Mets: J.D. Davis is hitting the cover off the ball, losing games with his defense

New York Mets third baseman J.D. Davis is having a very one-sided season. A stint on the IL didn’t cool off his bat. Since returning, he has been one of the few offensive forces in the lineup.

Unfortunately, there’s no DH to hide the one aspect of Davis’ game costing the Mets games. With three errors already on the season, Davis is costing the team opportunities to win by playing a below-average third base and sometimes literally throwing away leads with his arm.

Searching for a solution that can help the Mets at third base

It’s incredibly difficult to take Davis’ bat out of the lineup especially when the rest of the players around him aren’t hitting. The Mets offense has been the clearer-cut reason as to why the club has lost a few early games. Why weaken yourself here?

Well, there comes a time when you start losing because of your defense and the offense doesn’t pick it up enough. Bad defense is more than just errors. Not getting to balls, mental lapses, and other miscues that don’t show up in the box score can all become costly to a team’s success. Watch Davis long enough and it becomes painfully obvious how weak he is in this area of his game.

Sitting Davis in favor of Luis Guillorme or Jonathan Villar is the quickest solution. However, Guillorme has already made two errors at third base. I’d still like to see a little more action from him before completely moving on from the idea.

Where would this leave J.D. Davis?

Easily the top trade candidate on the roster, could it be possible that we see the Mets ship Davis out of town sooner than later? Trades at this time of the year are rare but they do happen. Mike Piazza was a May trade. And considering how well Davis does play on one side of the baseball, he’s actually a target a contender could seek out.

Before doing this, let’s look at one other possibility: could Davis see some action in the outfield again?

The corner spots are the only ones Davis might play this year. Occupied by Dominic Smith in left field and Michael Conforto in right field, there’s little room for Davis to get many starts. He is, almost by default, the team’s third baseman.

Davis is one of many men on the Mets playing out of position this year. The difference between him and them is that he has no real position. It was the problem from the start with him. Things haven’t gotten any better.

I wouldn’t rush to trade Davis even if any of the internal options start getting a few more starts. His bat, even in a part-time role, could help win games for New York just as his defense has lost them.

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Davis clearly has work to do on his third base fundies.