SF Giants' J.D. Davis Drama: Unraveling the $6.9M Salary Release - Righteous or Agent's Miscalculation?

The San Francisco Giants and J.D. Davis' agent, Matt Hannaford, are engaged in a war of words after Davis was released by the Giants on Monday, leaving Davis with just a fraction of his non-guaranteed $6.9 million salary. Did the Giants do something wrong, or did Davis' agent overplay his hand?

All of the details and public comments are discussed and analyzed. In essence, both parties claim that the SF Giants came in with an offer that was, according to Hannaford, "several hundred thousand" below the SF Giants' $6.55M filing number within an hour of the deadline to exchange figures. Giants president of baseball operations responded very specifically, saying that the Giants' offer was for just under $6.4M. Regardless, the key point is that had Davis' representation accepted the Giants' offer, that money would be guaranteed. If they passed on the offer and the deadline to exchange figures arrived, which it ultimately did, then Davis would go to an arbitration hearing fighting for non-guaranteed money.

Any way you look at this, it seems like Davis' agent did a poor job helping his client. The SF Giants were linked to Matt Chapman all offseason. Davis himself commented publicly on the possibility of the Giants signing Chapman before it happened. So there's absolutely no reason Davis should've let this go to an arbitration hearing, knowing that the money would not be guaranteed if it did—whether they won or lost the hearing.

What ended up transpiring was that the Giants did indeed sign Chapman, clearly making Davis the odd man out. Davis' agent should've known that would be the case—it was immediately discussed on Locked On Giants once the Chapman deal was reported. The SF Giants looked for a trade partner for Davis, were unable to find one, and put him on outright waivers. Any team could've claimed Davis and his $6.9M (non-guaranteed through Opening Day) salary, and every team passed. At that point, the Giants were left with no choice but to release Davis, leaving him with just 30 days pay, or just over $1.1M. All in all, this looks like a major blunder by Davis' representation and not really something that the Giants did wrong. It stinks for J.D. Davis nonetheless and hopefully he lands on his feet. Davis ultimately made north of $6M in his 1 1/3 seasons with the Giants.

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The best daily San Francisco Giants podcast. Whether the Giants are winning championships or retooling for another title run, Locked On Giants host Ben Kaspick—a lifelong Giants fan and former contributor for RotoGraphs and Beyond the Box Score—breaks down every game, rumor, and transaction in a way that's data-driven and rational but also simple, passionate, and accessible to all.

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