The Rangers announced they’ve placed Khris Davis on unconditional release waivers. This was the expected outcome after the club designated Davis for assignment on Tuesday.
Texas acquired the designated hitter/corner outfielder from the A’s over the winter. While they surely hoped he’d rebound from back-to-back down seasons at the plate, the primary motivation for the trade was financial. The Rangers sent Elvis Andrus, owed $14MM in each of 2021 and 2022, to Oakland in exchange for Davis’ expiring $16.75MM contract and a pair of prospects. (Texas is paying down $13.5MM of Andrus’ contract over the next two years). The deal allowed the Rangers to assume more money in 2021, when they didn’t expect to contend anyhow, to shave nearly $7MM off their 2022 books.
Ultimately, the Rangers didn’t give Davis much of a leash. He began the year on the injured list and received just 61 plate appearances- putting up a poor .157/.262/.333 slash line- before Texas cut bait. It’s the third consecutive year of well below-average hitting for Davis, who was one of the game’s top power bats during his 2016-18 peak in Oakland.
Technically, teams will have 48 hours to put in a claim for Davis. That’s a moot point, as he’ll assuredly pass through waivers unclaimed. Any team that claimed Davis would assume the remainder of his salary. No team will do that, leaving the Rangers on the hook for the money.
Once he clears the wire, Davis will be free to sign with any team. A signing club would then only owe him the league minimum salary for any time he spends on the major league roster, which would be subtracted from Texas’ outlay. Given his lack of defensive value and recent offensive woes, it’s possible he’ll have to settle for a minor league deal once he hits the open market.
Red Sox should take a flyer on him, can’t hurt.
Mets should sign him
Mets don’t need a poor hitting DH
For what? He can’t seem to hit anymore and he’s terrible defensively. J.D. Martinez is set at DH and Hunter Renfroe and Alex Verdugo are solid in the OF. Once Duran is up the Sox should be set in the OF. Davis is just adding an automatic out which we have enough of with Kike, Marwin, and Santana
Change of scenery, and home ballpark, has often made a difference with guys like Davis. I agree on Duran, but if they were planning to call him up during the first half I would imagine they’d have done so when Franchy went down.
“Change of scenery, and home ballpark, has often made a difference…”
Often? You mean more times than not? I would totally disagree with that. It happens occasionally, but I’d say more times than not, that change of scenery is just another place to not produce.
Except a change of scenery didn’t help going from Oakland to Texas
Often, as in many times. Not more than 50% if you want to pin a percentage on it. I could give plenty of examples, including recent ones like Pujols to Pivetta. When I say change of scenery, I’m not talking just geographical or home ballpark. New hitting or pitching coaches can provide a different perspective that helps the player regain his form. Might be for just a few months, but if that player can help his new team for that period of time then it’s worth taking the flyer … no?
Actually, going home has historically been detrimental.
Two reasons why I wouldn’t call it career over based on this year’s numbers.
1) Just TWO full seasons ago he led the league in homers and finished 8th in MVP voting. He had a .915 OPS with RISP, dude was Ortiz-clutch.
2) Have you checked out his splits this year? .208 OPS at home, .897 OPS on the road. SSS or not, that’s a huge difference.
3) Rangers are one of the worst teams in MLB and are tied for 4th-worst offense in the AL, not the kind of environment that can help a hitter regain his form.
For all those reasons, he’s worth a flyer.
It’s still a bad bet and a bad use of resources to use up a spot on a 33 year old who can’t field and hasn’t hit in 3 years. Counting on a turn around due to a change of scenery is betting on the unlikely (but possible) to become reality. In other words, a bad bet. Percentages say Davis is done. Why play a hand that’s more likely to lose than win?
The dictionary defines ‘often” as ‘frequently’. Though it does happen occasionally, I would not say that change of scenery thing happens frequently.
The 2021 road split is a small sample, 37 PAs. Plus, he’s struck out in 27% of those. An indication that the .897 road OPS is an outlier is his 2020 road split. In 47 PAs it was .630. Also a small sample, but still makes one question that 2021 road split.
He’ll just return to Oakland and get back to form
He’ll go to the Rays and start hitting.
If this guy signed with the Tigers and started hitting well and was a chip would the Tigers actually get something. Just wondering
Take Mazara’s spot, he’s useless
Mazara > Davis plus 7 years younger
Probably not because he is a K machine and doesnt hit tons of HRs anymore. Maybe a lottery ticket prospect at most.
A lottery ticket at best, MAYBE a guy that would be in the 25-30 range on your prospect list once they come over. But even that is probably being generous.
