Notes: Ike Davis, Jason Kipnis

The Mets will bench Ike Davis in order to make Lucas Duda their starting first baseman, Andy Martino of New York Daily News writes. That's potentially significant in that, if the Mets have settled on Duda for the time being, it might make them more open to trading Davis.

I know everyone's sick of stories about how the Pirates haven't traded for Ike Davis yet, so here are some other notes:

-P- The Indians have extended Jason Kipnis. It's a six-year, $52.5 million deal that seems to be modeled off the Matt Carpenter deal, which itself seemed to be modeled, at least in part, off the Andrew McCutchen deal. Kipnis is a very good player, but that we've gone from Andrew McCutchen at $51.5 million to Jason Kipnis at $52.5 million within two years shows just how much the extension market has changed since then.

-P- Ryan Braun is having thumb issues.

-P- Here's a good article on Clint Barmes and Jordy Mercer.

-P- It's a few days old, but I'm proud of the interview I did for WESA about Dry Land.