Chris Davis 2019 and beyond

[atomic]

3 minutes ago, Ohfan67 said:

By the way, I don't buy the argument that Davis' contract is going to kill the Orioles financially. They are paying Davis 17 million this year (the rest of the money is deferred without interest). That's a hit, but more like a stiff jab than a hard right hook. The Orioles are actually paying Adam Jones a little more money this year than they are paying Davis (same salary but 333k of prorated signing bonus). Manny and Jones' departures are going to free up 33 million. They will have money to find a SS or 3B and Jones' replacement is probably in the minors. 

Britton is going to free up another 14 million.   Tillman 3 million, Rasmus 3 million,  Brach 5 million.   They actually only have 69 million on the books for next year.  They could easily get rid of Schoop as well and save another 8.5 million. 

[glenn__davis]

55 minutes ago, atomic said:

I think I already told you this in another thread you do a double switch. Have Gentry or Rickard pinch hit for Cobb and stay in the game and move to left.  And then have the new pitcher replace Davis.  Move pitcher to pitch.  Move Mancini to first. Pretty simple stuff.  Davis didn't even bat again so you wouldn't even need another pinch hitter. It is amazing that you are defending Buck at this point.

This is Buck's quote from last night's game: ( he is so stuck on the save  rule  I wish major league would make some modification to the save rule. So we would see Buck change how he manages).  

 

Manager Buck Showalter on both Brach and Castro warming before the ninth: “Yeah, if we had scored one more run, Miguel would have (come in) in a non-save. But Brad’s been throwing real well. Tonight wasn’t one of those nights.”

Amazing.  Remember when he came here and talked about the "save rule" and how it didn't matter to him, the "win rule" was better.  They even did a little MASN bit on it.  And now he's a slave to the save rule as much as any manager in baseball.  What the heck happened?

[atomic]

5 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

 Amazing.  Remember when he came here and talked about the "save rule" and how it didn't matter to him, the "win rule" was better.  They even did a little MASN bit on it.  And now he's a slave to the save rule as much as any manager in baseball.  What the heck happened?

Major league baseball should just eliminate the Save stat to save us from Buck. 

[Ohfan67]

3 minutes ago, atomic said:

Britton is going to free up another 14 million.   Tillman 3 million, Rasmus 3 million,  Brach 5 million.   They actually only have 69 million on the books for next year.  They could easily get rid of Schoop as well and save another 8.5 million. 

Yes, there is going to be enough cash and roster flexibility to attract a new GM, if they go that route. The pitching staff could be decent, even pretty good. A young outfield would improve defense. The future is not all bleak. Davis' salary is definitely not going to keep the franchise from competing. It could be used as an excuse or justification, but is not going to keep the O's from getting better. 

[Ohfan67]

19 minutes ago, atomic said:

Britton is going to free up another 14 million.   Tillman 3 million, Rasmus 3 million,  Brach 5 million.   They actually only have 69 million on the books for next year.  They could easily get rid of Schoop as well and save another 8.5 million. 

If the Orioles could get a couple of very good infield prospects and some young relief pitchers (like Brach a few years ago), then that would be a very productive trade deadline for the Orioles. I'm talking about realistic infield prospects, not glamour names that are probably unrealistic gets. Of course a very good starting pitcher would be great, blah blah, but a return like this would be extremely helpful for the relative near future. 

[wildbillhiccup]

10 hours ago, SteveA said:

Maybe on the air but Joe Angel isn't pulling any punches on Twitter...

https://twitter.com/WaveItByeBye/status/1004891093870112773

Neither is Palmer

[Camden_yardbird]

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dd9m33fVwAU59MS.jpg:large

"Did I remember to turn off the stove?"

[wildbillhiccup]

35 minutes ago, Ohfan67 said:

By the way, I don't buy the argument that Davis' contract is going to kill the Orioles financially. They are paying Davis 17 million this year (the rest of the money is deferred without interest). That's a hit, but more like a stiff jab than a hard right hook. The Orioles are actually paying Adam Jones a little more money this year than they are paying Davis (same salary but 333k of prorated signing bonus). Manny and Jones' departures are going to free up 33 million. They will have money to find a SS or 3B and Jones' replacement is probably in the minors. 

It's the idea that they'd be paying Davis to sit at  home or on the bench (i.e., contributing nothing the team) for the next few years. That's a hard pill for ownership/management to swallo. It also requires that the person who supported the signing to eat crow. So that means the stodgy old man (Angelos) or the unqualified diva (Anderson) have to admit they were wrong. I just don't see that happening. Getting rid of Buck will help though. A new manager without ties to Davis who's not as stubborn and spiteful will just bench him. 

[Three Run Homer]

9 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Chris Davis:  160 million, two seasons of leading the league in homers, a top 3 mvp finish. 

Hyun Soo Kim:  Like, a few million, from somewhere in Korea and while a really likable, fun guy, a 4th outfielder type who is expendable.  

I am firmly convinced that anyone who does not understand why Davis isn't on the bench is being intentionally obtuse.  

 

I think that anyone who does not understand that Buck Showalter is too loyal to underperforming veterans is obtuse. 

Chris Davis is still in the lineup for the same reason that Chris Tillman spent almost all of last year in the starting rotation.  He was a good player once...Buck likes his guys and he sticks by his guys.  

