We all know how this game turned out for the Indians. Two innings later, as Kris Bryant recorded the final out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Davis’ finest moment crumbled into cruel, false hope — a historical footnote, rather than postseason legend. It really was a ridiculous home run, though.

It was the most interesting thing that has happened in Rajai Davis’ MLB career, but the truth is that Rajai Davis just isn’t a very interesting baseball player. He’s made a career out of being not terrible, but also not great. Just useful. That season with the Indians wasn’t the best overall season of Davis’ career — his 3.4 fWAR campaign with Oakland in 2009 dramatically outstrips it — but he smacked a career-high 12 regular season homers across from 43 stolen bases and maintaining generally positive performance in the outfield. His .302 wOBA wasn’t anything to write home about, but his overall package made him a fine, if replaceable, starter.

Davis opened last season in an anonymous Athletics lineup that consisted of Jed Lowrie and some kids. He didn’t hit particularly well, but he made it up by being a negative in the outfield and falling off as a baserunner. After Jackie Bradley Jr. sprained his thumb, the Red Sox traded 18-year-old Rafael Rincones (who wasn’t a top-30 guy in the farm system) for him.  Now, I’m tasked with writing something interesting about the decisively uninteresting Rajai Davis and his decisively uninteresting Red Sox tenure.

With that in mind, here is every single game of Rajai Davis’ legendary Red Sox career. We have been blessed by his presence, and I shall never forget it.

Game 1: Red Sox 6, Indians 13

Rajai Davis: 0-1, K

Rajai Davis’ Red Sox debut came in a time of crisis, down seven runs as Mookie Betts exited the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with a sore knee. His only opportunity to hit would come in the top of the 9th. He struck out looking. You’ll get ‘em next time, champ.

Game 2: Red Sox 3, Orioles 16

Rajai Davis: 1-4

The first start of Rajai Davis’ Red Sox career would come at home against the Orioles. Playing centerfield in relief of the injured Jackie Bradley Jr., Davis batted eighth in the order and was quite a bit more active. Davis singled in the bottom of the fifth off Jeremy Hellickson. The stress of Davis’ presence on first base must have been too much for Hellickson, as he would threw a wild pitch two batters later and allow Davis to take second. Unfortunately, that batter was the fan who pretended to be Brock Holt all of last season, and he would ground out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Davis’ tremendous offensive pressure would allow him to take a base yet again — shortstop Tim Beckham, fearful of his raw speed, committed a throwing error to first, leaving Davis safe. Davis would claim second once again on a fielder’s indifference. It’s not like catcher Welington Castillo had a prayer of throwing out Rajai Davis anyways.

The Red Sox would lose by 13.

Game 3: Red Sox 1, Orioles 2

Rajai Davis: 1-4, K, CS

After a well-earned night off for his tremendous exertion in the first Baltimore game, Rajai Davis – Mr. Consistency, you could call him – went 1-of-4 against the Orioles once again. He reached on an infield single in the bottom of the fourth inning, but was caught stealing. Hubris defeats even the greatest of us.

Game 4: Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 0

Rajai Davis: 2-4, 2 R, 2 SB

Spoiler-alert: this is Rajai Davis’ greatest game in a Boston uniform — he picked up 22 percent of his total hits with the Red Sox in this game, as well as 66 percent of his stolen bases. Davis singled in the top of the sixth and eighth innings, and each time stole second before coming around to score. He also hit leadoff, because 2017 John Farrell deployed lineups as his own form of abstract art.

Game 5: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 1

Rajai Davis: 0-4, BB, 3 K

For the sake of Rajai Davis, we won’t discuss this game. We have to respect our living legends.

Game 6: Red Sox 2, Yankees 6

Rajai Davis: 0-3, 2 K

Another bump in the road to baseball immortality for Rajai Davis, who suffered the ignominy of being subbed out for the impostor wearing Brock Holt’s skin after two strikeouts. This was also the game where C.C. Sabathia got mad at the Red Sox for bunting once. Fun times.

