What would you do?

Davis is on fire.

I realize Mitch seems to be a roster lock at this point, but WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Would you give Davis a chance to establish himself as a player worthy of playing everyday at the big league level at Moreland's expense?

I love MM, but it seems like, if Davis is going to force himself on us, that we need to find out whether he can do it in the big time before he is out of options so that we can decide whether we want him on our team in the future. Moreland on the other hand has 2 option years left, and the clock is not ticking on him.

I do not want another Adrian Gonzalez quality bat to slip away from us because we were too chicken to start Moreland at Round Rock even after his showing in the World Series. The smart thing to do seems to be to give Davis 3-4 weeks and see what he does with it. I realize that Moreland would be pissed and rightly so, but he will understand that the Rangers have to do what is best for the team. Further, its not like he is going down indefinitely. You don't leave a bat of that quality at AAA for long.

I do not want to see Davis go for little more than a prospect and an average closer (or whatever). Assuming he can do what he is doing now consistently (which is obviously a big if) I want his bat for the long run. What if Nellie signs elsewhere, if Josh signs elsewhere, if Kinsler signs elsewhere.

If there is no room for him in our plans we need to bring him up so that he can prove himself in the big time so that we can get A LOT for him. I don't want to lose him, especially if he is going to be another Adrian Gonzalez. And if we are going to lose him I want it to be for more than some average closer or other less than inspiring piece.

I realize I'm riding high on the Chris Davis wave right now. I don't need anyone to say I'm being too optimistic, and I know he could fail again as he has in the past. The way he is playing we owe it to the team to give him a shot so that we don't end up losing a guy who could possibly be a top tier first basemen in the not so distant future. As far as his little play me or trade me deal I find that ridiculous. Obviously JD will do what is in the best interest of the team and not what is in Davis' best interest and that is the way it should be.

I just don't want play me or trade me Davis living out his upside to the tune of 40 HR's a year in a uniform that doesn't say Texas across the front (unless of course we get something really good in return for him for the next 5 years).

Davis has had at least 3 opportunities to seize the starting job and he hasn't. That is no one's fault but his own. Mitch doesn't have the ceiling but he stays within himself. Davis is good, cheap depth and he is not worth dumping right now. He may not like it but he will be in AAA until he is traded or an injury occurs. Baseball is a business, and the Rangers didn't make it to the world series by making poor business choices. I am firmly on the CD bandwagon, but it will take more than a good spring to supplant Mitch.

Yes, like hitting well when it really matters

Nellie Cruz also had about 3 chances until it finally clicked. I'm glad we didn't give up on him.

You're hitting the panic button too soon. You've got another 12 months for any one of the following to happen:

A) An injury to Moreland, Beltre, Young or Napoli makes room for Davis.

B) An injury to Davis makes this conversation irrelevant.

C) A trade of Michael Young is finally worked out.

D) Mitch Moreland stinks up the joint and opens the door back up for Davis.

E) In a deadlin trade for a TORP, Mitch Moreland is a piece we need to give up.

F) Mike Napoli plays well enoguh behing the dish that we decide to dump Treanor for 2012.

G) Mike Napoli plays poorly enough overall that we decide not to offer him Arb next year.

H) Someone makes us a trade offer for Davis that we can't refuse.

Next Spring Training is the time to make this post, Joe.

What I would do is not get too excited about Chris Davis' hitting in March. We've seen this act before.

in 2009 he hit .304 with 5 HR's in ST. Last year he hit .364 and drove in 13 runs. The problem with Davis has never been hitting in March. It's the fact that once the regular season starts he fans 1/3 of the time. Even with him playing impeccable defense, you can't survive with his lack of output at 1st base.

