A's to DFA J.D. Davis
The Oakland A's are set to designate corner infielder J.D. Davis for assignment, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. MLB.com's Martín Gallegos also tweeted that the team is set to recall outfielder Lawrence Butler as a corresponding move. The 31-year-old former New York Met, San Francisco Giant, and now Oakland A will now either be traded, or hit free agency.
Davis has gone 29-for-123 (.236) this season, but ten of those hits came before the A's played the Washington Nationals in mid-April and their pitchers just filled the zone with fastballs. Davis went 0-for-10 in that series with five strikeouts and landed on the IL until early May. Since his return he has gone 19-for-72 (.264), but just three of those hits have been for extra bases with two home runs and a double.
It's tough not to see the correlation between this move and the in-the-process breakout of Tyler Soderstrom at first base. Davis has been a roughly league average bat (98 wRC+) with offense around the league down this season, but Soderstrom currently holds a 139 wRC+ on the year, and he's batting .325 with a .413 OBP and four homers in June.
Abraham Toro has solidified his spot atop the lineup for now and has made himself the team's everyday third baseman, which takes away Davis' other position on the field. It's been a move that has been coming for awhile with Davis starting just four of Oakland's 15 games this month, so the immediate playing time doesn't shift too much on the infield.
In the outfield, however, the return of Butler could be interesting. Seth Brown has been getting most of the reps in right since the middle of May with Daz Cameron getting the starts on days that Brown is out of the lineup. With Brown and Butler both being lefties, this move figures to impact the veteran's playing time more than Cameron's.
For Davis, there are a number of teams that could be interested in adding the veteran at this point in time as the injuries around baseball continue to mount. The Houston Astros just released first baseman José Abreu a couple of days ago. Could they be looking for an upgrade by reuniting with Davis? The New York Yankees also just lost Anthony Rizzo for the next four to six weeks after he fractured his right arm. Do either of these teams want Davis enough to trade a flier prospect?
With the move, the A's roster will sit at 39 once it's made official. They could claim a player on waivers, or leave the roster at 39 for the time being with the returns of Darell Hernaiz, Paul Blackburn, and Alex Wood from the 60-day IL expected in the coming weeks.
JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.