Wade Davis: Is He the Right Man as the Tampa Bay Rays Third Starter?

Earlier this week, Joe Maddon named his starting five for the Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff and Wade Davis found himself to be No. 3 on that list, in front of Jeff Niemann and Jeremy Hellickson.

The question is, does he deserve it? If Maddon's decision was based on spring training, Davis would find himself in the number-five slot. So far this spring, Davis has logged 9.1 innings, allowing 13 earned runs and 18 hits with a 12.54 ERA. You compare that to Jeff Niemann, who in five innings has yet to allow an earned run on four hits. In his limited work, Niemann has certainly been more impressive.Hellickson, who has been limited due to injury, has pitched well in the spring as well, going 2.2 innings, allowing one earned run on one hit, a home run.

I know it is only spring training, but these numbers from Davis are a bit alarming.In yesterday's outing, Davis allowed eight earned runs in 3.1 innings of work. Not what you want to see out of your No. 3 starter, who will be facing the likes of Clay Buchholz, the Red Sox number-three starter. This spring, Buchholz has allowed only one earned in 13 innings, considerably better than Davis. 

It makes you wonder on what Maddon was basing his decision to make Davis the number-three starter. Did he completely throw out the spring? I know spring training is meaningless and guys are trying to get in shape, but Davis has been consistently bad all spring long. I need to see a couple good starts out of Davis before I can call him the right man for the job.

I believe he does belong in the rotation, but not at number three. Where you pitch doesn't really matter, but he will be facing some good pitchers, and if he constantly gets the Rays into a hole, the Rays' offense will not always be able to pull him out. 

Check out my blog, Rays the Roof, for your daily dose of Tampa Bay Rays news and notes, as well as opinions like this one.