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          New York Mets

          Ike responds to trade rumblings

          • Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterSep 18, 2012, 05:02 PM ET
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              Adam Rubin has covered the Mets since 2003. He's a graduate of Mepham High School on Long Island and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined ESPNNewYork after spending 10 years at the New York Daily News.
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          In response to an ESPNNewYork.com report about potentially being traded this offseason, Ike Davis disputed allegations from a baseball source that he is resistant to coaching and out too late.

          "I don't really have an answer for that because it's never been an issue," Davis said. "I've never done anything wrong. I show up to the field ready to play every day. I really don't even know where it's coming from, and it's not really true. It is what it is. People can say whatever they want. It's not going to bother us.

          Ike Davis

          Ike Davis

          #29 1B
          New York Mets

          2012 STATS

          • GM141

          • HR27

          • RBI81

          • R57

          • OBP.302

          • AVG.223

          "I don't know what 'late' is, because when you leave the ballpark at 12 [midnight] and you get back to your place at 12:30, if you watch a movie it's 2:30. Is that late? It's up to everyone to decide what late is. If I had a job where I had to wake up at 6 in the morning, it would probably be late. But it's not. Our lifestyle is a little different.

          "I've never had a meeting. Nothing," Davis continued, when asked about whether the issues had been raised with him. "It's just out of the blue. It's hard to answer questions when no one can say who it was or why they even said it. I don't know if it's a cheap shot. It's falsely accused, I guess. It comes out of nowhere. It happens to athletes like this -- a rumor or something is said and it's blown out of proportion."

          As for the resistance-to-coaching suggestion, Davis added: "If you've seen my stances this year, we've tried a lot of things. I don't know about the 'uncoachable' thing. I don't know who would ever say that. I've done everything the coaches have asked me. It's really just a bunch of unknown statements. I talked to the coaches, and none of them said they said it. You can talk to teammates, coaches and everybody says the opposite. I don't know what to tell you, because it doesn't really make sense."

          Said Terry Collins: "There's not a coach in that office, there's not the manager, the front office that has ever brought up a problem with Ike Davis. You cannot do in today's game what Ike Davis has done, play 141 games suffering from valley fever at the same time -- obviously he had a bad first half -- but put up the things he's done the second half and do the things he's being accused of doing.

          "As far as being a teammate, you guys were here when there was a question of whether he was going to be sent out. And there were 15 players waiting to find out that supported him. ...

          "As far as being a hard guy to coach, there's not a guy in that locker room who hasn't had a disagreement with a coach at one time about something -- be it positioning, be it where his hands need to be at the plate, or the grip on the baseball -- No. 1 for reinforcement why it's going to work.

          "Now, as far as the possible trade, there's not a guy in that clubhouse who can't get traded. Not a guy. I just want to make sure everybody understands, we're behind Ike Davis 100 percent. I don't want this to ever be a defamation on his character. He's a standup guy. As a matter of fact, he speaks the truth above and beyond the need for it."