6:42pm: As famous by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports activities Bay Space, the Giants would have the choice to launch Davis within the occasion that he clears waivers, whereas paying solely a pro-rated portion of his contract as termination pay. The membership would have this selection because of the truth that salaries determined by way of arbitration equivalent to Davis’s $6.9MM wage usually are not absolutely assured underneath the present collective bargaining settlement. Had the Giants and Davis had averted arbitration, his wage would have been absolutely assured within the occasion of a launch.
2:48pm: The Giants have positioned third baseman J.D. Davis on waivers, FanSided’s Robert Murray writes (by way of X). The transfer comes only a week after San Francisco signed Matt Chapman, which appeared to make Davis an odd man out within the workforce’s nook infield image.
With Chapman now at third base, Jorge Soler at DH, and LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores slated as a platoon tandem at first base, there wasn’t a lot room for Davis to seek out on a regular basis enjoying time, making him one thing of an overqualified bench piece. Chapman’s contract got here after months of hypothesis that he would ultimately land in San Francisco to re-unite together with his former supervisor Bob Melvin, so actually, commerce rumors have been surrounding Davis for a lot of the offseason.
The waiver-wire transfer signifies {that a} commerce couldn’t be discovered, but that doesn’t imply that there isn’t curiosity in Davis’ providers. It might be that rival golf equipment weren’t prepared to fulfill no matter asking value Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was looking for, and have been content material to attend and see if Davis would simply find yourself out there to be claimed. By that very same logic, it appears potential that Davis may additionally clear waivers completely if no workforce needs to imagine the $6.9MM wage he’s owed for the 2024 season, after an arbitration panel dominated in Davis’ favor at a listening to final month.
Davis hit .248/.325/.413 with 18 homers over 546 plate appearances with San Francisco in 2023, as sizzling begins and finishes to the season bookended a fairly extreme droop over the summer season months. The offensive manufacturing translated to a 104 wRC+, which is drop from the 118 wRC+ Davis posted over his first six MLB seasons with the Astros, Mets, and Giants.
Whereas Davis’ bat has lengthy been fairly stable, he has been one thing of a person with no defensive place. The general public metrics give him respectable grades over 287 2/3 innings as a primary baseman, although Davis’ work at third base has typically been thought of subpar. His 2023 efficiency drew at the least combined evaluations, as Outs Above Common (+5) and UZR/150 (+0.8) had a optimistic view of his third base glovework, whereas the Defensive Runs Saved (-11) metric was a lot much less impressed.
On paper, the Cubs, Brewers, Blue Jays, Rays, Nationals, Rangers, Guardians, Mariners, White Sox, Athletics, and Padres are groups that every one have clear or hypothetical wants at both nook infield place or at DH, so any might probably match as Davis’ subsequent touchdown spot. Even a comparatively modest $6.9MM wage might present an impediment in a few of these conditions, and the presence of such different free brokers (equivalent to J.D. Martinez, Brandon Belt, or Evan Longoria) who might fill at the least certainly one of Davis’ positions would possibly additional complicate his market.