Michael Chavis traded for Austin Davis
- Thread starter Lose Remerswaal
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Gonna be great when they introduce him in a press conference and he holds up an away Red Sox jersey #23 with a "D" duct taped over "Ch" on the back.
Interesting idea on Davis:
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1421215188028637188
"We'll see what the Sox have planned but I wonder if they flat out say they are dumping Davis' curveball, his fastball and slider combination look much better. So many curves loop in over the heart, slider has way more bite. Batters 3-25 vs his fastball."
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1421215188028637188
"We'll see what the Sox have planned but I wonder if they flat out say they are dumping Davis' curveball, his fastball and slider combination look much better. So many curves loop in over the heart, slider has way more bite. Batters 3-25 vs his fastball."
I've watched the video above for a full minute and I've got to say I'm amazed at the consistency of his delivery!
I'm interested to see how these relievers turn out. Bloom's MO with the Rays was pitching development and the Rays are the kings of turning nobodys into legitimate relievers. I doubt these were kneejerk reaction trades, I am sure the Sox saw something they liked and could work with. There was no way we were going to match the Kimbrel acquisition cost.
Sanchez had a moment there with the Pirates to the tune of 200 hits in 2006. Was starting to think what could have been. Then Pedey came to patrol 2nd base for the Sox the following season and all was forgotten!
He had a moment for the Red Sox too. Didn't he set the assist record or something like that?
I thought he had more time with the big club, but only played 32 games and 120 or so innings between 2002 and 2003.
Yea, 10 assists in a game at 3b. One of the MLB record but the Sox record.
https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2003-07-19-export17159-story.html
I remember the crowd eating it up.
Freddie wasn't traded for Sauerbeck. According to BRef, Sauerbeck was acquired with Mike Gonzalez from Pittsburgh for Brandon Lyon and the immortal (to some) Anastacio Martinez on July 22, 2003.
Nine days later on July 31, 2003 the Red Sox made another trade with Pittsburgh sending Freddie Sanchez and Mike Gonzalez to the Pirates for Jeff Suppan, Anastacio Martinez and Brandon Lyon.
You read that right. Three of the four players in the first deal were returned to their original team nine days later. I don't remember if anyone commented on it at the time. It's easy to see how the trades could be confused.
Suppan wasn't much good for the Sox down the home stretch, as I recall, but he was no Sauerbeck. Freddie won the National League batting title with .344 during his golden year of 2006. He slid off fairly rapidly after that.
Agreed. What he does seem to offer is a lot of strikeouts - 78 K in 71.1 innings in his career. But this accompanied by 74 hits, 33 walks, and a WHIP of 1.493.
If the Tweet above is correct and the Sox can take away his curve, then maybe, maybe the K's remain and much of the rest disappears. Maybe.
But what the hell, the cost of this experiment is Michael Chavis.
Wasn't there an issue with the health of a pitcher in that trade? Brandon Lyon I think was hurt and they ruled the Sox knew about it and didn't disclose or something, so the trade was undone.
There was an issue with Brandon Lyon's medicals discovered after the trade. The second trade was an attempt to clean up the mess, and also get another starter in Suppan.
Nothing about that trade worked out.
Suppan was drafted by the Sox, left to the Diamondbacks in the expansion draft, ended up having a few decent seasons then was traded to the Sox where he sucked ass and left for the Cards. Fortunately for us he sucked even more on the base paths helping us win game 3 of the 07 World Series by doing dumb stuff.
I was at "The Freddy Sanchez Game"! We were definitely eating it up. Sat in the bleachers right behind the visitor's bullpen. Astros pen was loaded that year. Said what's up to Octavia Dotel in my best high school Spanish. Think DLowe started that day, which would explain why Freddy had so many grounders to field.
IIRC, folks were pretty high on the get of Mike Gonzalez in the original trade, only to have to send him back. Looks like he had TJ a few years later and essentially became a journeyman after that.
The famous Sauerbeck line in the aftermath, "I was traded for air!"
IIRC, there was no MLB ruling on the undo. The Pirates yelled after the trade, and Theo tried to nip things in the bud and "make everyone whole." There's likely a Gammons piece out there somewhere about this drama.
Pedro slapping Suppan on the ass after he was tagged out was a highlight of the 2004 WS.
Man, reading through this board you would think Chavis was a complete scumbag haha. What is up with all the vitriol? 2019 was a solid year and he did whatever he was asked without complaints. Yea, sure, he sucked this year but I hope he can pull it together in Pittsburgh.