Games 7-13:

Rajai Davis: 0-5, 2 K, R

With Jackie Bradley returned from the disabled list, Rajai Davis was relegated to the bench. Over this stretch of time — roughly half of September — Davis primarily appeared as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. He did not record a hit or a stolen base. Scored a run, though!

Game 14: Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 9

Rajai Davis: 1-1, 2B, RBI, R

Woah! Rajai Davis extra base hit! Davis showcased his clutch gene in this game, pinch-hitting in the bottom of the eighth inning down seven runs and helping spark a Sox rally. Davis doubled home Chris Young and blazed in a run of his own off a single from Hanley Ramirez. Those would be the last Red Sox runs of the game, however.

Fun fact: Rajai Davis’ wRC+ for this game was 718. Mike Trout’s career wRC+ is 169. Get bent, Mike.

Game 15: Red Sox 10, Blue Jays 7

Rajai Davis: 2-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI, SB

Rajai Davis’ Power Explosion continued into the following day, as Davis would blast another double against Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada and his formidable 4.98 ERA. This was a showcase of the all-around package we’ve come to expect from Rajai Davis year-in and year-out: two runs, an RBI, a stolen base, and an extra base hit.

Game 16: Red Sox 2, Astros 3

Rajai Davis: 1-3, K, R

Game 17: Red Sox 3, Astros 4

Rajai Davis: 1-4, K

The final three games of Rajai Davis’ storied Red Sox career would happen to come against the Houston Astros. The first two came in the final series of the regular season, and saw Davis pick up a base hit in each. You could say this made him something of an Astro-killer. It might not be true, but you could say it.

Game 18: Red Sox 2, Astros 8

Rajai Davis: 0-0

Shockingly, the Red Sox did not give Davis or his career playoff line of .175/.209/.275 much of an opportunity in October. Davis made his only appearance of the series in the second game in relief of Mookie Betts in right field, when Betts tweaked his wrist in the eighth inning. Davis did not hit a dramatic home run, and in fact, did not even record a plate appearance. Thus ended his Red Sox career. We shall never see his like again.

What Went Right:

The Red Sox brought Rajai Davis in to fill an outfield spot while Jackie Bradley Jr. recovered from a sprained thumb. He may have hit terribly, graded negatively in the field, and only swiped three bases, but he was undeniably very good at existing. So, there’s that.

What Went Wrong:

Rajai Davis did not hit for the cycle even a single time.

What to Expect:

At some point, a team will decide they need somebody to run a whole bunch. Rajai Davis will heroically answer the call.

Photo by Kevin Sousa — USA TODAY Sports

But there’s good news, everyone! The Red Sox, if you haven’t heard, have lots and lots of money. $95 million spread out over half a decade isn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things to this ball club. In addition to a lucrative farm system that has recently developed some ready-made stars, the Red Sox profit from a massive fanbase and repeated successes to have one of the largest payrolls in baseball, one that rubs shoulders with the luxury tax threshold from time to time. This all might seem like me reciting things you already know in a slightly condescending tone, but I promise I’m going somewhere with this.

Think of all the big, awful contracts the Red Sox have had since the beginning of the decade. Carl Crawford, obviously. Josh Beckett’s extension is a plausible one. Daisuke Matsuzaka’s posting and deal were pretty bad. Hell, if you wanted to be really petty, you could say Julio Lugo’s four-year, $36 million deal was big and terrible due to the player they offered it to, and you’d have some compelling arguments. Looking back on those deals, could you honestly say any one of them crippled the short- or long-term future of the Red Sox? Probably not. Definitely not, if you consider the state of the payroll in 2017.

The Red Sox have effectively recovered from all their major contract screw-ups because they are a factory of money. It gives them a ton of leeway to make these huge deals in the first place. If those transactions don’t pan out, the torrent of cash that flows in allows the Sox to either cut those players and eat the money, or trade them away and still get something of value back, since they’re still paying a large percentage of the contract. Money gives the Red Sox a large margin of error, and the payroll can effectively tank the hit of a couple bad deals.

It isn’t just the exorbitant bidding in free agency that boxes out small-payroll teams – it’s the extreme regression risk that comes with any mega-deal.

