Crush & Burn

Loyalty vs. Performance – one of biggest and oldest dilemmas in professional sports. Which is of greater importance? Some are of the “what have you done for me lately?” philosophy – meaning as soon as a player stops performing, replace them with someone who will. Others feel that a player’s character and prior contributions should be honoured with present opportunities. I, like so many others, am somewhere in the middle, but where do you draw the line? How much loyalty is too much loyalty? How long does a player have to perform poorly before getting the hook?

It’s an issue that was raised many times last season with Jim Johnson, who was eventually traded after a turbulent season in which he blew 9 saves, but also saved 50. And this season, I find myself at a crossroads in regards to another popular Oriole: Chris Davis.

What is to be done with Chris Davis? He is incredibly popular with fans and in the clubhouse, and had a monster year last year that helped carry the Orioles to their second consecutive winning season. But since last August, it seems he would struggle to even hit a beach ball. He continually looks lost and confused at the plate, unsure how to approach each at-bat and piling up the strikeouts. As much as it pains me to say it, he has become a detriment to the team.

So far this year, Chris Davis is hitting .195/.302/.399 with 20 homeruns (he had over 40 at this point last season). He trails only B.J. Upton in strikeouts and had he not missed 3 weeks of the season, would likely be on his way to shattering Mark Reynolds major league record in that category.

In the first three months of 2013, Davis hit .332 with 31 homeruns, 80 RBI, 35 walks and 91 Ks in 298 ABs. Since then, he is hitting .215 with 42 HRs, 113 RBI, 86 walks and whopping 244 Ks in 634 ABs. That last sentence right there might as well be describing Mark Reynolds – the man who Orioles fans loved to hate and always saw as a liability because of his free-swinging mentality.

So what do the Orioles do with Davis? He remains in the lineup every day because of those 20 HRs. He’s constantly a threat to change the outcome of a game with one big swing, but those big swings are few and far between, and the ugly at-bats are a common occurrence. The way I see it, there are 4 options: keep things as they are and hope Davis comes out of his funk; continue to start him but drop him to the bottom of the order to take some of the pressure off; demote him; or trade him.

I’ll dispel the last one right now – the Orioles are not going to trade Chris Davis. I also don’t see how the Orioles, a first-place team, can justify having a .195 hitter in the heart of their lineup. So that leaves dropping him in the order, or demoting him and I think both have merit.

This is a look fans are seeing far too often lately.
What's the Orioles next move for Chris Davis?
(Photo Credit: NBC Sports)

Davis is obviously well-liked and a good character guy, and as previously mentioned he has the potential to change a game with every swing, so there is benefit to having him in the lineup – he is something opposing pitchers have to think about. Davis is hitting .165 as a cleanup hitter this season and .179 in the #5 spot. Oddly enough, Davis’s best numbers this year have come in the #3 spot in the lineup, in 71 PAs. But there is no way he hits there now, so that leaves 7^th. In limited appearances in the last week, Davis is hitting a respectable .286 with a homerun. Perhaps it’s time to move him down, where he won’t feel the pressure of trying to win each game on every swing and can get back to focusing on his hitting.

The final option – a minor league assignment – is the one I’m leaning towards right now. Davis looks lost at the plate these days with no confidence. He’s still young and has monster power, so perhaps beating up on minor league pitching will allow him to get his timing and swagger back. Davis was a career .318/.374/.596 hitter with 118 HRs in his minor league career, so there’s no reason to think he couldn’t find some success. I’m not talking about a full-on demotion, but maybe a predetermined 2-3 week stint for him to clear his head and find his game again before re-joining the club for the stretch run. If the Orioles could find the Davis of early 2013, this team would be firmly in the World Series discussion.

Loyalty is a difficult thing in sports. The primary objective is winning games, and there is only so much time you can afford to spend on a guy who just isn’t contributing. O’s fans found that out this past offseason when Jim Johnson, Brian Roberts and Nate McLouth became expendable. All 3 of those players have struggled this year and it appears Dan Duquette made the right choice with each, but it’s still a tough and emotional process when all were such high-character guys who contributed so much to the Orioles in their time here. But Chris Davis has actually reached a point where he’s hurting the ball club in his current position, and I’m sure that’s the last thing even he wants.

I’m a big fan of Chris Davis and have not forgotten all he did last season, finishing 3^rd in AL MVP voting. But I’m also a fan of the Birds and I want to see them go as far as they possibly can with this team they’ve put together.

And so the biggest question facing the coaching staff and front office heading through these dog days of summer is what to do with the reigning AL homerun champ.

Loyalty vs. Performance: Where do you draw the line?

-- Christopher Mills, @cjmills82