# MLB: June 2019 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 3, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932 "2019-06-03T00:10:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/101 "2019-06-24T15:27:39Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The fact the Orioles let Chris Davis occupy a roster spot is a disgrace. It’s an insult to the other men on the team, and it’s an insult to every player in AAA and AA, almost any of whom would be better than Davis. I don’t blame Chris Davis, who is a professional athlete and wants to play and hit and win and do better and prove himself again, but this is just ridiculous. He’s been hitting like a pitcher for two years and there are guys in the minors who deserve a shot but are being held back by this train wreck. Absolutely. And actually, to take it even further, if there is even a 1% chance that Chris Davis will ever be a productive hitter again (and 1% might be pushing it), it’s definitely _not_ going to happen against Chris Sale and Shane Bieber and Justin Verlander. He should be playing in AA, or an Independent League somewhere, trying to re-learn how to be a baseball player. Playing him semi-regularly in the majors isn’t just a disservice to the Orioles and every player in the franchise not named Chris Davis… it’s a disservice to Chris Davis! Inexplicable. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/102 "2019-06-24T15:33:32Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Astros finally break their losing streak with a nice 9-4 win over the Yankees. Yordan Alvarez is having the rookie year baby Vlad was supposed to have. Yes, this guy is a legitimate superstar in the making. At least after a few weeks in MLB. Maybe the pitchers’ union will figure out how to handle him, but it’s obvious the Yankee pitchers could not, at least yet. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/103 "2019-06-24T15:39:20Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The fact the Orioles let Chris Davis occupy a roster spot is a disgrace. It’s an insult to the other men on the team, and it’s an insult to every player in AAA and AA, almost any of whom would be better than Davis. I don’t blame Chris Davis, who is a professional athlete and wants to play and hit and win and do better and prove himself again, but this is just ridiculous. He’s been hitting like a pitcher for two years and there are guys in the minors who deserve a shot but are being held back by this train wreck. I hadn’t been paying much attention, so I just went over to Baseball Reference to look up Davis’s stats. Holy crap, that’s bad – well under the Mendoza Line for two seasons, and even his **slugging** percentage is sub-.300. And, it’s not like they’re only using Davis every once in a while – he’s played in 56 of the Orioles’ 78 games. If they keep playing him at his current rate, he’ll finish up the season with 388 plate appearances. You’re absolutely right – that’s all inexplicable, and it’s a disservice to Davis, the team, and the fans. ---
**Author:** ![backsidejohnny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/backsidejohnny/32/280_2.png) [@backsidejohnny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/backsidejohnny)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/104 "2019-06-24T16:46:39Z")
Chris Davis would be long gone if he didn’t have has a contract that pays $23 million per year through 2022. Scroll down to the bottom os the page. > **[Chris Davis Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |...](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/davisch02.shtml)** > > Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Chris Davis. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/105 "2019-06-24T17:19:43Z")
> [@backsidejohnny](#): > > Chris Davis would be long gone if he didn’t have has a contract that pays $23 million per year through 2022. Scroll down to the bottom os the page. > > [Chris Davis Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/davisch02.shtml) Step up to the plate. Send him down to the minors. He can get better or worse. But we don’t have to witness it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/106 "2019-06-24T17:30:03Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Send him down to the minors. He can get better or worse. But we don’t have to witness it. I’m not an expert on how the minors work with relation to MLB contracts, but I believe that Davis, with more than five years of MLB service, would have to consent to being optioned to the minors (and I don’t know how long the Orioles could keep him in the minors). But, I imagine that backsidejohnny’s point – Davis’s fat contract – is probably why he’s still flailing around in Baltimore, and hasn’t been released. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/107 "2019-06-24T18:05:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’m not an expert on how the minors work with relation to MLB contracts, but I believe that Davis, with more than five years of MLB service, would have to consent to being optioned to the minors (and I don’t know how long the Orioles could keep him in the minors). > > But, I imagine that backsidejohnny’s point – Davis’s fat contract – is probably why he’s still flailing around in Baltimore, and hasn’t been released. Thank you for clearing that up (optioned to minors). That makes it even more tragic. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/108 "2019-06-24T18:28:20Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’m not an expert on how the minors work with relation to MLB contracts, but I believe that Davis, with more than five years of MLB service, would have to consent to being optioned to the minors (and I don’t know how long the Orioles could keep him in the minors). > > But, I imagine that backsidejohnny’s point – Davis’s fat contract – is probably why he’s still flailing around in Baltimore, and hasn’t been released. Davis must consent to being sent down, yes. Any player with five full years of MLB service time must consent to a minor league non-rehab assignment; Davis has nine years. Obviously I don’t know Chris Davis, and cannot honestly say if he had refused a minor league assignment, or if he accepted one but got talked out of it by his wife, or he secretly wants to but can’t swallow his pride enough to ask. Players have gone to the minors and saved their careers. Roy Halladay famously did this - but he was 23 years old. Davis is 33, and honestly once he leaves the majors he’s probably not coming back, and that can be very hard for a pro athlete to accept. Surely one can understand why he won’t quit, of course; he’d be leaving about $80 million on the table if he quit today. He may be a prince of a guy but the Orioles should release him. It would be embarrassing and they’d be criticized by hordes of morons who don’'t understand sunk cost. It is, however, objectively the correct thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/109 "2019-06-24T18:51:34Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > He may be a prince of a guy but the Orioles should release him. It would be embarrassing and they’d be criticized by hordes of morons who don’'t understand sunk cost. It is, however, objectively the correct thing to do. Defintely agreed. The guy was, for a number of years, a pretty good power hitter (with two home run titles). But, even in those years, he was probably a one-tool player, and when a player’s “slump” lasts for a season and a half, if not longer, it’s probably not a slump any longer – rather, it’s increasingly likely that it’s his new normal. The Orioles are, in effect, stuck paying him a lot of money for the next three-plus years for his pretty good 2013 and 2015 seasons. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/110 "2019-06-24T19:42:03Z")
