I hate to be the sourpuss at the party, but all this chatter for Ike Davis is driving me up a wall.
Yes, it will be nice to see Davis, the likely future of the organization, in his blue and orange Mets uniform at Citi Field. But no, he’s not going to do much to change the Mets right now.
Promoting Davis from Triple-A Buffalo, where he’s played for only a handful of games, to the big leagues will not greatly affect the team or their chances for the playoffs. He might hit a little, but he likely will struggle against major league pitching. He might show a nice glove at first, but he’s not going to win a Gold Glove.
Bringing up Davis now does two things: Throws him to the wolves to see if he can hold his own to hopefully catch lightning in a bottle and attempts to sell more tickets to Citi Field. These are both last-ditch efforts by what seems to be a lame-duck front office, from Omar Minaya on down. Minaya knows he’s on the hot seat and Jerry Manuel’s bottom is already burned. They know they need something – anything – to help take the heat off, and promoting Davis is they see as their best option.
For an organization that rushes prospects through their organization, this should come as no surprise. Hopefully these crazy moves from a failing front office don’t hurt Davis’ maturation and progress into the team’s next big thing. But only time will tell.
I’ll keep track of how long each player stays in the game. Ike Davis or Chris Carter could play an inning or two before hopping on a plane.
“I think we are really struggling in that area in the sense that I don't recollect too many extra-base hits that we've had. It's tough to put runs on the board if you don't have extra-base pop.”