On Monday afternoon, we learned that the Texas Rangers “have been asked” about corner infielder Chris Davis, who is stuck behind Adrian Beltre, Michael Young, and Mitch Moreland on the Rangers’ depth chart.
Could Chris Davis be an Indian? (photo by Seth William Page, from flickr.com)
Davis is hitting .387 with two homers, eight RBI, and an insane 1.166 OPS in 11 games this spring, but barring some catastrophe he’ll still be on the outside looking in when the Opening Day lineup is announced.
On Tuesday, MLBTradeRumors.com’s Ben Nicholson-Smith built on the Davis rumors by suggesting some possible trading partners with the Rangers, including the Cleveland Indians:
Jason Donald, Matt LaPorta and Jayson Nix, three right-handed hitters, figure to get most of the playing time at the corners for now. Two left-handed hitters, Nick Johnson and top prospect Lonnie Chisenhall, threaten to join the big league club before long, but until then the Indians could mix Davis’ left-handed bat in and see what happens.
I love the idea of Davis in an Indians uniform—I’m a sucker for low-risk, high-reward young players. Davis, you may recall, smacked 17 homers in 80 games as a rookie in 2008, but has been awful ever since. In 158 games over the last two years, he’s hit .227/.283/.407; last year he hit just .192 with a meager .571 OPS. However, he’s continued to mash in the minors, hitting .327/.383/.520 in Triple-A last year. I’d part with an uninspiring prospect to gamble on his ability to translate that into success in the majors.
Of course, it’s not that simple—there’s the issue of who the Rangers would demand in return. The only clear hole in Texas’ depth chart is at closer, and that’s only if Neftali Feliz moves to the rotation. Davis certainly isn’t worth Chris Perez, but just because he’s expendable to the Rangers doesn’t mean he’d come cheap. Without knowing how, exactly, the front office views Davis, there’s no way to know if he’d be worth the investment.
The other problem (as Nicholas-Smith alludes to) is that he wouldn’t have a clearly defined role in Cleveland, either. LaPorta, Donald, and Travis Hafner would be easier to overtake than Beltre, Young, and Moreland—especially if Donald’s hand injury renders him unavailable for Opening Day—but there’s no guarantee that Davis would even get enough playing time to find his groove, especially once Chisenhall and Johnson join the club.
That Davis is a low-valued player with untapped potential would make him well worth the Indians’ trouble were he a free agent or a Rule 5 pick, but a guy who wouldn’t be a sure thing to crack the Tribe’s 25-man roster probably wouldn’t be worth whatever the Rangers would want in return. I’d love to see him come to town if the price is right, but I’m not optimistic that this deal would work out.
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