Mets Shouldn't Trade Ike Yet

[Giantmetfan07]

 January 7th, 2014

Yesterday was one of those slow January ones we warned about, when America wanted to talk football, but that pattern won’t continue all week.  The Hall of Fame results will be announced tomorrow, and people like to whip themselves into a tizzy about that.  The Yankees will begin their pursuit of Masahiro Tanaka any moment now, if they haven’t already, and there’s the whole A-Rod verdict, which will soon explode as a major news story.
 
For the moment, though, it’s Ike Davis and the Mets backup catcher situation.  I know, I know. But Brewers GM Doug Melvin did offer interesting comments to MLB.com on the Davis trade talks.  
 
"First base, I’ve had ongoing discussions with Sandy Alderson, but we haven’t gotten to anything where we’re comfortable with the deal from our side, and he’s not been comfortable with the deal from his side," Melvin said, adding later that the Brewers “do not want to give up pitching.”
 
Well, that’s what the Mets want (from the Brewers, they asked for Tyler Thornburg, likely a back-end starter). It does not appear that they will receive that sort of return for Davis.
 
So here’s a thought: Stop trying to trade him. Keep the first baseman with the higher ceiling (and obvious flaws), let him play this year, and hey -- maybe he hits 30 home runs again, and you say, phew, close one, glad we couldn’t move him.  
 
Would it be a distraction during spring training to have Davis and Lucas Duda in camp together? Yes, absolutely, to some extent.  But Davis has always handled the Duda issue with class, defending him in public and private, once even chastizing reporters for a line of questioning to Duda that he deemed unfair (he and I actually got into an argument about this, and he stood his ground, strongly defending the guy who has always wanted his job, and been unafraid to say it publicly).
 
So this is a chance for the Mets to reset, re-think, change course.  They really, really wanted to move Davis last month, but Sandy Alderson has also been adamant that he will not just give the guy away.  
 
For the Mets, this is a terrific opportunity to back away from a near mistake.  They should seize it, and move forward with Davis at first.

 
I've been saying this for a few weeks now. Davis his 30+ HRs just over a year ago -- the power is there, so it's crazy to sell him short this offseason. His value really can't dip much lower, and he had a terrific OPS after the AS break last year. Better off keeping him for another year while he's still cheap, hope he fixes it, and then you can decide to either keep him or trade him when his value is much higher.