Getting back into swing of things
Davis promises changes to his approach to reverse decline in ’21
As ever, Chris Davis was deeply introspective. He admitted he could have and should have done things differently in the past, and that the weight of expectations both internal and external have dragged him down.
But Davis, who with has two years remaining on his $161 million contract, says despite all of that he’s still having fun and is invested in making the Orioles as good as possible.
As the Orioles slugger enters spring training with no apparent route to an everyday job, he knows that everything he says looking back has little bearing on what he can contribute in his final years with the club.
“I’m the one who has to look myself in the mirror at night and really kind of go to war with myself over the way I chose to handle the situation,” Davis said.
“If I could do go back and do it over I probably would have done some things differently, but unfortunately there’s no blueprint for this. For me, the main thing now is
to focus on what I can focus on the future and do everything I can to help this next wave of guys really getting to their potential and put the club in the best position to win.”
Davis, who turns 35 next month, was an All-Star and two-time home run king with the Orioles when he signed that contract ahead of the 2016 season. He’s seen his offensive production crater, and after his spring training home runs sparked
“I feel like I have done substantial work to really step outside of my comfort zone and change some things, mechanically. Physically, change some things about how I’m approaching my at-bats. And it’s going to be weird. It’s going to be uncomfortable. But I think it’s overdue, to say the least.”
plenty of excitement in 2020, the coronavirus shutdown cut his renaissance short and he struggled through leg injuries once the season resumed.
That has left him in a place of uncertainty with the club. Trey Mancini is back after missing 2020 with stage 3 colon cancer and is penciled in as the everyday first baseman, and Davis will have to compete with younger hitters to be designated hitter.
“I’m going to push guys around me,” Davis said. “I’m going to push Trey at first and whoever else is over there, and they’re going to push me back. That’s how you find out who your best guys are. I have no doubt in my mind that we’re going to have the best nine out there, and you’re going to see a lot of familiar faces.”
Manager Brandon Hyde said that when games begin Sunday in Sarasota, Florida, Davis would “play quite a bit.
“I’m going to treat him like everybody else and play him as much as possible and try to get him to feel comfortable going into the season,” Hyde said.
Davis, who has long been criticized for not changing his swing or approach at the plate, said that those who were fortunate enough to be at the spring training games would see a difference in his at-bats.
“It’ll be visible to the naked eye,” Davis said. “I’m excited about it. I think there are a lot of really positive things going on around here, and I feel like I have done substantial work to really step outside of my comfort zone and change some things, mechanically. Physically, change some things about how I’m approaching my at-bats. And it’s going to be weird. It’s going to be uncomfortable. But I think it’s overdue, to say the least.”
Pressed for specifics, Davis declined to give any.
Hyde noted that he’s been talking with Davis “about making adjustments for a couple of years, and I think this offseason he wanted to change some things in his swing.
“I do see some physical differences in his batting practice and live BP but like I said it’s only been a few days. Wait until games start to really take a long look. His setup is a little different at the plate.”
Hyde also noted that Davis is in a great place mentally, something that is always true of the hulking Texan when he comes east every year to begin a new season. The last few years, as Davis has endured difficult season, the offseason reset period has put his body and mindset in a better place and given him plenty of time to think about his place in the game and on the Orioles.
He insists he’s still having fun with the game, though there were a few years recently when he didn’t feel that way. He said the coronavirus pandemic, which banished fans from the ballpark in 2020, made him realize “how much our fan base has supported me and how much I miss playing in front of our fans and really what it’s all about.”
“For me, I’ve been able to draw a lot of
— Chris Davis, Orioles veteran
positives out of this, but it hasn’t been easy. I will continue to look at the brighter side of things and try to draw more positives out of the future. But every time you make a decision, there’s consequences. Some, unfortunately, are bigger than others. And like I said, if I could go back and do some things differently, I probably would have. But there’s no use in trying to change the past.”
Davis acknowledged self-doubt, as he often does, and said it’s completely human and natural. He said that ESPN’s story about San Francisco Giant Drew Robinson’s suicide attempt last year and infielder Andrelton Simmons addressing his own mental health struggles over the 2020 season call for more conversations about those issues and made him grateful for his family and supporters.
But it was this time last year in Sarasota that made him feel like it was possible to arrest the sharp decline. He was homering in every game, taking good at-bats, and making some believe that there was productive baseball in his future. The person he convinced most, perhaps most importantly, was himself.
Davis said: “Last spring was an eye-opener and it was a, ‘OK, I can still do this.’ I was frustrated with the way things played out last season to say the least. I felt like I came into spring training in great shape, I was really swinging the bat well and then everything stopped. But, I also understand that we did get a chance to play some games and there were a lot of things that were bigger than baseball going on so in a way, the pandemic has really kind of been a blessing in disguise for me because it’s allowed me some time to reflect and really think about what’s important to me.”
