The New York Yankees boosted their lineup in wake of Giancarlo Stanton’s latest hamstring injury and also padded their light-hitting infield.
Veteran righty bat J.D. Davis was acquired from the Oakland A’s for Jordan Groshans. Davis had been designated for assignment by Oakland earlier this week. The Yankees announced the trade themselves.
Davis was batting .236 with four home runs and five RBI in the Oakland A’s baseball void. Aside from Oakland, he has also played for the Astros, Mets, and Giants. He only managed a .670 OPS in 39 games with Oakland despite slugging 18 homers for San Francisco a year ago.
Of course, manager Aaron Boone noted after Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Atlanta that Davis and rookie Ben Rice would be a righty/lefty platoon at first base. That means J.D. Davis is on the Yankees to do one thing: Just keep swinging, and swinging big.
That sounds dangerously close to the three true outcomes hitting philosophy that has plagued the Yankees lineup for years. However, Davis also owns a wRC+ of 113. For all of the strikeouts, he still finds a way to produce at the plate.
It’s no secret that the Yankees desperately need some help from their infield in the hitting department. DJ LeMahieu has gone from two-time batting champion to two-bit washout. Gleyber Torres can’t find any consistency, Anthony Rizzo’s timing was still off long before he broke his arm.
Anthony Volpe stands alone as the only infield bat worth a damn.
The Yankees hope adding Davis will get their offense back on track. New York has lost three straight series and clings to a 1.5 game lead over second-place Baltimore in the AL East.
Enter J.D. Davis arriving just in time for the Subway Series at Citi Field starting on Tuesday. At worst, it doesn’t work out and the Yankees move on from him sooner than expected.
At best, however, perhaps Davis has a big night against his old team and becomes a much-needed spark plug.