Oakland Athletics must sign Khris Davis to an extension

The Oakland Athletics must do everything they can to extend slugger Khris Davis and lock him up long term for the near and distant future.

The Oakland Athletics have themselves a special player in Khris Davis. He isn’t special because he is the most well-rounded performer nor because he is a yearly MVP candidate.

Rather, Davis is special because he is a humble individual who is beloved by the fanbase and excels at one particular aspect of the game of baseball. That aspect being that he’s pretty good at hitting home runs, in case you haven’t noticed.

Davis strikes fear into his opponents and carries with him the ever-present threat that he might launch one deep at any moment. Since joining the A’s in 2016, the former Milwaukee Brewers outfielder has slugged over 40 home runs and driven in over 100 RBI in each season with the team.

If his five home runs in 13 games so far are any kind of indicator, it doesn’t appear as though Davis will be halting that trend anytime soon.

This all bears the question: what does the future hold for Davis with the Athletics?

Rumors have swirled for quite some time now regarding a potential long-term contract extension for the A’s primary designated hitter. The two sides have shown mutual interest in getting a deal done but nothing is yet to come to fruition.

And that’s okay for now, as long as a deal does eventually get done. Preferably sooner rather than later.

The Athletics don’t have a particularly storied history of handing out contract extensions to their star players. Oakland has historically been very stingy with their money and executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane has been known to cut corners here and there.

But Davis — a pending free agent — has been very vocal about his desire to remain in Oakland long term. The 31-year-old has become an unquestioned leader in the clubhouse and is well-regarded by both his teammates and fans alike.

In essence, he is a perfect cornerstone of this small-market A’s team. He keeps a low profile, is a vocal leader, but can terrorize opposing pitchers with his sheer presence in the batter’s box.

In many ways, his off-field persona comfortably juxtaposes his on-field performance.

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By the numbers, no one has hit more home runs in the entire MLB than Davis since he joined the Athletics in 2016. His 48 home runs last year were the fourth-most by an Athletics player in a season with only renowned sluggers Mark McGwire and Jimmie Foxx having hit more.

Sure he may hit .247 every season — and that’s not an exaggeration — but he more than makes up for it with the overarching threat he brings to the A’s lineup.

Is he the most complete player? No, of course not. And as such, the A’s won’t have to pay him top-dollar as if he was a five-tool superstar.

Reports have speculated that Davis could be looking for a three-year deal with an annual salary of around $15 million per year. If that’s the case, Oakland should be more than happy to jump on that deal and extend one of their most explosive offensive players.

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They will have to worry about extending young third baseman Matt Chapman in a few years, but that extension can wait a little longer and the Davis deal shouldn’t be hefty enough to cripple the team long term.

It’s time to kill the narrative of the Oakland Athletics trading away their best players or letting them walk in free agency. And it’s time to give Khris Davis the contract extension that he deserves.

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