It was Walker, not Suppan, after Manny threw him out. Suppan was tagged out at third in that game after the base running error.
View: https://youtu.be/FHeY5q9ZU5k
He's a never-fail-to-mention/signal-it Christian, crossing himself before every damn swing, who doped and was caught, earning an 80 day suspension. His stars-and-stripes arm armor is just part and parcel of the obnoxiousness. Yes Michael, you're a proud American, I get it - so proud, you've done what for your country exactly?
He may be a nice guy, and I have nothing against him personally; may he prosper in Pittsburgh and grow up as well. Meanwhile, I won't miss watching the faux-righteousness.
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Well put. I already found him to be our most frustrating guy coming into the year. This silly performance made it worse for me. Too bad the Rockies no longer make roster decisions on faith alone, he might have gotten us Cron.
Austin Davis, aka “Big Fudge” just made his Sox debut. His Workman impression was something else. 0 earned runs, but his two inherited runners came in.
Its got to be tough for a kid from Georgia to come up to the Northeast where the majority of people are not religious nor particularly proud of the country they live in. Complete 180 from where he's from. I'm not sure he's putting on some kind of false image. It could be just who he is.
But who knows, maybe you're right and it's all fake.
After all that you said in the first paragraph and in the last sentence of the post, you claim to have nothing against him personally?
From your own words it seems like you’ve got a hell of a lot against him personally.
I’m wondering how much time you have spent in the northeast.
and if you truly understand what being proud of your country means.
i Would love to see you start a discussion about the second part on the appropriate board here.
I'm not saying he's a non-believer, or that he has no right to see positive things in the US. I am saying his blatant and constant signaling of that is obnoxious, especially when he broke the strongest rules in the one thing he's done in his life (AFAIK - which is to play baseball) by cheating and using PEDs. I know plenty of godly people who don't publicly display it in everything they do. Oddly, they also tend to follow the law and the rules of their profession.
Also, I think it's just plain weird that you believe the majority of people in the Northeast don't have a sense of faith or civic commitment.
Horseshit.
If he was a good baseball player I don't think many here would care about all his religious faith demonstrations at every moment... but he's pretty terrible so those things appear way more obnoxious. It's likely that God doesn't care for him all that much so doesn't bless him with good baseball skills, correct?
Look, I don’t really care that much and it doesn’t matter to me at all what you think of him. But you can’t say the things you said about him and then say you’ve got nothing against him personally.
You can say I’m wrong (in a much more colorful way), but all those criticisms of him in that post were personal attacks.
I’m not even necessarily disagreeing with your takes on him. But what are they if not “personal”?
It’s ok. You can own it.
...anyway...
I thought Davis looked okay last night. The bounced wild pitch right out of the gate was ugly, but the two-run single to Mejia that put the game away wasn’t smoked. He was sitting 93; K to Kiermaier showed some run on it. The slider is more good than great, but it plays. He should be an angles problem for lefty hitters.
It sucks trading a former 1st rd pick for a 28yo with a 5+ ERA. OTOH, he had a disaster .1ip / 4er outing, and if you Eric Van it and pretend that game didn’t happen: 10ip 5h 2hr 6bb 13k. Walk rate problem will be manageable if he avoids HR, which wasn’t an issue in milb but has spiked in mlb trials.
I’m not going to have terribly high expectations for this arm, but one positive about Bloom is that he has a good grasp on how many shots you have to take to hit on something. Taylor has a little more velocity, but he didn’t offer a dramatically different profile as an old for his level pitcher with walk problems. He was a 25-year-old reliever in high A when he was acquired. Usually they don’t, but sometimes one of these guys will be able to credibly handle hi lev innings for a couple years down the road. Davis has two options remaining, and it will be helpful to have a few shuttle arms to bridge the gap until there are more prospect worthy arms in the upper minors. Lack of up-and-down arms has been a depth issue for several years. I think we saw this play out in mid June when our less than impressive mlfa depth was chewed through in a week, when Weber was lost on waivers and Brennan was DFA’d after a single appearance. That’s what those kinds of arms are for, but if you don’t have any arms with options in that pool, the depth can evaporate quickly. Additionally, more arms with options makes a four-man bench a more attractive roster choice imo. It would probably be preferable to cycle through the last two bullpen spots frequently instead of playing shorthanded with position players by default.