Maybe if the tigers were competing. He’s a career .240 hitter who strikes out A LOT and really isn’t anything special. Also he’s 33. Just doesn’t really make sense for Detroit.
Reread the comment you’re replying to
If you’re replying to me , I still don’t think he’s even worth bringing in for a week. Short of him hitting like .300 with a good amount of homer’s in whatever time he spent with Detroit, I just don’t see a team offering anything for him.
Detroit doesn’t need him. He’d have to absolutely catch fire to build up his value in two months in order to bring back anything. Not happening. Not worth it.
The Tigers already have a RH DH who can barely field, hit or run in Miguel Cabrera.
Dodgers.
I can see the Dodgers grabbing him unless he’s got guaranteed MLB at bats somewhere. Tsutsugo can play multi defense, from what I know Davis can not at all. Stanton probably blocks him from Going to Ny
Not a chance in heck. Dodgers already have enough guys who can’t hit a whiffle ball
Ever tried to hit a wiffle ball thrown by an adult? They had a television show a few years ago where MLB players constantly struck out by those pitchers. Unless of course they used the big bat.
Either NY team
No thanks! Unless it’s a minor league deal. This dudes washed and we already have too many outfielders
Yea hard pass on a poor hitting DH
The Mets already have a DH who isn’t hitting in left field, I don’t think they need another one.
I’m guessing the Rangers are just disappointed that Davis isn’t batting .247 again
Marcell Ozuna will probably never play for the Braves again. Might as well take a flyer on Davis.
Yup. At least Davis can maybe hit some dingers.
He has 1 all year
and Heredia has 2, Almote has 1 and Ender just got his first today. So, your point is irrelevant.
Take a flyer? Braves are in a playoff hunt, they can do better than a washed up DH who was just released by a losing team.
Braves haven’t been over .500 all year and are 5 back from the Mets and are in 3rd place. Also, they’d pay the league minimum and if he sucks then ya cut him. You think they can just trade for Trout? This isn’t a video game, kid.
Yea there’s a pretty big gap between Khris and Trout. As a Mets fan I say, sure go ahead and sign him, see how many games you lose until you realize the experiment is over. There must be plenty of AAAA guys better than Davis but, by all means, go for name recognition over substance.
You don’t make up ground in a playoff race by signing washed-up guys whose name you know either. It’s not like he’s going to hit better just by changing scenery. You find someone with untapped potential, someone who isn’t getting playing time, or a kid with raw potential and now you have a real shot at a difference maker.
Could see the Braves taking a chance on him. White Sox need an outfielder and a second baseman. However see them going after Asdrubal or Starlin. Cabrera probably can be gotten now for prospects. Castro for a six pack once the Nationals realize they’re out of the race. Bad contract.
White Sox don’t need any more K’s!
Eloy just cleared by Dr.’s for some baseball activities!
Ought to be back soon enough and still hit 20+ HR’s this season!
His four year streak of hitting .247 will not be repeated in baseball history.
Good luck in future endeavors.
His four year stretch of .batting .247 remains one of my random favorite hitting streaks.
Not many people realize just how close he came to hitting .247 for a 5th consecutive season. If he had just one more hit and 3 more walks in 2014, his average would have also been .247 that year.
Yikes. Pete Alonso. If not for the flap on his batting helmet, that HBP by might have been truly unfortunate. Instead, he was able to go to first base with no apparent injury. Scary moment (Emilio Pagan was the pitcher).
Seek out the video when you have a chance. No blood but a direct hit followed by Alonso sprinting to 1B.
What’s that got to do with Khris Davis?
Cey Hey has some good insights at times, but often just posts whatever he wants regardless of topic. My fave is when he posts on political stuff, always good for a laugh.
Sideline, why do you consider racism to be a joke? Are of those MAWA people? Lose the fear, junior. Equality for all is not going to hurt you. And civil rights is not politics.
Project much?
If you’re white how about you just be quiet and stop telling people how they should feel.
It happened today and there is no other spot for it.
I can see him in Cleveland
Until Franmil returns?
I hate to say it, but he couldn’t be any worse than Miller. Reyes will be out another 2-4 weeks. I’d give Davis a shot.
Miller will go back down. 50 percent k rate. He’s pressing badly. Think he’s for real and once gets a little more seasoning and should be good for 2022. Certainly wouldn’t be the first guy that didn’t stick the first time up. Don’t see Davis as being a savior either. Second best manager in baseball and certain hall of fame once Tito retires along with good pitching isn’t enough this year. Chicago keeps clicking with three of their best players quite possibly being done for the season. Cleveland not looking good this year. Big disappointment with Twinkies sucking too. Thought they would contend for a wildcard.
