It was a tale of two halves for J.D. Davis in 2020. In his first 29 games of the year, Davis had an .829 OPS while in the final 26 games he had a .701 OPS. What happened in the middle? In the August 29 game against the Yankees, Davis was drilled in the hip by Aroldis Chapman. Did that change anything for Davis? Maybe, maybe not. What we can say for sure is that in the first half, we saw Davis with a .348 BABIP but in the latter split, he had a .298 mark. Prior to the start of 2020, we wondered what would happen to Davis if the hits stopped falling in for him. We got to see that in September of last season and it wasn’t pretty.

His ISOs were somewhat similar in both halves last year, with a .151 mark before Chapman and a .136 after getting hit. If we had seen a giant drop in power production, it would be easier to blame things on getting plunked.

We’re riding a roller coaster when it comes to Davis. He was brought in to be a lefty masher and then he hit righties, too, so we counted on him being a starter. Than he disappointed in that role and almost no one is counting on him for 600 ABs in 2021. Is there another twist remaining in the Davis sage? Or should we just be content for a 250 PA role for him?

16 comments on “Wednesday catch-all thread (12/16/20)

  • José

    “”The team that I am watching very carefully — that I was told even this week is the team the Rockies want to engage with — is the New York Mets,” Jon Morosi reported Wednesday morning on MLB Network.

    Per Morosi, the Rockies — looking to potentially free up money to sign pending free agent Trevor Story — do not want to trade Arenado to the Los Angeles Dodgers and would prefer to deal him to a team outside the NL West.”

    I found this on a EwwToob channel called “Mets Fans Only”. He suggested that Cano, Nimmo and a prospect would be acceptable to The Rocks

    • Brian Joura

      That’s the same exact package that SNY reported. Somehow I doubt that’s a coincidence.

    • TexasGusCC

      I don’t know… if they want to dump salary, why give them anything back? That’s having your cake and eating it too. Vientos for Arenado, take it or leave it.

      This is now reported by bleacher report, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, Jon Mirosi, and more.

      Anthony DiComo’s answer to this is the Mets don’t need Arenado, his salary, or to part with prospect capital. I kind of agree.

      .945 OPS at Coors,
      .785 everywhere else including Coors Jr, Chase Field.

      • Mike W

        I agree with you Gus.

      • TJ

        Agree for the most part. Mets should consider all possibilities including Arenado. No way Rockies could sell Vientos as the only return. I think Cano in any deal is a pipe dream. If Im Alderson, I need 3 things – Some salary relief, at least $50 million of the $200 million, Arenado to wave his out after 2021, and I’d offer JD Davis and a non-elite minor leaguer. If they bite, that is a solid upgrade, likely taking Springer out of the equation. It’s not the best fit but maybe a fallback if other moves don’t work out and the Rockies get desperate.

  • JimO

    Cano and Davis maybe? If we got Arenado, we wouldn’t really need him.

    Shedding Cano is a big plus.

    • Metsense

      If the Mets release Cano and another team picks him then new team will pay him the minimum salary of $.6M and the Mets pay the $23.4M. I believe, for purposes of the luxury tax, the new team gets Cano’s whole $24M on their ledger. The Mets should cut him irregardless but maybe there is a silver lining for this stormy cloud.

  • Mike W

    It would be great if Davis had better defensive skills. Don’t see him as a starter. He did have a good OBP of .371 last season. o, the big question will be in 2021, will he be 2019 Davis or 2020 Davis? It is probably a coin toss. His role will also depend on how many roster spots teams will have as well.

  • Remember1969

    New? topic . . I don’t really have any opinion or feeling about this, but what does this team of writers/commenters feel is the right approach with Noah Syndergaard at this point?

    I think most people were unhappy with the way the Wheeler situation was handled. Chance two is upon us now – what is the correct path?

    • Jim OMalley

      As far as Thor goes, I think you need to wait and see how the rehab goes. The team will have access to all the medical data.

  • Metsense

    Davis will likely be the starting third baseman and he is a defensive liability. Davis needs to hit at least 800+ OPS to recompensate. If he fails, is the back fall an infield of McNeil 3B, Rosario SS and Gimenez 2B? They probably need a veteran 3B for the bench but it isn’t a priority.
    Arenado with his $35M , 120 OPS+ and his gold glove is not the solution. Springer is a better hitter , 131 OPS+, providing above average defense and will have a lower salary. Springer should be the Mets primary position player target.

  • NYM6986

    The reality is that not every player is meant to be a starter. In my mind I expect the bench players to be older, not compete players, and being good leaders. JD is just not a complete player and would be fine off the bench. So let’s land a new 3B like Arenado if the Rockies will hold back some of the payroll and make our infield solid. JD will get plenty of ABs. And I can’t see anyone being fooled into taking Cano and the $40 mil he still has coming.

  • José

    I found this extremely interesting and exhaustively scholarly website, and I’d like to know what yous people think of it:

    http://steroids-and-baseball.com/

    • Brian Joura

      Steroids are like abortion — there are very few people who have an open mind on the subject. It doesn’t mean he’s right but the author is a well-known figure and not some crank writing from his mom’s basement.

  • Name

    Wacha ups with the Rays on the same salary he made with the Mets this year (3 mil). I’m very surprised he didn’t have to take a pay cut.

    In this very slow moving market the trend seems to be that pitchers will be doing quite well as a bunch of bad performing players got good deals (Smyly, Ray, Wacha, DeScalfani, Flexen), but we haven’t seen the same for position players besides the Mets and McCann. In hindsight, maybe Stroman should have rejected the QO and tested the FA waters.

  • Brian Joura

    Interesting thought about the pitching market in general and Stroman in particular.

    I like the DeScalfini pickup for the Giants. He’s been league average or better in 3 of the past 5 seasons and was not so last year because of a horrible performance in his home park, where he gave up 6 HR in 11.1 IP. In five games in road parks, he had a 2.82 ERA last year.

    It would be nice if we saw some of the top arms from the pitching FA market sign to get a better indication of where the market is. The only other guy I can think of off the top of my head to sign is Morton, who restricted his market to TB and ATL. But if he got 1/$15 in a restricted market – it’s not unreasonable to believe Stroman could have come out with a higher AAV. But, we also don’t know if the QO being attached to him would have scared teams off.

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