Mets Open to Sending Ike Davis to Minors
Ike Davis is in a season-long slump that has left him with the second lowest batting average in the major leagues. It could also leave him in the minor leagues.
“There’s nothing etched in stone,” Terry Collins said about the idea of sending Davis down. “We will never say something’s not going to happen.”
This is in sharp contrast to a week ago when Collins said it was “doubtful” that Davis would be demoted to Buffalo. Collins made it clear this would be a last-resort type of move.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure we wring the rag dry,” Collins said. “Coming into this road trip we said, ‘Here are some pretty good opportunities, this is a pretty good hitting park, Pittsburgh is a pretty good hitting park, we’ve got right-handers coming up. Let’s just see if we can get him going.'”
Davis was one-for-seven in Toronto (he sat out Friday’s game), and was even pinch-hit for Sunday in the ninth inning with runners on base and a lefty on the mound.
“The Ike Davis we know he can be, I wouldn’t have hit for him there,” Collin said. “I just thought it was important to add on.”
As for Davis, he wouldn’t like a demotion, but he would understand it.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Davis said. “I’m going to play here until something happens. I really can’t answer questions about that until something happens. I’m not sent down yet, so I don’t know what to tell you. If you don’t play well, unless you have like a huge deal, you’re not going to be up here. Until it happens, I can’t really say anything.”
If Davis were to be sent down, it would likely happen when Jason Bay comes off the disabled list. This way Lucas Duda could slide to first, and the Mets could delay a decision on what to do with Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Andres Torres until Davis works things out in the minors.
This is a tough call. Being sent down would be demoralizing for Davis, but hitting .163 is pretty demoralizing in and of itself. Davis seems like a tough guy; I think he could handle being sent down with it destroying his psyche. However if he cannot figure things out in the minors, then, well, we’ve got a problem. Stay tuned.