Around the horn
The Orioles will broadcast 12 games on the Orioles Radio Network and flagship station 105.7 The Fan in spring training, the team announced, with the first on Tuesday at 1:05 p.m. against the New York Yankees. … Right-hander Thomas Eshelman will start the first spring training game Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Hyde said.
FENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The viral pandemic has triggered a cascade of price hikes throughout America’s auto industry — a surge that has made both new and used vehicles unaffordable for many.
Prices of new vehicles far outpaced overall consumer inflation over the past year. In response, many buyers who were priced out of that market turned to used vehicles. Yet their demand proved so potent that used-vehicle prices soared even more than new ones did.
The price of an average new vehicle jumped 6% between January of last year, before the coronavirus erupted in the United States, and December to a record $40,578, according to data from Edmunds.com.
Yet that increase was nothing next to what happened in the used market. The average price of a used vehicle surged nearly 14% — roughly 10 times the rate of inflation — to over $23,000. It was among the fastest such increases in decades, said Ivan Drury, a senior manager of insights for Edmunds.com.
The main reason for the exploding prices is a simple one of economics: Too few vehicles available for sale during the pandemic and too many buyers. The price hikes come at a terrible time for buyers, many of whom are struggling financially or looking for vehicles to avoid public transit or ride hailing because the virus. And dealers and analysts say the elevated prices could endure or rise even further for months or years, with new vehicle inventories tight and fewer trade-ins coming onto dealers’ lots.
The supply shortage arose last spring after the
coronavirus hit hard. Automakers had to shut down North American factories to try to stop the virus’s spread. The shutdowns reduced the industry’s sales of new vehicles and resulted in fewer trade-ins. So when buyer demand picked up late in the year, fewer used vehicles were available.
Compounding the shortage, rental car companies and other fleet buyers have been selling fewer now. With travel down and fewer people renting cars, the fleet buyers aren’t acquiring as many new vehicles, and so they aren’t off-loading as many older ones.
“It’s like a weird perpetual motion machine right now with pricing,” said Jeff Goldberg, general manager of Goldie’s Motors, a used vehicle dealership in Phoenix.
Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist for Cox Automotive, predicted a tight used-vehicle market with high prices for several more years.
“There are millions fewer used vehicles that are going to be available starting next year, 2022 and 2023,” he
said.
The resulting price spike essentially has created three classes of auto buyers: Those affluent enough to afford new vehicles. People who can afford late-model used cars. And buyers with low incomes or poor credit who are stuck with older, less reliable vehicles.
The industry is still trying to recover from the pandemic’s devastation last spring. The resulting factory closures shrank output by 3.3 million vehicles. Sales temporarily dried up, and so did the influx of trade-ins.
Once the factories restored production in May, demand turned hot.
Problem was, the supply of vehicles fell well short of demand, especially for pickup trucks and SUVs. Prices surged. And new-vehicle purchases for the year tumbled — by nearly 2.5 million to 14.6 million.
Interest rates remain low too. New-vehicle loan rates not subsidized by automakers are averaging 4.4%, according to Edmunds, while used loans average 7.8%.
SATURDAY
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A WILD YEAR ON EARTH The new episode “November-December” opens as millions of migrating Monarch butterflies converge in the forests of Mexico for the winter, a gathering that coincides with the Mexican Day of the Dead. Meanwhile, in arid South Africa, returning rains are welcomed by nesting birds, and in Australia, warming waters trigger the annual coral spawning in the magnificent Great Barrier Reef. Laura Carmichael (“Downton Abbey”) narrates. 8 p.m. on BBCA
“GIRL IN THE BASEMENT” Inspired by true events, this 2021 crime thriller chronicles the harrowing story of Sarah, a teenager whose father held her prisoner in the basement of their family home for more than 20 years. During her captivity, the abusive older man would sneak down to the basement periodically to sexually abuse Sarah, having told his wife and Sarah’s siblings that she had run away with an unsuitable boyfriend none of them liked. Judd Nelson, Joely Fisher, Stefanie Scott and Emily Topper star. 8 p.m. on LIFE
LOVE & MARRIAGE: HUNTSVILLE Marsau lets Wanda know in no uncertain terms that her recent behavior has been completely unacceptable in the new episode “To Martell the Truth.” Elsewhere, Melody turns her heartbreak into song and also brings in someone to talk to the kids about the divorce. The guys go camping and, after an accident, Martell reveals a startling secret. After filing for divorce, Melody returns home, where things get heated with Martell. (TV14) 9 p.m. on OWN