To begin, there's not a Ranger that fans haven't pulled for in the past couple of years more than Chris Davis.
He's a strapping young man, he's from Texas, and he seems like a genuinely nice guy.
But now, he's being a little ridiculous.
Davis has flat-out rocked this spring. He's hitting near .400 and slugging over .700. Those are some eye-popping numbers, but it's nothing we haven't seen before from Davis when things didn't count.
The first/third baseman, who turns 25 on Thursday, has been a great Triple-A hitter and had a really good, short season after a call-up in 2008 when he hit 17 home runs and drove in 55 runs in just 80 games.
He claims six weeks he spent in the Dominican Republic playing winter ball has changed him, both personally and on the field.
Now, he says, he wants a shot in the big leagues with the Rangers, or he wants to be traded to a team that will give him a shot. Um, excuse me? Michael Young? Oh wait, no, you're Chris Davis.
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It's one thing for Michael Young to ask for a trade, which may or may not be ridiculous enough, but if I'm reading Davis' quotes correctly, it sounds like he's kind of holding the Rangers hostage — a guy that has a career big league line of .248/.300/.459 and a strikeout ratio that would make Reggie Jackson (the league's all-time leader) blush.
“I just want to be in the big leagues, whether it’s here or somewhere else,” Davis told ESPN's Tim MacMahon. “In all fairness, I’ve done everything the Rangers have asked me to do. I’ve been a good sport about it. I’ve had a smile on my face and a good attitude about it. When it comes down to it, the fair thing to do is to give me a shot either here or somewhere else.”
That's great. It's good Davis has been such a team player, and he is an easy guy to pull for. But he has to realize the Rangers and Jon Daniels aren't in the business of being "fair" or "giving guys a shot who have a good attitude". Their job is to do what's best for the Rangers and what has to be done to get the Rangers back to some November baseball.
Now, if Davis continues this torrid pace at the plate and flashing the leather (he's an A-plus, plus first and third baseman) he'll draw some trade interest. And just like in the Young case, the Rangers will pull the trigger if the move helps the Rangers, but they aren't, and shouldn't be, too worried about accommodating Chris Davis.
