Is it time to bring in a "Davis Whisperer"?

[pastorfan]

1 hour ago, Babypowder said:

Everything is so emotional around here, it bugs me. The team is losing because they don't care. Davis isn't hitting because he's a headcase, he could bunt for a hit every time if he just wanted to do it. Chris Tillman is a liar just trying to swindle the team out of money. If Adam Jones could just concentrate harder, he would stop chasing pitches out of the zone. The list goes on.

What if the team is just having a bad stretch, as every team does? What if Davis has just declined and doesn't have the skills anymore? Same for Tillman. There doesn't have to be some negative force driving these things. Baseball players have bad stretches, they decline, they lack certain abilities. You'd think long term baseball fans wouldn't react so emotionally to issues so commonplace in this game.

You are absolutely right. It is mere coincidence that all of these things are happening right now, just as they did last year. 

[weams]

I feel that Chris can no longer hit. And that we got burned by Boras, as have so many other teams. 

[Frobby]

29 minutes ago, weams said:

I feel that Chris can no longer hit. And that we got burned by Boras, as have so many other teams. 

We got burned by ourselves.   And, it appears, got quite unlucky too.   

[AnythingO's]

3 hours ago, Babypowder said:

Davis is following a pretty typical career arc for players with his skill set. We have scientific evidence his athleticism has declined sharply in his sprint speed. That loss of athleticism is going to show up at the plate too. The bat has slowed and his offensive profile was living on a thin line as it was. 

All of this is true and he may be done but none of this explains why he continues to try and pull every pitch he swings at, uses an uppercut, doesn't keep his shoulder closed. A few years ago he shortened his stroke and went the other way more and had a good year. Doing that again MIGHT help but I see no evidence he is trying a different approach.

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, AnythingO's said:

All of this is true and he may be done but none of this explains why he continues to try and pull every pitch he swings at, uses an uppercut, doesn't keep his shoulder closed. A few years ago he shortened his stroke and went the other way more and had a good year. Doing that again MIGHT help but I see no evidence he is trying a different approach.

He did not go to the opposite field more in his better years.    

2013 - 23.0%

2015 - 17.6%

2017 - 21.9%

What he did do, IMO, was hit the ball with authority the other way more often than he does now.   And that’s a function of bat speed — he could wait and still generate enough bat speed to hit the ball out.    Now if he waits, he either whiffs or doesn’t hit the ball with authority.   

[TouchemAll]

This is one tough pill to swallow the O's can hardy afford that big of a hole in the offensive line up that Davis is providing.

I sure am glad I am not Buck deciding what to do with Davis.  My guess is they are praying like all of us for a miracle. The putting him at the top of the order was the 1st attempt at producing that miracle. Whats next? If it continues like this all month I would bury him at 8th and sit him against LH pitching?

[Camden_yardbird]

In an interview with MLB network this past off season  Chris said he was going to change his approach this season and be more aggressive early in the count.  In my opinion if that is indeed the case then making him the leadoff batter did him no favors.  

[glenn__davis]

2 hours ago, pastorfan said:

You are absolutely right. It is mere coincidence that all of these things are happening right now, just as they did last year. 

I think you missed Babypowder's point.

There isn't always some nefarious reason for why guys are performing badly.  Sometimes they're performing badly because they're just not good anymore.  And sometimes good players have bad seasons, and vice versa.

[Il BuonO]

43 minutes ago, TouchemAll said:

This is one tough pill to swallow the O's can hardy afford that big of a hole in the offensive line up that Davis is providing.

I sure am glad I am not Buck deciding what to do with Davis.  My guess is they are praying like all of us for a miracle. The putting him at the top of the order was the 1st attempt at producing that miracle. Whats next? If it continues like this all month I would bury him at 8th and sit him against LH pitching?

Do they have to play him vs RHP?

[atomic]

21 hours ago, 24fps said:

To protect themselves against billionaires - some of whose business practices make the players look saintly in comparison.

It isn't a real union.  If it were all the players would make the same amount of money.  The agents run the union. 

[interloper]

41 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

Do they have to play him vs RHP?

You gotta do something with him. 

What have other teams done in this situation?

[atomic]

2 hours ago, weams said:

I feel that Chris can no longer hit. And that we got burned by Boras, as have so many other teams. 

To bad we can't trade him to the Rangers for Ian Kinsler.     On the bright side the Davis contract looks better than the Miguel Cabrera contract.  

[atomic]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

You gotta do something with him. 

What have other teams done in this situation?

Ryan Howard?  The Phillies became a perennial loser and continued to play him.  

[VaBird1]

5 hours ago, Babypowder said:

It's not about pride, it's about physical ability. I watched him lay down 3 bunts in spring training games, he was thrown out at first each time after bunting directly to the pitcher. He just doesn't seem to be able to do it.

Fair enough.  You still have to bench him if he can play well, right?.

[interloper]

7 minutes ago, atomic said:

Ryan Howard?  The Phillies became a perennial loser and continued to play him.  

There's really no other choice. He's untradeable, the FO won't flush that much money down the drain... he's either got to accept a minor league assignment, get seriously hurt, or retire. Otherwise, he's at least going to platoon at the bottom of the lineup for the next 5 years.