Report: Chris Davis linked to three teams

Free agent hitter Chris Davis has been the subject of speculation, with the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Cardinals emerging as top contenders for his signature.

CBS baseball insider Jon Heyman has just delivered the latest news on 16 different players from the Winter Meetings, with highly-touted free agent Chris Davis being among them. Davis led the MLB in home runs hit last season with 47.

Heyman has seemingly narrowed down the list of potential candidates to three teams – the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, and St. Louis Cardinals. The Red Sox have already grabbed the top pitcher on the free agent market in David Price, and adding the top hitter on the market would likely see them become World Series favorites. As it stands, courtesy of Bodog, they have the third-highest odds of winning the World Series behind the Cubs and Giants.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ offense last year was the best in the league by a wide margin. They had the highest run differential in the league at 221. The second best team was the Cardinals… at 122. Opposing pitchers faced a murderers’ row in Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion when the Jays’ lineup got to the middle of the order. Adding Davis would only make the Jays that much more dangerous, and can cover for a starting rotation that just lost David Price. He would also make their infield much better, as he is a considerable upgrade at first base over Chris Colabello.

If there’s any team the Orioles want to see Chris Davis sign with, it would be the Cardinals, since they wouldn’t want him to leave for a division rival. As noted earlier, the Cardinals had the second-highest run differential in the league. St. Louis’ starting first baseman is Matt Adams, and while he’s a good player, injury problems last year limited him to just 60 games, meaning that the team had to rely on rookie Stephen Piscotty as cover. The Cardinals are a consistently good team and posted 100 wins last season, however it didn’t translate to postseason success as they got eliminated in the first round by the Cubs.

There is no doubt that Chris Davis will make an immediate impact for whatever team he signs. It’ll be worth tracking his status as the free agency period starts to heat up.