New York Mets acting general manager Zack Scott spoke to reporters on Friday, just days before the team reported to Spring Training. He gave mixed signals about the organization’s confidence in JD Davis going on his third season with the organization.
“We are totally comfortable to enter the season with JD Davis playing an important role,” said Scott.
Jack Ramsey from MMO annotated on Twitter, phrasing is everything. Scott did not say that the Mets were totally comfortable with Davis as the club’s third baseman. All he said was that they are confident that he can play an important role in the team.
What role is he referring to? Maybe he’s coming off the bench against left-handed pitchers. The only reason he wouldn’t be starting at the hot corner is if an exchange took place. The Mets would have had recent business talks with the Chicago Cubs about Kris Bryant, the Cincinnati Reds about Eugenio Suarez, and Oakland Athletics about Matt Chapman.
There is no doubt that Davis can get it right. In 2019, his first season with the Mets, he reduced .307 / .369 / .527 with 22 home runs, which came in fourth on the team behind Pete Alonso (53), Michael Comfort (33), and Jeff McNeil (23). This was his first significant playing time in the major leagues (140 games played and 453 plate appearances), which led to impressive career high scores in wRC + (136) and fWAR (2,3).
The problem for New York and any potential commercial suitor is his defense – Davis totaled -17 defensive runs saved on third base in the past two seasons. This will probably be a problem if there is no improvement, considering that Alonso, Dominic Smith (in the external field), and Brandon Nimmo they are also not highly rated defenders.