This is the benefit of having a luxury-tax-pushing payroll that isn’t discussed very often. The inequality between the Red Sox and a team like the Rays or Athletics usually comes in the form of being able to make those deals. The Red Sox can price out those teams for any given player, if they felt compelled to do so. What isn’t talked about enough is what could happen after that deal is struck. A team like the Sox or Yankees can be saddled with a failure of a mega-deal (see: Ellsbury, Jacoby) and continue to compete and win. For the Rays and A’s, however, a player falling off on a huge deal would utterly cripple their short-term payroll and outlook, and might adversely affect their long-term plans. It isn’t just the exorbitant bidding in free agency that boxes out small-payroll teams, since deferments are a thing – it’s the extreme regression risk that comes with any mega-deal.

Pablo Sandoval would’ve earned an even $17 million this year. The Rays could fit Chris Archer’s, Kevin Kiermaier’s, Wilson Ramos’, and Corey Dickerson’s salaries into that with room to spare. The A’s would have wiggle room if you combined what Jed Lowrie, Yonder Alonso, and Rajai Davis are all getting paid in 2017 and shoved it in there. For those teams, having a player implode with $17 million attached to their name would deny them quite a lot of useful additions and potential trade chips. Now imagine losing out on getting good players on one-year deals – and the potential prospects that you’d receive by trading them – for four more years. That’s catastrophic at best, and a front office house cleaning at worst.

Sometimes, though, even the big payroll teams reach their limit. Burdened with Beckett’s contract extension, Crawford’s albatross contract, and the first year of Adrian Gonzalez’s extension, the Red Sox were hurting for salary relief. In a move that was the polar opposite of the Sandoval deal, Cherington offloaded all three of those contracts (plus Nick Punto) to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and while the prospects they received didn’t amount to much, getting over $250 million of salary off your books is still pretty damn good. The Red Sox were saved from a decade of payroll crunches due to a very shrewd waiver trade in August. They found the limits of the margins their money made for them.

This isn’t something that should be touted, honestly. It’s more of an unspoken benefit, a representation of the disparity in revenue between some of the teams in baseball. That kind of money allows for teams to not just go out and get players they want, but to make mistakes, and quickly recover from them. Sometimes big contracts work, and sometimes they don’t. The difference here is that when they don’t, the Red Sox can deal with it.

It’s bad because wow, yuck, that’s bad! But it’s good because it’s an easy fix, at least as far as these things tend to go. Get one guy and you’re done. That’s as easy as fixes get.

First we’ll set the stage by saying this: By just about any standard you choose, the Red Sox have one of the worst third base problems in all of baseball. At the All-Star break, Red Sox third basemen are slashing a cumulative .236/.292/.331 with seven home runs (somehow only the Yankees have fewer). That’s both bad and good. It’s bad because wow, yuck, that’s bad! But it’s good because it’s an easy fix, at least as far as these things tend to go. Get one guy and you’re done. That’s as easy as fixes get.

If we look at that slash line, and recall it comes with overall mediocre-to-bad defense too, and recall who is in charge of the team, it’s not a stretch to say the Red Sox will acquire someone to play third base before the July 31st trade deadline expires.

Before I get into specific trade targets though, I should mention that there is the possibility, slight though it may be, that the Red Sox stand pat with what they have a third base. The platoon of Deven Marrero and Tzu-Wei Lin has been shockingly good, especially Lin’s part of it. If those guys can hold together through, say, August, third base super-prospect Rafael Devers might be ready and then the rosters expand and away we go! That sounds promising and possible and even inexpensive. But if you examine those last few sentences you can start to see the potential problems in that plan. There’s a lot of “maybe” and “could be” and “might” in there, and for a team trying to win right now there’s really very little reason to take chances and not to get a sure thing (or something closer to it) on the trade market. I’m guessing Dave Dombrowski would agree with that.

So, with all that out of the way, here are some third basemen around the league who may be available or whose names have already entered the rumor mill.

