fouling them off.