JD Davis had a breakout 2019 season offensively, but his poor defense might make him the perfect trade chip for the New York Mets.
JD Davis was the one big success story for the Mets 2018 offseason. He was the lone great acquisition that GM Brodie Van Wagenen made. Yet, his position on the team isn’t secure.
For all his offensive capabilities Davis is an awful defender. He was worth -16 DRS across both third base and left field in 2019. For a Mets team that was 31st in baseball in DRS, and had the second-worst DRS of any team over .500 since the stat has been recorded, he doesn’t fit long term.
There just doesn’t seem to be a spot for Davis to play for the Mets in 2020. He’s too good to be a bench bat, but his defense is too much of a liability for him to play every day. That makes him an ideal trade chip.
Unlike the Mets, many teams around MLB can hide a poor defender. In the AL he would fit perfectly as a DH. Not to mention that his value is at an all-time high coming off his 2019 season.
First, JD Davis is likely not a starter on the 2020 Mets. Brodie Van Wagenen has been adamant about playing Jeff McNeil at third base and has made it clear the Mets plan to upgrade at center field this year.
If that’s the case Davis would be a bench bat for the majority of the season sitting behind McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, and Michael Conforto. So, instead of letting a valuable resource like Davis sit on the bench wouldn’t it make more sense to trade him in an effort to get the best possible replacement for Zack Wheeler or the best upgrade in center field.
For example, centering a trade for Starling Marte around JD Davis would immediately improve the Mets defense and still give them a top-end bat at the position.
Maybe the Mets prefer to target a starting pitcher and trade JD Davis for a pitcher like Matthew Boyd to replace Zack Wheeler.
These are moves that can only happen because JD Davis’ value is at an all-time high. It opens up so many more avenues to make the team better as a whole.
Would it suck to lose a young cost-controlled player like Davis, absolutely. However, when a team is cash strapped as the Mets are sometimes you have to sacrifice to gain.