SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Yet another unfortunate wrinkle in a cycle full of them for J.D. Davis: He could be out of millions of dollars.
When the Giants signed Matt Chapman, Davis lost his job as the starting third baseman in San Francisco. And, after being placed on waivers Saturday, he also stands to forfeit all but a small prorated portion of the $6.9 million salary he won through an arbitration hearing with the team.
As the process plays out, Davis has been around the team but not played in a game since Monday, the day Chapman’s signing was made official.
“There’s some stuff going on right now,” manager Bob Melvin said Saturday when asked about Davis’ status following their 5-1 win over the A’s. “That’s why he hasn’t played. We’ll see how it turns out here in the next day or so.”
In the middle of the game, reports surfaced that Davis had been placed on waivers. When the clubhouse reopened to reporters afterward, Davis was not available to comment, though he said after the news of the Chapman signing broke that “it’s part of the business” and that he “want(ed) to do what’s best for the team.”
First reported by FanSided’s Robert Murray, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman later added that the Giants opted to place Davis on waivers after their efforts to trade him had failed as teams understood their roster crunch in the wake of signing Chapman to be their new everyday third baseman while also possessing Wilmer Flores as a right-handed hitting corner infield option off the bench.
Any team that claims Davis would owe him his salary in full.
However, if no team wants to pay him at the rate determined by an independent arbiter, that’s where things get complicated.
As a veteran with at least five years of service time, Davis would have the option to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the minor leagues. Typically, the Giants would be on the hook for all but the minimum of his annual salary, and the team that signed him would pay the difference.
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However, players’ salaries that are determined through an arbitration trial don’t become guaranteed until Opening Day.
If he is released, Davis would be owed only a 30-day prorated portion of his $6.9 million salary.
Until the latest collective bargaining agreement, which took effect in 2022, that was the case for any player who went through the arbitration process, which encompasses anyone with between three and six years of service time. One change in the new CBA, however, guaranteed salaries for those players who settled out of the courtroom.
The Giants hadn’t lost an arbitration hearing since A.J. Pierzynski in 2004, but they couldn’t come to an agreement with Davis. They filed a proposed salary of $6.55 million, while Davis submitted $6.9 million. An independent arbiter determined Davis was worth the larger figure.
Now, over a difference of $350,000, he stands to potentially lose out on almost all of it.
