The annual “is Chris Davis going to change his approach next season” thread

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

Eh, maybe.  Still, if he did it, he did them for a hell of a year.  

Just my theory.

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I have a theory. No better than your average CoC theory.  I believe pretty strongly that he did them.  Why stop?  Well, once he bagged his big contract, he may have felt the health risks and the low risk of getting caught were not worth it.  Perhaps he had a health scare or just being married and having a young family made him reevaluate the health risks. I know that he lost a lot of body mass over the last 5 years.  He says he was slow to change his swing because he had prior success.   Then why lose muscle and mass purposely if that's the way you were when you had all your success?

Beats me. 

But I don't believe anyone who's had a bit of success at the ML level while juicing stops taking them, especially after they've bagged a big contract.  

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Beats me. 

But I don't believe anyone who's had a bit of success at the ML level while juicing stops taking them, especially after they've bagged a big contract.  

I guess it depends on the mindset.  If the big contract was the important thing to you I can see why you wouldn't want to risk losing money by testing positive.

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

I guess it depends on the mindset.  If the big contract was the important thing to you I can see why you wouldn't want to risk losing money by testing positive.

Look at you siding with @RZNJ.  How's that make you feel?

 

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Look at you siding with @RZNJ.  How's that make you feel?

 

I don't have any personal animosity toward RZNJ.  It's a message board.

[Griffey]

The reason he stopped taking them after locking down the big contract is the same reason he won't just walk away and retire.  Two syllables, rhymes with shmoney.... 

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Griffey said:

The reason he stopped taking them after locking down the big contract is the same reason he won't just walk away and retire.  Two syllables, rhymes with shmoney.... 

 

[Philip]

The only interesting question here is, how does this compare with previous off-season comments that Davis has made?

It is laughable that every spring he shows up and offers some variation of the,” last year was bad this year will be better because I have changed” comment.

It’s BS, he knows it, we know he knows it and he knows we know it. Mike too. But nobody’s gonna say it out loud.

I swear, “the emperors new clothes” is perhaps the most encompassing fable of all time.

Because that’s what we’ve got here.

[OriolesMagic83]

The fact is that Davis can't hit MLB pitching anymore.  He can't catch up to a 95 mph fastball anymore.  Those are a dime a dozen in the modern bullpen and not uncommon in starters.  He is hitting ridiculously low against good fastballs.  It was around .100 or so, ok that's not much lower than his regular average.  He can't even hit mistake pitches from a pitcher with good velocity anymore.

[AnythingO's]

I will apologize in advance for the opinion I'm about to voice but CD's MLB career is over and has been for about 5 years and he is here now because they (bros Angelos) hope to save some money in 2021 if games are cancelled. CD's latest line about his experience in TX is pure BS. he came here and continued to fail, spending countless hours in the weight room and batting cage, practicing the same thing that failed in TX. Then in 2011 or 2012 or so our then hitting coach got thru to him and they went back to basics, literally hitting off a tee to get him to stay closed and go the other way. It took awhile but 2013 was the result, coach left in 2014 for personal reasons and CD reverted in 2015. The rest is history. CD IMO is lost in his denial and his excuses are weak. I have reconstructed the timeline before here years ago but I'm too tired to even go look for it now. I'm doing this from memory and I could be off on the details but he did change before and then  reverted and has stubbornly refused to change again. Keep him until the 2021schedule length is determined, if they save money fine, if not cut him or play a man short in  2021. He needs to go sooner than later.

[El_Duderino]

Omg we are doing this again?

[Roll Tide]

On 11/23/2020 at 1:31 PM, Frobby said:

Yes, I know, it doesn’t matter at all what Chris Davis does or doesn’t change.   He’s done as a productive major leaguer.   But for your amusement, I present this:

Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias has repeatedly said that Davis is under contract and the organization takes that seriously. Davis does, too, and that’s why, in the coming weeks, he’ll begin exploring mechanical changes to simplify his batting approach in hopes of producing in 2021.

“I think it’s just time for that,” Davis told The Baltimore Sun. “I was reluctant to really change mechanically because of the troubles that I went through in Texas [with the Rangers], and that was a big emphasis, ‘Let’s do this,’ and I didn’t want to tinker. Plus, I’d had success with my prior mechanics, but it’s to the point now where I realize that, I’m not getting any quicker, I’m not getting any faster. But 
 

“I think all of the movement that I have pre-pitch and even pre-swing, it’s killing me, and it’s not allowing me to have success, and it’s not allowing me to have sustained success, so I think if I can just clean that up a little bit and simplify it, it’ll be hopefully a lot better than it has been.”

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-chris-davis-mechanics-20201123-zsvww6lnhjgyfcrx4ndfwsecsi-story.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true

Also, after losing a bunch of weight two years ago and then adding it back on last offseason, he’s going back the other way this offseason.

As recently as last year, Davis has been against the idea of changing mechanically, pointing to how deep he is into his career and noting that he’s had success with those mechanics in the past; in his first four full seasons with the Orioles from 2012 to 2015, he averaged nearly 40 home runs a year and led the majors twice. But he’s open to changes now that he believes will make him more “consistent” and “efficient,” adding he also needs to shed some of the added weight he put on last offseason.

“I think it was a good thing, but I think it came with a price,” Davis said. “Obviously, I haven’t carried that much weight in several years, and I think my body kind of let me know about that.

“I wouldn’t say I’m taking it easier, but I can’t hit it as hard as I did last offseason. That was the first thing that was relayed to me. It’s not a secret. Everybody knows it. I’m getting older, and age takes a toll on guys in a lot of different ways.”

The only possible change would be Davis' retirement. He's more done than a week old Thanksgiving turkey. Hopefully struggles and his pride will allow to walk away.

[Philip]

10 hours ago, El_Duderino said:

Omg we are doing this again?

It’s an annual tradition. And aren’t those fun??

[drjohnnyfeva]

23 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Yep.

But to further my point, if he was taking any kind of PEDs, why stop after signing that contract?  And why continue to be absolutely miserable for years now, especially if the easy fix is PEDs?  

While there's a risk to take them as Robinson Cano just found out, the dopers are usually ahead of the testing that's out there.  

It's like Brady Anderson said, if his 50 homer season was due to taking steroids, wouldn't he just keep taking them?  It'd behoove everyone if he did.  Same applies to Davis.

Getting caught another time would put him out for a year...  Wait, what did I just say?!   Dose at will!

 

[Oriole1940]

As I remember. Chris was taking a LEGAL substance during his monster years.  All of a sudden that particular substance was deemed illegal, and Chris was left high and dry.  If that is not generally the way it was, I apologize, for remembering it wrong.  Does anyone think that had  it been a Yankee in his shoes, that the substance would have still been banned, or continued to be allowed. I vote it would have been allowed, but we will never know.