I'm not confusing Moreland with Albert Pujols, but he is a grinder whose stats will accumulate over a 162 game season. Davis drove in 4 runs in 120 at bats. That's hard to do even by accident.

waive Blanco. Let Young be the backup SS/2B, Davis backup 3B/1B, Napoli 1B/C backup. I'd put Moreland in RF, Cruz in LF and Josh in CF some days, but to me keeping Blanco makes no sense unless we know we're dealing Young, Davis, etc.

I believ Davis went over 100 PAs without a BB to start last season. Now THAT'S hard to do, even by accident.

Davis can whine all he want's. He will be in AAA.
From Davis' view, I can see that he's nothing to prove
going back to the farm. If *Wash wants to be creative
keeping Davis... he has a few *early choices:

1) Go with two catchers.
2) Blanco to AAA.
3) Borbon to AAA.
4) Go with one less pitcher.

These are all short term moves for *Wash.
Wash would have to play Davis to prove him out, not pine him.
If CD succeeds... it get's more complicated
Keep Moreland or M. Young?

The last sentence confirms reality~
Send Chris Davis back to AAA.
He can be backup, if a player has an injury,
which is far less complicated, than answering
Kid M. Mendoza Jr., his wishes to be a MLB Ready Player

LOL...One day Hubz is all homespun clichés and the next he's writing quatrains like Nostradamus.....

HubZ is a trip, I like his style.

Scooby,

Your point is well taken.

However, I am still panicked if Davis is being considered as a trade piece to get an average closer for a year or two or some other marginal improvement to the club.

I just don't want him to be traded now for less than he is worth so I am just saying, if you are even considering trading him now you have to let him play to get his value up because of the possibility that he will be the next Adrian Gonzalez. Unless of course some club, as you say, offers us something we can't refuse. I would just rather keep Davis and give him one more shot.

To me what makes the most sense is to get a deal done for MY because on the D side of things CD, Blanco, Nap and MM give u more than MY and at the DH a rotation of Nap, CD, MM, Murphy or whoever u want to give a day off from the field will most likely give u what he does at the dish. I personally like MY but for the money and lack of D this isnt the team for him anymore.

satillery..."for the money" is a very loaded phrase. His salary is a sunk cost, it can't be unspent. The problem with moving him is that other teams know he is overpaid and will demand the Rangers pay a large portion of his remaining contract.

Joe:

You always want to play prospects in the Majors to get their values up. You do realize that their value is just as likely to go DOWN, don't you? I think there is a chance Davis has figured it all out and is on the verge of a breakout. But there is a much larger chance that he is (yet again) hitting AAA quality pitching in Spring Training because he is a classic AAAA player, and that exposure to the Big Leagues would sap him of any trade value.

Put another way, you don't get to give a guy like Davis every last chance to succeed in the Bigs, then determine finally that he will never make it at the highest level, and THEN still trade him for something of value as if he was still a prospect. You have to leave some upside on the table for another team to want to gived you value for him. He's highly unlikely to ever going to be Adrian Gonzalez, although he may be a servicable 1B at the ML level. You can't be gunshy because you were burned before.

For the right closer, you trade Davis, if Feliz makes the rotation. It's that simple.

I understand that but if u can get half of it off the books and get two nice propects, thats at least some more money towards nelly, CJ, Hambone and all those guys also u only half to pay half the money for basically the same production isnt that the name of the game? Win as cheap as possible.

Scooby,

While I agree with your overall point, the last sentence is troublesome. I am sure you looked at the spreadsheet of available closers that Dave H worked up. I am not sure a viable closer candidate is available now. Maybe later in the season when some teams find their hopes dashed, but that is a bridge we will have to cross when we get there. I see Davis and Teagarden as change of scenery guys, even though I really like both. I would be ok with flipping Davis for a lower level prospect with a high ceiling similar to Engel Beltre when we got him from the Red Sox.

Scooby,

I just disagree with you about the closer trade. I think you are giving up way to much in Chris Davis to have a decent closer for a year or two. Aren't you always the one talking about how an established closer isn't worth all that much, and that any decent pitcher should be able to close?

