More from Showalter on Davis suspension
By Roch Kubatko
Chris Davis comes off the 40-man roster during his 25-game suspension, creating an opening for the Orioles.
The Orioles lost catcher Matt Wieters to ligament-reconstructive surgery on his right elbow. They lost third baseman Manny Machado to knee surgery. Davis is done in 2014 unless the Orioles play more than eight games in the postseason.
Who loves a challenge?
"What's the old thing? Harmony's not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them," said manager Buck Showalter. "That comes from your players, the core guys who set a tone."
As Davis said in his statement, he had permission to use Adderall in the past, but didn't get his therapeutic use exemption (TUE) this year. No idea why.
I don't think anyone is accusing Miguel Tejada of slipping the drug in his coffee.
Major league clubhouses are filled with players taking Adderall. They just need the exemption to do it.
It's not steroids, and Showalter is concerned about people making that jump based on Davis' 53-homer season in 2013. Showalter spoke earlier today of fans "connecting the dots," which already has irritated him.
This year, Davis is batting .196/.300/.404 with 26 homers, 72 RBIs and 173 strikeouts in 450 at-bats. He's a presence in the lineup, no matter his average, and that's what the Orioles will miss.
Davis also played a decent third base in Machado's absence. Now, the Orioles will sift through a group of candidates that includes Kelly Johnson, Ryan Flaherty and Jimmy Paredes.
"At this point it's not up to me to gauge what's fair or not fair," Showalter said. "I know what the positive test was for, and believe me, I'm not condoning any positive test. Everybody knows what the rules are, so it is what it is. We've all made mistakes and none of us would like to have our whole life judged by our worst decision. I think everybody has grasp of what the policies are and we'll deal with it.
"I'm disappointed. I know Chris is, too, but it is what it is. We'll try to deal with it and move on. Timing's never good, but it's one of those challenges. It's why we have (testing) in place. Fully supportive of it. These are the things that everybody knew about beforehand and it's another way that we want our fans to be able to trust a lot of things."
The Orioles are 72-55 this season with Davis in the lineup and 14-4 without him.
"Chris, like he does with a lot of things, is going to tackle it head-on and I'm sure he'll address it. I know we are," Showalter said. "I know he called some of the players last night. I feel like we have our arms around what happened."
Davis can't be around the team during his suspension. He could head to Sarasota later to work out. In the meantime, he's expected to stay home with his wife and baby.
Many of Davis' teammates already knew about the suspension this morning. Showalter planned to meet with the team before Game 1 of today's doubleheader.
"We're going to talk a little bit about it," he said. "I want to make sure, like most things like this, that players don't get surprised by it. Some of them came in here today knowing. I just want them to hear exactly, because there will be a lot of things out there that probably aren't true, I just want them to hear exactly what's going on.
"I don't want to say it's cut and dry, but I feel like we've got a pretty good grip in what happened because I feel confident that Chris is being frank with me. I've got an idea when it happened and you all see all the testers every day. We welcome them.
"Everybody's got a no button and a yes button. There's always that little fight waging on each shoulder and who wins in a lot of aspects in life, as we all know. Chris' no button wasn't working real good that day.
"Urge to get angry? At what? Do you get angry at what causes that? Do you get angry at the person? There's a game going to be played at 1 o'clock and 7 o'clock and 1 o'clock again tomorrow. Nothing will stop it. We still have a chance to achieve what we set out to achieve. There's some people who are going to be getting playing time who weren't expecting it and I hope they continue down the path that a lot of other people have done for us this year."
"What's the old thing? Harmony's not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them," said manager Buck Showalter. "That comes from your players, the core guys who set a tone."
As Davis said in his statement, he had permission to use Adderall in the past, but didn't get his therapeutic use exemption (TUE) this year. No idea why.
I don't think anyone is accusing Miguel Tejada of slipping the drug in his coffee.
Major league clubhouses are filled with players taking Adderall. They just need the exemption to do it.
It's not steroids, and Showalter is concerned about people making that jump based on Davis' 53-homer season in 2013. Showalter spoke earlier today of fans "connecting the dots," which already has irritated him.
This year, Davis is batting .196/.300/.404 with 26 homers, 72 RBIs and 173 strikeouts in 450 at-bats. He's a presence in the lineup, no matter his average, and that's what the Orioles will miss.
Davis also played a decent third base in Machado's absence. Now, the Orioles will sift through a group of candidates that includes Kelly Johnson, Ryan Flaherty and Jimmy Paredes.
"At this point it's not up to me to gauge what's fair or not fair," Showalter said. "I know what the positive test was for, and believe me, I'm not condoning any positive test. Everybody knows what the rules are, so it is what it is. We've all made mistakes and none of us would like to have our whole life judged by our worst decision. I think everybody has grasp of what the policies are and we'll deal with it.
"I'm disappointed. I know Chris is, too, but it is what it is. We'll try to deal with it and move on. Timing's never good, but it's one of those challenges. It's why we have (testing) in place. Fully supportive of it. These are the things that everybody knew about beforehand and it's another way that we want our fans to be able to trust a lot of things."
The Orioles are 72-55 this season with Davis in the lineup and 14-4 without him.
"Chris, like he does with a lot of things, is going to tackle it head-on and I'm sure he'll address it. I know we are," Showalter said. "I know he called some of the players last night. I feel like we have our arms around what happened."
Davis can't be around the team during his suspension. He could head to Sarasota later to work out. In the meantime, he's expected to stay home with his wife and baby.
Many of Davis' teammates already knew about the suspension this morning. Showalter planned to meet with the team before Game 1 of today's doubleheader.
"We're going to talk a little bit about it," he said. "I want to make sure, like most things like this, that players don't get surprised by it. Some of them came in here today knowing. I just want them to hear exactly, because there will be a lot of things out there that probably aren't true, I just want them to hear exactly what's going on.
"I don't want to say it's cut and dry, but I feel like we've got a pretty good grip in what happened because I feel confident that Chris is being frank with me. I've got an idea when it happened and you all see all the testers every day. We welcome them.
"Everybody's got a no button and a yes button. There's always that little fight waging on each shoulder and who wins in a lot of aspects in life, as we all know. Chris' no button wasn't working real good that day.
"Urge to get angry? At what? Do you get angry at what causes that? Do you get angry at the person? There's a game going to be played at 1 o'clock and 7 o'clock and 1 o'clock again tomorrow. Nothing will stop it. We still have a chance to achieve what we set out to achieve. There's some people who are going to be getting playing time who weren't expecting it and I hope they continue down the path that a lot of other people have done for us this year."
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