The Oakland Athletics have acquired first baseman Ike Davis from the Pittsburgh Pirates for international bonus slot money. Pittsburgh will receive the A's first slot (worth $501.9K), while Oakland will receive Pittsburgh's third slot (worth $232K), along with Davis. The Pirates will gain a net of $269.9K of bonus slot money in the deal.

Davis, 27, was a big-time power-hitting prospect with the Mets who burst on to the scene in 2010 with an impressive rookie season. He got injured after 36 games in 2011 and has never been the same. After an extremely slow start in 2011, Davis ended up hitting 32 home runs, but hit for a .227 batting average. Since 2012, Davis has hit .223 (402 games). The Mets finally gave up on Davis in May of 2014, trading him to Pittsburgh where he continued to struggle. The big lefty had a .235/.343/.373 slash line, 10 home runs and 46 RBIs (131 games with Pittsburgh).

The Pirates decided to move on and deal him to Oakland where he will likely be used as just depth, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The A's just signed 1B/DH Billy Butler to a 3-year contract to go along with Brandon Moss, Stephen Vogt, Kyle Blanks and Nate Freiman at the first base position. Oakland has many options at first base that they can use as trade bait to acquire a middle infielder or outfield depth.

Oakland has designated outfielder Andrew Brown for assignment to make room for Davis on the 40-man roster. The A's acquired Brown from the Mets on a waiver claim earlier this month.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Bryan Schwartz
Covering MLB, NFL, NBA