Sometimes players stop being able to perform because their physical skills deteriorate.  Buck is the last person on the planet who thought that Chris Tillman could still turn things around, and he will be the last person on the planet who thinks that Chris Davis could still turn things around.  

[Ohfan67]

7 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

It's the idea that they'd be paying Davis to sit at  home or on the bench (i.e., contributing nothing the team) for the next few years. That's a hard pill for ownership/management to swallo. It also requires that the person who supported the signing to eat crow. So that means the stodgy old man (Angelos) or the unqualified diva (Anderson) have to admit they were wrong. I just don't see that happening. Getting rid of Buck will help though. A new manager without ties to Davis who's not as stubborn and spiteful will just bench him. 

I agree with your post, but that has nothing to do with the Orioles being financially hamstrung by the Davis contract in the future. It's a lot of money, but it's not a franchise crippling amount of money as some posters suggest in this and many other threads. That was my point. 

[vab]

Mancini would be replacing Davis and he's already on the roster. Mancini will be replaced, most likely, by someone from the minors (Mullins?, Stewart?) who will have three years before they even get to arbitration. Money should not be an issue wrt Davis's place on the roster.

[Three Run Homer]

3 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

I'm really curious on theories of what happened to Davis. Was it steroids and he's off of them? Adderall? Pressure of signing the big contract? Huge regression that was just natural? Someone kicked his dog? I could deal with the big strikeouts but he had the HR's as well. He may not have gotten hits but he used to have a good eye and would pick up walks to help his OBP.

I think he's lost a lot of bat speed, to the point where he can't hit even an average major league fastball, and to compensate he's cheating/guessing on every pitch.   He sees a lot of called strike threes down the middle of the plate because  he predetermines that certain pitches are going to be a ball and that he won't swing, and he doesn't have the bat speed to adjust once his guess proves to be wrong.   

Unfortunately this is not something that adderal or hypnotherapy can fix.  This is not just a slump; this is who Chris Davis is now, and the aging process does not run in reverse. 

This used to happen to most players in their early 30s; only the most physically gifted players could continue playing at a high level into their late 30s.  During the steroid era, players were able to maintain their physical skills into their mid-to-late 30s.  Now we have returned to the natural pattern of player aging.  

[O's are Legends]

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Meanwhile, our old friend Diane Firstman pointed this out: Davis had entered his at-bats with 109 runners on base ... and driven in 11 of them. Things haven't turned around over the past two days. He went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts on Wednesday and 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays. He's still at nine runs scored in 55 games and is hitting .152/.232/.232. His OPS is barely better than Mike Trout's on-base percentage.

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AL instituted the DH in 1973.

The only other two qualifiers with fewer than 30 runs scored are Fred Raymer of the 1905 Boston Beaneaters with 26 runs (he hit .211/.232/.247) and Mario Guerrero of the 1978 A's with 27 runs. Guerrero actually hit an almost respectable .275/.302/.345 in 546 PAs. Get this: He started 41 games in the third spot in the lineup and hit .333 ... and still scored just nine runs in those games.

So, to Dan's tweet about worst seasons ever. Here are FanGraphs' five worst position-player seasons (since 1900):

1. Jim Levey, 1933 Browns: -4.0 WAR

2. Jerry Royster, 1977 Braves: -3.8 WAR

3. Tommy Thevenow, 1930 Phillies: -3.6 WAR

4. Jim Levey, 1931 Browns: -3.3 WAR

5. George Wright, 1985 Rangers: -3.2 WAR

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OK, I said this was going to be a rabbit hole, so those lists beg the question: Who was Jim Levey? And how did he manage to have two of the worst seasons ever?

Anyway, Levey may have been fast -- he played three years in the NFL as a running back after his major league career ended -- but had trouble with everything else. In 1931, he hit .209/.264/.285 and made 58 errors. In 1933, he hit .195/.237/.240. The amazing thing about that season is he was moved into the leadoff spot for two weeks in late August and September. The Browns finished last and drew 88,113 fans all season.

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Levey played for a long time in the minors after 1933 while moonlighting in the NFL and apparently played basketball as well in those pre-NBA days. As for the Bronws? The franchise would eventually move to ... Baltimore.

Davis isn't the only former star who has had this happen to him. Adam Dunn just missed the top five with a minus-2.9 season in 2011 when he hit .159 for the White Sox. Willie McGee was the 1985 NL MVP, but had a minus-2.8 season in 1999 at age 40. Ted Simmons, George Scott and George Bell all had minus-2.5 seasons or worse.

ESPN

[O's are Legends]

On 6/3/2018 at 2:52 PM, weams said:

Guts of the team. 

Boras don't get his clients paid the big bucks for no reason.

Davis was striking out on breaking balls 20 feet from the plate last night. Then later in the game, he has a 3-1 count with the bases juiced and manages to take a 88mph fastball right down the middle of the plate, all I could think of was the nonsense about who the real players are and his other quote about guts of the team. He's gutting the offense for sure, and the payroll, the type of gutting that hasn't been seen since Albert Haynesworth.

[Yardball85]

I would bench him for the rest of the series and try to convince him to accept an assignment to AAA.

What a complete and utter waste.  He's Brandon Fahey bad.