Wow, I knew he was bad but I hadn’t actually looked at the numbers. OPS+ of 49 last year and 45 this year. That’s unfathomably terrible. He’s striking out over 40% of the time and his career strikeout rate is 37%–if there’s anybody worse, I can’t find them. Even Adam Dunn never managed that. And he has an IBB this year! And two last year! What were the game circumstances that caused an opposing pitcher to actually intentionally walk this guy? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/111 "2019-06-24T19:49:59Z")
Adam Dunn bounced back, and Chris Davis might too. All it takes is for there to be some nagging injury that he’s trying to play through, or some mechanical flaw that nobody’s noticed, or for him (like so many slumping players) to be listening to too many people and getting further screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/112 "2019-06-24T20:21:36Z")
One hopes he can come back but just sending him out there over and over is not working, which is, of course, pretty much what the Orioles do nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/113 "2019-06-24T20:30:40Z")
[Dunn’s an interesting example](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dunnad01.shtml); his 2011 was really horrid, and similar to what Davis has been hitting for the past two seasons. Dunn _did_ bounce back, to an extent, in 2012, and had a few more productive seasons, but his production at that point was mostly hitting home runs – he had been about a .250-.260 hitter before 2011, but afterwards, he only hit about .210-.220. > [@RickJay](#): > > One hopes he can come back but just sending him out there over and over is not working, which is, of course, pretty much what the Orioles do nowadays. Indeed – whatever Davis’s issue is, playing regularly with the Orioles isn’t fixing it. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/114 "2019-06-24T20:45:38Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Also, yes, foul territory is crazy big. Looks bigger than Oakland’s. Why not put temporary seating there? Bullpen cars for the on-deck hitters? ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/115 "2019-06-24T21:33:58Z")
I don’t see the comparison between Dunn and Davis beyond both having high strikeout rates. Dunn had one really terrible year in 2011; that was a total outlier in about 14 other good-to-great offensive seasons. For Davis, the good seasons are the outliers. He’s got only four seasons out of 11 where he played in at least 100 games and had an OPS+ over 100. Everything else has been below average to completely execrable. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/116 "2019-06-25T13:00:19Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Also, yes, foul territory is crazy big. Looks bigger than Oakland’s. Why not put temporary seating there? Or, since they’re taking the games from Fenway, put home plate in a corner instead of the middle of the end zone, with a close and high wall in left … ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/117 "2019-06-25T15:04:20Z")
I can’t understand this whole Tampa/Montreal shared team thing. Pick a city. And the Tampa Bay area has proven over 20 years that it can’t or won’t support the Rays. A new stadium wouldn’t matter. A good team wouldn’t matter, they were still well under league average attendance when they were World Series contenders. I’m not sure Montreal is the best alternative, but I don’t have a lot of better suggestions. San Antiono? Nashville? Vegas? Montreal is bigger than any of them. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/118 "2019-06-25T15:27:28Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > I don’t see the comparison between Dunn and Davis beyond both having high strikeout rates. Dunn had one really terrible year in 2011; that was a total outlier in about 14 other good-to-great offensive seasons. For Davis, the good seasons are the outliers. He’s got only four seasons out of 11 where he played in at least 100 games and had an OPS+ over 100. Everything else has been below average to completely execrable. Dunn is an unusual case. He was a productive hitter, but I don’t think I’ve seen another player as statistically savaged as Dunn is by WAR. 35.2 oWAR over his career reduced to 17.4 WAR overall after his defense was factored in. He must have been amazingly awful in the field. It’s a wonder he lasted so long in the National League. Perhaps the Orioles ‘brain trust’ is hoping that Davis will become so humiliated that he retires. I can’t think of any other reason to play him. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/119 "2019-06-25T15:51:51Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I can’t understand this whole Tampa/Montreal shared team thing. Pick a city. And the Tampa Bay area has proven over 20 years that it can’t or won’t support the Rays. A new stadium wouldn’t matter. A good team wouldn’t matter, they were still well under league average attendance when they were World Series contenders. > > I’m not sure Montreal is the best alternative, but I don’t have a lot of better suggestions. San Antiono? Nashville? Vegas? Montreal is bigger than any of them. Florida has got to be the worst place for pro sports. I don’t think any team does well there and no matter the sport, at least half the crowd is cheering for the visitor. I don’t know the solution either, I don’t think they should build a new stadium, look at the fiasco in Miami. Baseball will always be second to ice hockey in Canada but the seasons don’t overlap much. I wouldn’t be opposed to trying Montreal for a second time. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932/120 "2019-06-25T19:43:10Z")
The Rays should just suck it up and move to Havana or San Juan. Montreal is a piss-poor choice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-june-2019/834932.md?page=7)