The trade rumors for Ike Davis have mostly fallen in line with the Brewers and have hit a snag over the Mets asking price of Tyler Thornberg. Now that Loney has signed with the Rays and the Mariners have acquired and signed for Hart and Morrison, the Pirates are also looking for first base help.
The Pirates at first base have Gaby Sanchez who in his career can handle left handing pitching but melts against right handed:
Vs. LHP: 250 G, 476 AB, .300 BA, .399 OBP, .496 SLG, .895 OPS, 19 HR, 34 2B, 74 RBI
Vs. RHP: 499 G, 1260 AB, .242 BA, .313 OBP, .387 SLG, .700 OPS, 35 HR, 74 2B, 159 RBI
Ike Davis at first base has the the opposite problem in his career:
Vs. LHP: 232 G, 401 AB, .204 BA, .268 OBP, .334 SLG, .602 OPS, 12 HR, 14 2B, 47 RBI
Vs. RHP: 418 G, 1087 AB, .256 BA, .356 OBP, .471 SLG, .827 SLG, 55 RBI, 67 2B, 172 RBI
Ike Davis doesn’t solve the on base problem for the Pirates against right handed batting, but look at the other numbers. His slugging is over 100 points better and the Pirates would see more right handed batters.
If I were the Pirates, and obviously because I’m a Mets fan I’m biased on the value of Ike Davis, but I would trade for Davis. This would be one of those unique situations where the platoon splits work well for a team and Davis is no slouch with the glove.
This is also the same reason why the Mets cannot keep Davis and Duda for the platoon. They are both week against left handed hitting and have similar career OPS against right handers (Duda is a little lower than Davis at .812). Keeping both doesn’t solve the Mets problems. Hopefully the Mets, when pitching Davis to the Pirates, are using these numbers (I’m sure they are) as why the Pirates should make this move based on objective statistics.
Now that we are talking about Duda’s OPS of .812, the Pirates could consider trading for him instead, although it would cost more since the Mets value Duda more than Davis. The advantage of trading for Duda is they can also stick him in the outfield on occasion and use him in a wider platoon mode.
The main point is it is silly for the Mets to keep Davis and Duda since they have similar holes in their offense games and both Davis and Duda would fill the gap in the Pirates offense regarding hitting righties out of the first base spot.