I thought Davis looked okay last night. The bounced wild pitch right out of the gate was ugly, but the two-run single to Mejia that put the game away wasn’t smoked. He was sitting 93; K to Kiermaier showed some run on it. The slider is more good than great, but it plays. He should be an angles problem for lefty hitters.
It sucks trading a former 1st rd pick for a 28yo with a 5+ ERA. OTOH, he had a disaster .1ip / 4er outing, and if you Eric Van it and pretend that game didn’t happen: 10ip 5h 2hr 6bb 13k. Walk rate problem will be manageable if he avoids HR, which wasn’t an issue in milb but has spiked in mlb trials.
I’m not going to have terribly high expectations for this arm, but one positive about Bloom is that he has a good grasp on how many shots you have to take to hit on something. Taylor has a little more velocity, but he didn’t offer a dramatically different profile as an old for his level pitcher with walk problems. He was a 25-year-old reliever in high A when he was acquired. Usually they don’t, but sometimes one of these guys will be able to credibly handle hi lev innings for a couple years down the road. Davis has two options remaining, and it will be helpful to have a few shuttle arms to bridge the gap until there are more prospect worthy arms in the upper minors. Lack of up-and-down arms has been a depth issue for several years. I think we saw this play out in mid June when our less than impressive mlfa depth was chewed through in a week, when Weber was lost on waivers and Brennan was DFA’d after a single appearance. That’s what those kinds of arms are for, but if you don’t have any arms with options in that pool, the depth can evaporate quickly. Additionally, more arms with options makes a four-man bench a more attractive roster choice imo. It would probably be preferable to cycle through the last two bullpen spots frequently instead of playing shorthanded with position players by default.
This is exactly right. I didn't feel like being the one to call it out and get into that back-and-forth, but I'm glad someone did.
Criticizing someone for being outwardly religious and patriotic is so on-brand for SoSH, it almost doesn't even register anymore.
They're not personal, because they're not criticisms based in the personal or private sphere, as opposed to the public sphere. I really don't know Chavis personally. I don't know if he kicks his dog or is the most generous friend a man could hope to have. I have no idea what his sexual practices are, or his private politics, or his personal religious observances, and frankly, they're none of my business anyway.
But I do know Chavis publicly, by what he chooses to signal in front of audiences of 30K people, and/or on national TV.
Likewise his PED use and suspension is a matter of public record.
Likewise his (AFAIK) lack of doing anything with his life but playing baseball.
When you put those together, you can make an accurate and fair public statement that the man seems more than a tad obnoxious in his constant public signaling.
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I agree. I think reading through this thread would leave a person thinking that Chavis was some sort of far right wing nut job like Curt Schilling instead of a player needing a change of scenery. Did the guy suck in 2020 and this year? Yes. Did he deserve the hatred and vitriol he got this year? Not in the least.
I thought this was brilliant. I wish I could have written it.
Virtue signalling is the public expression of a perceived moral viewpoint with the intent of communicating one's own good character.
There are probably 200 MLB players who are evangelical christians, but we don't know it because they don't need to tell us between every pitch.
Many MLB players are patriotic, love America and take pride in it, but they don't feel the need to wear a flag to draw attention to it.
If you are not on Michael's team, so to speak, you might find his constant virtue signaling annoying. I did. However, if he could play at all, a fan might be able to overlook it. This season, he struck out in 39% of his AB's. He walked in 1.2% of his AB's. He doesn't have a position on the field that he can play at an average level.
He's terrible, and his being gone means that somebody with better skills and less virtue signaling will be taking his plate appearances. I'm a big fan of that.
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"He's terrible, and his being gone means that somebody with better skills and less virtue signaling will be taking his plate appearances."
I'll settle for the former and be pleasantly surprised if the latter accompanies that. He's a 4A player. I fear Franchy and Dalbec are his equals, but at least the jury's still out on them.
I'll settle for the former and be pleasantly surprised if the latter accompanies that. He's a 4A player. I fear Franchy and Dalbec are his equals, but at least the jury's still out on them.
The minor league record for Austin Davis is actually quite good, and he's only thrown 72.1 MLB innings. This might mean one of two things, either just that Bloom sees some upside once he really adjusts to MLB, or that there is something in the MiLB record that the baseball ops people can mine to help him improve: maybe pitch mix, like mentioned above, pitch location, matchups etc. The funny thing is that I really think you could call him the pitching version of Chavis: has some upside, but so far has looked like a AAAA guy who can't quite hack it at the major league level. Seems like a solid flyer, given the price.
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