Trades Ten Years Later - Addison Reed for Matt Davidson
Chicago White Sox receive: Matt Davidson. Arizona Diamondbacks receive: Addison Reed.
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The Names: Chicago White Sox receive: Matt Davidson. Arizona Diamondbacks receive: Addison Reed.
The Team Context: I’m not entirely sure how I want to handle this section going forward when I’ve already written about the team, but I’m sure how I want to handle it when both the teams suck and are boring and when I wrote about them days ago.
The Player Context: Addison Reed is one of four players with the first name “Addison” to appear in the major leagues. Two-way player Ad Gumbert was the original Addison, starring from 1888 to 1896, then 14 years passed prior to Ad Brennan’s MLB debut in 1910 (though Addie Joss contributed from the Adrian camp to keep the legend alive from 1902-1910). Brennan’s career ended after the 1918 season, so Reed became the first Addison in 93 years upon his debut with the White Sox in 2011. Four years later, Reed’s sole possession of the name was infringed upon by Addison Russell. The minor leagues have featured both an Addison Russ and an Addison Read. Is this anything?
As a baseball player, Reed was a pitcher whose profile rose when he closed games for Stephen Strasburg’s San Diego State Aztecs. He was drafted in the third round in 2010 and quickly ascended through the minors, pitching at five levels in 2011 including a cup of coffee in the MLB. He became the number one prospect in a barren White Sox farm system prior to 2012 and took over as Chicago’s closer that year, saving 29 games in 2012 and 40 in 2013. 40 saves on a 63 win team is simultaneously impressive (it’s a really good ratio), depressing (the 2013 White Sox only won 10 games by more than 3 runs), and superfluous (such a useful high-leverage reliever belongs on a contending team). Reed had been rumored in trade talks at the July deadline, and with White Sox GM Rick Hahn on a mission to convert his pitching depth into hitters, the rumors persisted in December.
Matt Davidson was a sorta-compelling 3B prospect in the Arizona system, one of five Diamondbacks selected in the first round of the 2009 draft with a bevy of compensation picks. Davidson and AJ Pollock were drafted with picks received from Orlando Hudson’s signing with the Dodgers, Chris Owings was selected with a pick received from the departure of Juan Cruz, and Mike Belfiore was selected with the pick received from the departure of Brandon Lyon. Davidson had received regard towards the back end of top-100 prospect lists and profiled as a player with clear strengths and weaknesses - major league power with minor league contact skills, plate discipline, and defense. If that sounds like Mark Trumbo to you, you’ll understand why Davidson was starting to look like a spare part in Arizona (and thanks for faithfully reading the blog).
The Trade: Arizona and Chicago GMs Kevin Towers and Rick Hahn had been discussing trades leading up to the winter meetings and saw another win-win opportunity, flipping a promising bat to Chicago in exchange for a closer that could help Arizona contend. Towers didn’t believe Reed would be available, but jumped at the chance to acquire him after facing prohibitively high costs to acquire another starting pitcher.
Reed would go on to be traded multiple times in his career, but described this one as “the weirdest.” In a fortunate coincidence, he was already looking at houses in the Phoenix area in the months leading up to the trade.
The Reaction: There were a couple of levels to think through on this one. At the simplest abstraction, the Diamondbacks acquired a 40-save closer for a depth 3B who hadn’t proven himself at the MLB level. But in the minds of the 2013 baseball intelligentsia, Towers overpaid for a relief pitcher whose value was inflated as a “proven closer” simply by virtue of pitching in the ninth inning. At the same time, the trade could be regarded as win-win given the apparent divergent priorities of the rebuilding White Sox and the “competing” Diamondbacks
Charlie Gebow at AZ Snake Pit wrote, “the Diamondbacks bullpen now has a Reed option in its playbook,” a joke clever enough to steal ten years later.
The Results: Everyone involved lost this trade. In the post from earlier this week (that you read, of course), we discussed the sad futures of the White Sox and Diamondbacks. Those misfortunes applied to Reed and Davidson despite the opportunities each received in their new home.
Addison Reed took over as closer for the 2014 Diamondbacks, putting up 32 saves for another bad team while posting a 4.25 ERA that his peripherals suggested should be better. He performed markedly worse in 2015, eventually losing his closer role and being optioned to AAA. Reed returned to the Diamondbacks at the end of July and put up middling-enough numbers to be acquired by the Mets as a post-deadline waivers trade in August 2015. Reed ultimately finished below replacement level during his time with the Diamondbacks, becoming a lesson in the value of trading “proven closers” at their peak.
But it’s not like Matt Davidson did much better. Despite debuting for the Diamondbacks in 2013, Davidson played for the AAA Charlotte Knights in each of 2014 and 2015. He hit roughly .200 each year in AAA as he failed to demonstrate any non-power capabilities. Davidson’s performance ticked up enough in 2016 for him to earn promotion to Chicago, where he fractured his foot in his first game with the MLB team. He spent all of 2017 and 2018 with the White Sox as the team went a cumulative 129-195, then was non-tendered despite “positive strides” made in 2018.
The Aftermath:
Addison Reed quit using chewing tobacco on June 22, 2014. He threw away seven cans from his locker and another two from his car. In his first subsequent appearance, he blew a save.
Reed pivoted himself from a closer to a late-inning stopper in his time with the Mets, finally posting the elite performance commensurate with his stuff after making the transition. His best season was in 2016, where he set a Mets record for holds. Reed became the Mets closer in 2017 after an injury to Jeurys Familia, during which time the Mets were once again non-competitive, and was then traded to the Red Sox at the deadline. He signed a two-year contract with the Twins ahead of the 2018 season, put up a strong start during his first year before being derailed by injuries, and was released without pitching in the majors in May of 2019. Reed never pitched again after turning 30. His final MLB batter faced was JaCoby Jones, who grounded out to second as Reed escaped from an inning where he previously allowed two two-out singles in a victory over the Tigers.
Davidson mostly played in AAA for various organizations in the seasons following his release from the White Sox. He earned an Opening Day start for the Reds in 2020, which was immediately interrupted by a positive test for COVID-19 that turned out to be a false positive. Davidson didn’t make it back to the MLB until 2022, where he re-debuted with the Arizona Diamondbacks. After five games that featured one hit (a home run), Davidson was released and joined the Oakland Athletics for eight more games (and 75 more in AAA). There were numerous reports about Davidson becoming a two-way player based on his success in limited pitching samples, none of which ever really came to fruition. For the 2023 season, Davidson joined the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, where he posted a .210/.273/.425 slash line very much in line with his established skillset. His last MLB game (for now?) was a tragic matchup between the 22-41 2022 Royals and the 22-44 Athletics, where he went 0/2 with two strikeouts before being replaced by Tony Kemp in the 6th inning for the remainder of the game.
Upcoming trades:
December 18, 2013:
Red Sox receive: Jonathan Herrera
Rockies receive: Franklin Morales and Chris Martin
December 18, 2013 [will probably be posted later because otherwise there are no trades until December 30]:
Braves receive: Ryan Doumit
Twins receive: Sean Gilmartin