It’s like a sad version of the old grade-school joke: Why does Ike Davis get invited to all these different teams? Cause he’s a fungi!
The former Mets first baseman, whose production bottomed out during his disastrous final two-plus seasons in Flushing, said he has yet to be declared free and clear of valley fever, the fungal disease he contracted before the 2012 season that produces fatigue, fever and muscle and joint pain.
“Valley fever is a nightmare,” Davis said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. “You have no energy, no nothing. It was definitely a weird one. It’s supposed to go away on its own, but when I had an X-ray last year, it showed I still had it. I’m hoping that’s over and done with.”
Davis enters his age-28 season as a member of the A’s after spending the final five months of the 2014 season with the Pirates. After blasting 32 homers for the Mets in 2012 (albeit with a .227 average), the lefty-swinging former first-round pick dropped off to nine homers, 32 RBIs and a .205 average in 2013, then was shipped to Pittsburgh last April. He finished last season with 11 homers in 360 total at-bats.
In his comments Monday, Davis campaigned for a full-time job with the new-look A’s and seemed to tweak some previous employers and lineups for which he floundered — paying attention, Sandy Alderson?
“The last two years haven’t been great, but I’m feeling good now, and that’s important,” Davis said. “It’s a good lineup to hit in too, with a lot of high on-base percentage guys, and that makes it easier.
“I’m sure they want me to reprise and hit 32 homers again. That’s not easy to do when you are getting 300 at-bats. No one can do that unless you are Barry Bonds. I know I’ll hit my homers, but if I could get 500, 600 at-bats that would be easier.”