4 teams that showed interest in J.D. Davis before the lockout

J.D. Davis probably won’t begin the 2022 season on the New York Mets. Then again, he was also a candidate to play elsewhere in 2021 and even 2020. Davis has been involved in plenty of Mets trade rumors after his glorious 2019 breakout party. One of the club’s main trade candidates on the roster, Mike Puma of the NY Post shared the names of four teams that showed interest in him before the lockout.

Those four clubs are the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, and Oakland Athletics. Interestingly, only one of them is a National League club. This was before the DH was officially coming to the league so maybe a few other teams have changed their minds.

Regardless, there’s a market out there for Davis. And all four of these clubs could pursue him yet again.

Mets trade rumors have J.D. Davis linked to four teams with more to come

A trade to the Cubs would be interesting. They are in a weird position where they buying but not quite enough to look like legitimate contenders for the 2022 season. Davis’ name has appeared in retired Mets trade rumors involving a swap with the Cubs involving Kris Bryant. Bryant is now a free agent but it would seem Chicago still has an eye on Davis.

The Red Sox are the one outlier on the list. Expected to compete in 2022, I’m not sure what a trade with them would look like. Perhaps the Mets aren’t looking to add major league talent in any trade involving Davis.

We can lump the Twins and Athletics a little more closely. I don’t expect the Twins to necessarily compete this year. They could even turn into a major seller, like the Athletics. The Twins have a few pieces the current Mets could use. The Athletics have far more. Their connection to Davis in pre-lockout Mets trade rumors is just about perfect. Everyone knows the Mets could use any of their three available starting pitchers. If Davis can be the headlining major leaguer in the deal, it’s the start of a pretty good trade for Billy Eppler.

Davis is one of those guys whose doghouse status might not be justified. He did, after all, slash .285/.384/.436 last season in 211 plate appearances. He missed a lot of time due to injury and continued to play poor defense. But offensively, he’s not so easy to replace.

Maybe it is the lack of power over the last two years that has the Mets shopping him around a little heavier and not just the stank of Brodie Van Wagenen they want to remove. Davis went from hitting 22 home runs in 453 plate appearances in 2019 to only 11 in his last 440 spread across 2020 and 2021. Minus the pop, he’s far less valuable.

Along with the four teams Puma mentioned, expect a few more NL clubs to come calling.