SF Giants were absolutely right to move on from Elk Grove native in 2024

The SF Giants made a change at third base in 2024 to great effect with the signing of Matt Chapman. While it was a subject of debate at the time, he turned out to be leaps and bounds better than J.D. Davis.

This is not a knock on Davis either. He was a solid contributor for the Giants in 2022 and 2023. The Giants nabbed the Elk Grove native in a deft trade by Farhan Zaidi that sent Darin Ruf to the New York Mets in exchange for Davis. He proved to be quite solid at the plate for San Francisco. In 2022 he slashed .263/.361/.496 with 8 home runs and 14 RBI.

SF Giants made great move ditching J.D. Davis for Matt Chapman

He followed that up with a respectable 2023 campaign. David Villar was the third baseman to begin the year but when it was clear he was not cutting it, Davis stepped in and did well. He cooled off after a hot start to the year and finished the year slashing .248/.325/.413 with 18 homers and 69 RBI.

When the Giants were heavily linked to Chapman in free agency last offseason, there were some who felt signing him would not be necessary because the Giants already had a proven third baseman in Davis. Plus, Chapman was coming off a 2023 where a hand injury limited his production at the plate so he did not seem like a huge offensive upgrade. We all knew he was elite defensively, but Davis had shown a lot of improvement with the glove at third.

In the end, the Giants made the absolute correct decision. They signed Chapman and he went on to have a great year, batting .247/.328/.463 with 27 homers and 78 RBI. Oh yeah, and he also won his 4th career Gold Glove Award after another great defensive season.

Meanwhile, Davis only appeared in 46 games in 2024. 39 of those were with the Oakland A’s and 7 of those were with the New York Yankees. He hit a disappointing .218/.293/.338 with 4 home runs and 6 RBI. He was designated for assignment by the A’s and was released by the Yankees.

Clearly, the Giants made the right move by choosing Chapman over Davis. It is fairly ironic that Chapman also replaced Davis at third base in college at Cal State Fullerton, but it is clear why. While Davis is certainly a fine ballplayer, Chapman just has more overall talent which is why it is great that the Giants were able to lock him down to a 6-year contract extension. 

Some of the other free agent moves made last offseason were much more questionable, but the decision to sign Chapman and move on from Davis was undoubtedly the right call.