I might go for a high ceiling prospect for Davis, but I still think you need to give him one more shot to walk the walk.

This would be a much different debate if Mitch was sucking it up in ST.

But he isn't. We are seeing the exact same guy, with a little better knowledge and ability now at 1B. Chris Davis looks like Pujols in AAA and ST, but he whiffs in the bigs. He has no clue how to handle a breaking pitch. Mitch at least makes a pitcher work to get him out.

I heard a reference somwhere around here to Chris Davis and Carlos Pena being similar. This can't be further from the truth. Carlos Pena usually bats at a very low average much like Davis has, but Pena has the ability to draw a walk, and will still hit 35+ homers. Davis has no ability to draw a walk whatsoever.

I'm perfectly comfortable with Ogando closing. I'm not all that comfortable with Wash managing. However, Wash is the manager, and he'd like a closer, so for the right closer, I'd deal Davis. I also think Heath Bell's price is not as high as some people think, and I also think something like Davis for Nunez (Florida) would be a reasonable swap, especially since they have 2 guys with closing experience.

As for Dave H's spreadsheet, I love his work, but all the guys he wrote off because they would cost too much in prospects are just speculation. He doesn't actually know what they would cost in prospects, or which prospects in our system that particular team might overvalue so as to make a deal possible.

I also have no problem waiting til the deadline to make a deal, and telling Wash that he's going to try to solve the closer problem in house, and if it doesn't work out, we'll deal for a closer from a bad team at the deadline. Closers on teams with losing records are very cheap at the deadline.

I'd certainly rather trade Young and give Davis the roster spot. But Davis is a spare part at this point. For the right trade, you trade him.

One last option: Something like Young, Davis, O'Day, and $12m to Chicago for Marmol and the prospect Chirinos? Marmol is due $30m over the next 3 years, the Cubbies need a 2B, Young has reportedly okay'd a trade there, and the Cubs have expressed interest in Young, Davis, and O'Day at diferent points this offseason. WHo walks away?

Also I think the comparison to Adrian Gonzalez isn't all that applicable here. Gonzalez put the play in play far more often than Davis does, and didn't have 200 big league at bats when dealt. The point with Gonzalez was not that he was dealt, but that he was too good to be a throw-in in the bad San Diego trade.

Davis has over 800 MLB at bats and fans way more than Gonzalez does. Not exactly apples to apples.

While the cost of those closers is speculation, I would argue that trading for a bullpen arm rarely works out in favor of the team receiving the bullpen guy. Even if a guy like Heath Bell costs us a couple of mid level prospects, is he that much better than Ogando or Strop? Personally I believe you can find a bullpen arm easier than you can find alot of other positions so I would prefer to almost never give up solid prospects for a closer. Obviously there are exceptions to that rule, but that is just how I feel.

As far as the Cubs trade, was traded to TB in the Garza deal, and O'Day has been so-so this spring. I like Marmol but his cost might be too high.

That's right. I meant the other Catching prospect.

I agree that Ogando would be just fine. But if Wash needs an "established" closer, I'm fine with that, if it mgets him on board with Feliz-to-rotation.

I don't think Mike Young can be traded, before Chris Davis goes back into
binky & blanky terms. I'm in bitch mode, when it comes to CD. I hate to love
this guy. His game is great. He has a game last night far too often. Need I say
anything about his Trials of Nardia MLB? It's too surrealistic for even me!

I almost cry when he stands at plate, as the automatic out. WHEN he does
wakeup and becomes a valued star, I might cry like a woman in happiness.
Sometimes I'm at CVC Drugs and can't decide whether to buy more Depends
or try the New fangled Pads with sticky panty wings. I'm such a dismantled
wuss with this kid. It's not even a 'man crush'.

See Joe, that Dino Song "That's Amore'" musta got me all worked up.
I love Chris Davis... no I don't. Yes I do?
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