Todd Frazier

Frazier, 31, plays for the White Sox, who have been in sell-mode since before the season started. So he’s available. He’s a free agent after this season so the price shouldn’t be prohibitive and while he’s not a great defensive third baseman, he can handle the position. Frazier’s best skill is his power. He has 16 homers and 14 doubles on the season, and while his batting average is way down (.213), his walk rate has taken a big jump this season and brought his on-base percentage with it (.335). He’s a perfectly cromulent player and likely to be worth a win or so over the next half season.

Martin Prado

Unlike Frazier, Prado, 33, isn’t a free agent after this season. In fact, he’s signed for two more years for $28 million total after 2017. This makes him more difficult because you’re taking on significant salary and effectively blocking Devers. Prado is having a tough season, with little power and a bad on-base percentage. If you got Prado you’d be betting on his career averages which are fine.

Mike Moustakas

Moustakas is probably the big get of the players whose names have been prominently mentioned in rumors. He’s a free agent after this year, and has picked this year to blossom into the power that was always expected of him. He’s at 25 homers so far which is already three above his career best, and we’ve got 80 games still to go. Moose isn’t a great defensive third baseman, but he’s been around average during his career so it seems that’s what’s fair to expect. Mostly though he’s the rich man’s Frazier and he’s likely to cost a pretty penny. That all said, the Royals have moved themselves into contention (or some reasonable facsimile there of) and as of this moment have stated they aren’t looking to trade anyone.

Jed Lowrie

Our old friend Jed. Lowrie isn’t actually a third baseman having played mostly second base this year. In fact, his last year playing any third was 2015 when he was with Houston. Still, he’s done it before and is likely better than anything the Red Sox have (short of Devers) and he’s on the A’s so he can be had, if, you know, that’s anything you’d actually want to do.

Josh Harrison

Harrison would be an interesting get. He’s coming off two down seasons and his contract which runs through next season was looking like a lost cause, but he’s rebounded this season with a .361 on-base percentage and a .436 slugging. That’s above average production if he can keep it up, and if he can do anything like what he did three years ago with Pittsburgh (.837 OPS) then that’s something to be excited about. Thing is though, he’s done that once in seven seasons and the more I think about it, the less the Red Sox need anyone signed beyond this year.

Josh Donaldson

This is the great white whale. The Blue Jays might sell but they probably won’t. And yet they might. And they probably won’t trade Donaldson. But they might. Even if they did though, it probably wouldn’t be in division, and if they did the cost would be astronomical, even though Donaldson has had injury issues this year and isn’t performing up to his peak and has entered his 30s. Still though, it’s Josh F’n Donaldson. And Dave Dombrowski is the Red Sox GM. So. You know.

Adrian Beltre

Ah, what might have been… *sigh*. Beltre’s one shining season in Boston leaves me with a happy glow that is perhaps best left alone. He is 38 and signed for a season beyond this one, after all. But I’ll be damned if the old flame isn’t putting up a .900 OPS this year and with his typically spectacular defense and insanely spectacular personality to boot. Are the Rangers even sellers though? They’re under .500 and 16.5 games behind Houston, but only three back of the second Wild Card spot. This is probably a pipe dream, but oh what a beautiful pipe dream it is.

Nick Castellanos

Nobody has mentioned Castellanos in rumors, not that I’ve heard of anyway. But the Tigers are out of it, they need to sell JD Martinez, and they’re probably not far from flinging whatever isn’t nailed down out the door. Castellanos is sort of nailed down, but maybe. He’s a former first round draft pick, selected by none other than Dave Dombrowski, and he’s the toolsy sort of guy you’d expect based on the first part of this sentence. He’s not a great fielder, but he’s under team control through the 2020 season and, here’s the kicker, he’s crushing the ball. According to FanGraphs, Castellanos is making hard contact 49.6 percent of the time! That’s insane and way above what he’s done in the past. Yet, his BABIP hasn’t shown it yet. Part of the problem is his 41 percent ground ball rate, but if he starts hitting the ball in the air with that kind of contact, this is a guy you would want in the lineup. So maybe the Sox take a shot with a guy like this hoping the improvement shows up sometime upon reaching Fenway.

Next week, if Dombrowski doesn’t beat me to it, we’ll take a look at some relievers who the Red Sox might reasonably be expected to look at.

Photo by Jasen Vinlove – USA TODAY Sports