Chris Davis since he broke his 0-fer streak

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

It is hyperbole, as you and @SteveA noted...he's owed what he's owed.  Whether he's out there at 1st base or at home on the ranch makes no difference...he's getting paid no matter what.

The thing that's somewhat annoying about it is that if he were to be cut/traded...yes, it is sunk cost.  But then you need to allocate MORE money to 1B/DH.  And that's probably ok if it's someone like Mancini or Mountcastle who's got a team friendly salary but the future isn't set.  We don't know if Mancini or Mountcastle will be there to man 1B/DH.  If for some reason neither worked out, going to spend more money at the 1B/DH position isn't very appealing when you've already got a bunch of sunk money at that position already.

They won't be spending more than Mountcastle would be making.

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

They won't be spending more than Mountcastle would be making.

Here's hoping.

For me, Davis has to be at .850+ to think that he's not hindering the rebuild.  And even then, I'm lying to myself.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

Here's hoping.

For me, Davis has to be at .850+ to think that he's not hindering the rebuild.  And even then, I'm lying to myself.

Hope has nothing to do with it.  I just don't see them spending money for someone to play first.  If it isn't Mountcastle it will be someone else making the minimum.

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

Hope has nothing to do with it.  I just don't see them spending money for someone to play first.  If it isn't Mountcastle it will be someone else making the minimum.

[LookinUp]

15 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Hope has nothing to do with it.  I just don't see them spending money for someone to play first.  If it isn't Mountcastle it will be someone else making the minimum.

But if Davis does well enough to play (or become an actual trade chip), that's still valuable because it allows us to reallocate other assets. That's a good thing.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

But if Davis does well enough to play (or become an actual trade chip), that's still valuable because it allows us to reallocate other assets. That's a good thing.

Agreed.

But I don't think that can happen in less than a year. 

[LookinUp]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Agreed.

But I don't think that can happen in less than a year. 

I definitely did not think so either, and am still not betting on it, but a .908 OPS over 30 days is nice. He didn't have a month within 200 points of that last year. It's different. We just don't know if it, or anything close to it, is sustainable. 

[Tx Oriole]

4 hours ago, Dipper9 said:

Whether anyone likes it or not, he most certainly IS a part of the future of this team, as he has 4 years remaining on his contract.  So you might as well root for him to succeed because he is going nowhere.  

I know Dipper. It’s just frustrating

[CheeryO]

10 hours ago, WalkWithElias said:

Were he to get back to, say, Circa 2015 Crush (OPS .792) in order to make him a useful part to a contender looking for some LH power, the amount of money you would still have to pay get anything decent in return negates the point of calling it a salary dump.  

The sole purpose of trading Davis is to remove his name from the 25 man roster to make room for someone else. Were someone to considering him worth $5M per year in his current state and the O's ate $16M, it's because Elias has decided it's that important to get Mountcastle onto the major league roster. 

Yes, I agree.  Even if Davis had an OPS close to .900 -- which would somewhat miraculous -- he would still be difficult to move because of that contract; and because other teams would consider it a fluke, or suspicious of the performance.  Dumping Davis' a large chunk of his salary is almost impossible.  Other teams will always think about all the strikeouts and 0 fors.  Nobody wants an aging Adam Dunn / Dave Kingman type player. 

But as long as the O's are bad they can move him to 3rd base or DH if they want to open a spot for Mountcastle at 1B.  Davis, along with Mancini, can play some outfield too.  Now the O's are so bad that even if Davis starts hitting like Cody Bellinger they'll still be bad.  At this point it's probably better to move Davis around the field than move him off the team.

[CheeryO]

13 hours ago, mdbdotcom said:

According to Spotrac, the O's current payroll ranks 28th at $73,505,400. Davis, Cobb, Trumbo and Cashner account for about $52mm of that, not including deferred salary.

Thanks for pointing that out.  And Cobb's contract is nearly as big a bust as Davis'.  Such a shame how a team that was more or less thrifty on the free agent market for so long only started to spend wildly out of a sense of desperation.

[Tony-OH]

15 hours ago, CheeryO said:

Thanks for pointing that out.  And Cobb's contract is nearly as big a bust as Davis'.  Such a shame how a team that was more or less thrifty on the free agent market for so long only started to spend wildly out of a sense of desperation.

That's what happens when you have no long term plan for success and an owner who did things on his own accord. Hopefully both are different now. We know Elias has a long term plan, but the question is, will John/Lou be able to stay in the background and give him the time to implement said plan. All the sighs so far seem to point to yes, but time will tell.

After all, Daenerys was all breaker of chains and doing good until she ultimately went all mad queen and laid waste to the city and the people in it. Clearly this is fiction, but the point is, only time will prove what kinds of owners John/Lou will be.

[LookitsPuck]

15 hours ago, CheeryO said:

Thanks for pointing that out.  And Cobb's contract is nearly as big a bust as Davis'.  Such a shame how a team that was more or less thrifty on the free agent market for so long only started to spend wildly out of a sense of desperation.

$14m/year isn't really that bad. He had a 1.1 WAR last year. Compared to Davis who had -2.5 while making $23m.

It's still too early to rate the Cobb scenario as being "nearly as big a bust". Him being hurt and rushed wasn't a wise decision, but he could still end up being decent. Or he could end up being Ubaldo Jimenez in terms of value (+0.4 WAR over 4 years, $50m).

 

[Dipper9]

25 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

That's what happens when you have no long term plan for success and an owner who did things on his own accord. Hopefully both are different now. We know Elias has a long term plan, but the question is, will John/Lou be able to stay in the background and give him the time to implement said plan. All the sighs so far seem to point to yes, but time will tell.

After all, Daenerys was all breaker of chains and doing good until she ultimately went all mad queen and laid waste to the city and the people in it. Clearly this is fiction, but the point is, only time will prove what kinds of owners John/Lou will be.

This is my fear, that the Angelos boys become frustrated with 8000 people in the stadium every night and dictate that we spend money to bring in mediocre talent in the offseason.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

I’m on vacation and thanks to the rainouts I’ve only missed one game. 

With Davis I’m afraid to say anything positive or negative regarding his recent performance for fear of jinxing him. I’m going to sit back and watch, hope he keeps this up.

[LookinUp]

18 hours ago, CheeryO said:

Yes, I agree.  Even if Davis had an OPS close to .900 -- which would somewhat miraculous -- he would still be difficult to move because of that contract; and because other teams would consider it a fluke, or suspicious of the performance.  Dumping Davis' a large chunk of his salary is almost impossible.  Other teams will always think about all the strikeouts and 0 fors.  Nobody wants an aging Adam Dunn / Dave Kingman type player. 

I really want to disagree with this, and have argued the opposite, but I fear you're right. I'll still hold out hope that some team will take Davis off of our hands for 1/3 of the price after he's been productive through the end of this year. I know those odds aren't good though. It would be miraculous if it happened by the July deadline. However, if I'm the O's and he continues to perform, I form a very public narrative about how he's the comeback player of the year, found the fix to his swing, etc., and I talk about it on every broadcast and in every publication that will hear me. Build the right narrative and someone might bite.