For J.D. as Davis is shipped to San Fran
who is from Elk Grove, Calif., said of leaving a Mets team that’s playing so well. “But selfishly, a little bit, I’m excited for the opportunity to play over there, especially since it’s so close to home.”
The players going to San Francisco are Thomas Szapucki and High-A pitchers Nick Zwack and Carson Seymour. Neither Zwack nor Seymour are considered top 30 prospects in the team’s system according to MLB.com, though FanGraphs’ rankings has Zwack in the 17th spot. Szapucki, who appeared in one MLB game for the Mets in 2021 and another in 2022, had a 3.38 ERA in 64 Triple-A innings this year, striking out 12.23 hitters per nine innings.
With Davis now officially out of the picture, the Mets are moving on from both a long-discussed trade chip and a perennially underperforming hitter. He heads to San Francisco with 10 extra base hits in his last 154 plate appearances. Davis spoke about how difficult it was to find his footing at times given that he only got regular at-bats when the other team had a left-hander on the mound.
After hitting .285 in an injury-plagued 2021 season — he was hit by a pitch in the hand, which he says created “lingering pain” — Davis hit .238 for the Mets in 2022 with -0.1 WAR. Combined with his subpar defense at third base, the Mets finally decided it was time to move on for good.
Conversely, Showalter sees Ruf as someone who can spell Pete Alonso at first base when the MVP candidate needs a day off or just a day without playing the field.
FINDING RELIEF
Just in the nick of time, the Mets got a reliever they so badly needed.
The team traded for Cubs’ righty Mychal Givens. Chicago got Saul Gonzalez, a 6-7, 22-year-old former 23rd round pick who’s having a solid season at Single-A.
The 32-year-old Givens, who had a 2.66 ERA in his 40.2 innings for the Cubs this year, had the best seasons of his career when he previously played for Showalter. Givens was a second-round pick by the Orioles in 2009 out of his high school in Tampa (the same one that Pete Alonso went to) and debuted for the team in 2015.
From 2015-2018, all of which were years that Showalter was managing the O’s, Givens had a 3.12 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 301 strikeouts to 97 walks in 260 innings.
During that time span, he was the 15th most valuable reliever in the game, per FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement.
His time in Baltimore came to an end with a trade to Colorado during the shortened 2020 season. Less than a year after that, the Rockies traded him to Cincinnati at the 2021 trade deadline. He hit free agency at the end of that year and latched on with the Cubs, who gave him a oneyear contract worth $5 million. The sidearm reliever will be a free agent at the end of this season.
Aside from the ERA, there are other numbers to like in Givens’ profile. He has a 41.4% ground ball rate and 29.7% strikeout rate. Wielding a very good slider and changeup combo, Givens is able to get a lot of whiffs and weak contact. His whiff percentage (62nd percentile), hard hit percentage (76th percentile) and strikeout rate (86th percentile) all jump off the page. On the flip side of that, Givens does walk a lot of guys. Issuing a walk to 11% of the batters he’s faced this year, Givens ranks 16th among qualified NL relievers in walk rate.
MAY BACK ON WEDNESDAY
The Mets will get a healthy Trevor May back on Wednesday. The right-handed reliever has not pitched for the Mets since May 2 due to a stress reaction in his arm.
“I’m not going to say it’s any given,” Showalter said of May being an immediate difference maker. “I think some of his inconsistencies early on were due to this [injury]. We hope we’ve got that solved.”