The Mets were a finalist for third baseman J.D. Davis before he signed with the A’s last week, as noted by Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Per Sherman, a “large extent” of Davis’s reason for picking the A’s was that the A’s guaranteed him regular playing time, while the Mets weren’t able to do the same.
Davis, 31 next month, slashed a decent .248/.325/.413 with a 104 wRC+ last year as a member of the Giants and sports a strong 120 wRC+ in five seasons since he first broke out with the Mets back in 2019. A reunion in New York could have made plenty of sense, given the uncertainty the club is facing at both third base and DH entering the 2023 season. That being said, it’s hardly a surprise that the club wasn’t willing to guarantee Davis regular playing time. After all, president of baseball operations David Stearns has frequently made clear that the club doesn’t plan to make further additions at third base after signing Joey Wendle to a one-year deal back in November, instead letting youngsters Brett Baty and Mark Vientos attempt to claim the position while relying on Wendle as veteran insurance off the bench.
It’s a similar story at DH. While the club has been linked to veteran slugger J.D. Martinez as recently as last week, the club has long seemed to prefer to fill the spot internally by allowing Baty and Vientos additional time in the lineup when they aren’t playing third base while also opening up opportunities for the likes of DJ Stewart, who slashed an impressive .244/.333/.506 in 185 trips to the plate with the club last year, and offering the club the ability to rest veterans like Starling Marte without completely removing them from the lineup. While Davis was certainly a strong fit for the club’s positional needs, it’s possible they felt that his roughly league-average numbers last year wouldn’t be enough of an upgrade to their roster to warrant passing on the opportunity to give younger players like Baty and Vientos regular reps.
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