There’s a 24.7% chance another team signs him if history is any indication
Padres.
Cardinals
Angels, why not?
Only if he can pitch
Braves
The guy was released for a reason
Cosmo,
Totally agree. I just can’t imagine a team that’s competing for anything, that would add Davis, especially an NL team.
I mean, I could be wrong. If there’s an AL team, whose DH is hitting worse than Davis, I guess they could picked him up.
But seriously, Mets? Cardinals? Braves? Padres? I just don’t see a team like one of them being interested at all.
The Dodgers signed Albert Pujols. Which – to me – seemed pretty far-fetched.
Offense is down right now league wide. Significantly. Lot of teams are interested in or desperate for some hitting.
I can certainly see him catching on somewhere. Even on a NL roster.
Ducky,
Pujols is a sure HoFer. Because a team gambled that he might still have something in the tank, doesn’t seem like the same sort of longshot that Davis is.
Plus Pujols can play 1B, a better place to stash a poor fielder than the OF, which is Davis’ only position, having never played 1B in his career.
Like I said earlier, I can see an AL signing him if they deem their current DH to be worse, but I would be very surprised if any NL team picks him up.
Players are released and picked up all the time. Ducky already pointed out Pujols. I can see the Braves giving him a lotto tickets chance. I agree that a playoff team SHOULDN’T need to resort to this but the Braves didn’t address depth in the off-season, whether it’s the bench or the bullpen and now they’re paying for it.
The Braves absolutely were prepared OF depth-wise prior to the season.
Osuna, Pache, Acuna
Almonte, Heredia, Inciarte
This is good compared to every other team in MLB. Who would’ve predicted Ozuna’s suspension, Pache’s and Camargo’s hitting woes and that MLB rosters are now populated with china dolls abusing the 10 day IL?
The problem with Davis is that he never got on base enough. While he clobbered home runs he did not walk or hit enough to justify being anything more than a novelty act. Career .315 OBP.
The Mariners will pick this guy up.
Going back to the A’s
Cubs like to dive into dumpsters!
Lmfao. Yeah right. They already picked up a corner infielder(Wisdom) the Cardinals threw away that has a little more going for him. Wasn’t like he struggled in the minors either. The key was finding young players that never got a chance to produce. Not a washed up player like Davis. Believe Davis is out of Major League Baseball. The guy to claim was Craig from the Pirates if you wanted a first baseman. He will return and the bone head play Baez suckered him into will be forgotten.
I find it incredible that you guys think Davis has value. He has pretty much displayed that he is done. No glove, no bat, no speed. Does that seem worthwhile, really? He can’t even draw a walk! His only value is to opposing pitchers. Steeerike three!
You guys are hopeless optimists, I am a die hard pessimist. I can tell it like it is.The Cardinals need more terrible outfielders, how about he go there?
Brian Cashman on line one.
Just the sort of discount bin player he’d grab. Low average and OPS+, poor defense, lots of strikeouts, poor baserunner, past his prime. What’s not to like?
Pay just $247 dollars and he’s yours
Someone is going to give this guy another chance and it pains me to think that maybe the Braves should. I think the chances of the Braves finding his bat again is quite unlikely but the Braves also don’t have anything to lose. Their depth is horrendous.
I heard Baltimore was looking for another Davis that can’t hit a baseball.
~The Krush Brothers
Welcome back
To Oakland Kris Davis
I don’t mean to pile on but players tend to decline quickly once they reach age 31. Davis had a huge drop off at age 31 and hasn’t been good since. He’s now 33 going on 34. Simply put, he’s a bad bet but folks get caught up on name recognition so here we are.
he should play in the NPB and get back some value
If that don’t work, call up Adrian Gonzalez
Orioles, hahaha
Khris Davis’s batting average is higher than most Yankee players batting averages, nothing like a one-two punch of Odor and Davis striking out every at bat back to back, Yankees are going places
I’m not one for all the Yankees but that burn had some funny, nasty intent behind it. =))
Hello Cardinal front office
Cleveland should swoop in and get him, after loosing Reyes they could use the bat ans it won’t cost them anything. If Davis can get back to form after the all star break he could be a great addition, and if he can’t then it’s not a big deal.
I know you’re dying to, Brian Cashman. You need to pass.
I’d only do it if he goes to AAA for a month to first figure things out.
Back to Oakland?