Chris Davis 2019 and beyond

[Mayor McCheese]

I am not aware of any dilemma..... Davis will be your starting First baseman.  The only time we won't see him is against a SLHP.

We don't need 50 threads about this.  This is (maybe) a 50 win team, with or without him.  If you think ownership is going to say, ok enough.. lets just eat that money.  That's never going to happen. They may come to a decision but I think that might be more set up for next season with another $17MM off the books.

[Moose Milligan]

There is no dilemma.  The definition of dilemma is:  a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones.

There's no difficult decision here.  He's gotta go.  He provides no value.  He provides LESS than no value.

 

[jtschrei]

Wow. Did you guys read the Cuddyer link? I did not know he did this. Ideally, Davis would have this same sort of honor. He would say to the Orioles, "Guys, I'm sorry it hasn't worked out. You have paid me richly. I will walk away from the game and I'll negotiate a 10M buyout." It will never happen, but if Davis had any honor, it would end this way. 

 

So, if you are the FO, how do you encourage and foster a buyout? Play him everyday until it's so embarrassing that he has to walk away, right? I don't think they should release him. He'll just take the money. I think he needs to have a worse overall season than he did last year. Then, he would accept a buyout of some kind... unless he's evil... which I don't think he is. 

 

[interloper]

He looked really good a couple games ago (single the other way, 2 long fly balls, no K's), and then today he's back to watching STRAIGHT UP MEATBALLS right down the middle for strike 3.

The guy's brain is broken. It's sad. I like him and want to see him do basically anything well this season. But I mean wow. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, jtschrei said:

Wow. Did you guys read the Cuddyer link? I did not know he did this. Ideally, Davis would have this same sort of honor. He would say to the Orioles, "Guys, I'm sorry it hasn't worked out. You have paid me richly. I will walk away from the game and I'll negotiate a 10M buyout." It will never happen, but if Davis had any honor, it would end this way. 

 

So, if you are the FO, how do you encourage and foster a buyout? Play him everyday until it's so embarrassing that he has to walk away, right? I don't think they should release him. He'll just take the money. I think he needs to have a worse overall season than he did last year. Then, he would accept a buyout of some kind... unless he's evil... which I don't think he is. 

 

He could do it for a 60M buyout and I'd be ecstatic.  I think asking him to do if for 10M is a bit much.

[interloper]

13 minutes ago, Mayor McCheese said:

I am not aware of any dilemma..... Davis will be your starting First baseman.  The only time we won't see him is against a SLHP.

We don't need 50 threads about this.  This is (maybe) a 50 win team, with or without him.  If you think ownership is going to say, ok enough.. lets just eat that money.  That's never going to happen. They may come to a decision but I think that might be more set up for next season with another $17MM off the books.

Ultimately, I agree with this. 

We have to collectively suck it up. 

[wildbillhiccup]

This will be the progression, it's really just a question of how long it takes to play out.

1) Play him

2) Bench him

3) Cut him

 

[jtschrei]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

He could do it for a 60M buyout and I'd be ecstatic.  I think asking him to do if for 10M is a bit much.

Right. I would be ecstatic with a 60M buyout too. I got carried away... 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Just now, wildbillhiccup said:

This will be the progression, it's really just a question of how long it takes to play out.

1) Play him

2) Bench him

3) Cut him

 

And if you’re George Steinbrenner in his heyday hire a PI to follow Davis and dig up dirt on him. 

If Steinbrenner was around today he probably would just hire someone to taint a random drug test screening.

[wildbillhiccup]

I also don't understand all this talk of a buyout. Chris Davis has no incentive to take one. He'll get ever single penny of that contract. It's just a question of how long it takes the team to come to terms with that fact and bite the bullet. If he starts to become a negative influence in the club house this season that might be the final straw they need to convince them to pull the trigger. 

[interloper]

6 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

This will be the progression, it's really just a question of how long it takes to play out.

1) Play him

2) Bench him

3) Cut him

 

100% correct.

[Natty]

We should make him pitch when the game is a blowout with us behind by several runs. I mean if we get blown out any this year. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

I also don't understand all this talk of a buyout. Chris Davis has no incentive to take one. He'll get ever single penny of that contract. It's just a question of how long it takes the team to come to terms with that fact and bite the bullet. If he starts to become a negative influence in the club house this season that might be the final straw they need to convince them to pull the trigger. 

I can think of a couple.

He can just retire and live a life of ease at 33.  It isn't as if he needs whatever money he would give up.

He seemed honestly unhappy last season.  If his failures on the diamond are causing him distress I could see it being worth it to give up a bit of money rather than be unhappy playing out the string for years.

[MikeAD]

I didn't realize we "only" owed him 92 million over 4 years.  Thought it was more on both numbers.  Getting rid of Davis might be more valuable to the team than bringing in a Free Agent for that much over 4 years, honestly.  I think we will see a real shot at a buyout or perhaps just cutting him next year but I can't see there being enough pressure this year.  We are going to win a ton of games regardless and its not like anyone in the system would be doing that much better, between service time and development those players might be better off in the minors for all/most of this season.  I also am not too moved by the argument of moving Mancini to 1B full time as a reason to accelerate cutting Davis now.  If Trey wasn't in LF we wouldn't be bringing up anyone any quicker.    This is more a problem for late in the season or next season.  

[interloper]

The truth is, there's no real dilemma this year. It was more of a dilemma last year, really.