Last week, I noticed that Jason Davis of Cleveland was walking a lot more guys than he did last year (he was on my team at the time).It is possible that Davis's nine walks in 11 1/3 IP were the culprit. However, unlike Villanueva, I believe that Davis had simply worn out his welcome in Cleveland. He has now thrown just a hair over 400 IP for the Indians, and Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge came to the conclusion that Davis wasn't going to be part of the next winning Indians team.
Yesterday, the Indians cut him. They apparently like their minor leaguers better.
Is it a great decision? No. Frankly, I like Davis a shade better than Roberto Hernandez, who really would serve Cleveland better as a coach at this point than as a major league pitcher. Long term, I'm not a big Tom Mastny fan, though you have to admit that his numbers this year have been stellar. Kudos to Aaron Fultz for stumbling into three wins, but he's also a back of the bullpen guy, and Davis definitely has a higher ceiling. Fultz, however, is left-handed.
In the end, Davis was a victim of the fact that familiarity breeds contempt. He didn't work out as a starter, and despite some fairly pretty internals in 2006, the fact is that Davis has never given up less than a hit per inning in any major league season. That more than the walks is what ended his Cleveland career in my mind. Stat heads can talk about how hits are random events that aren't controlled by the pitcher, but try telling that to the manager when the game is close or tied and your pitcher is letting the opposition spray the ball all over the diamond.
So, in some cases, small sample sizes aren't necessarily important to a team versus long-term results. The Indians didn't see enough growth in Davis and decided to cut ties. The loss of control may have been a short-term reason, but I believe that Shapiro is smart enough not to make decisions based on 11 1/3 innings of work.
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