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Manny's obviously a better offensive player than Dunn, but is it really fair to compare the two? Manny's career OPS is .101 higher than Dunn's, and his 2008 OPS is .071 higher. On top of that, do you really want to label Manny as a contact hitter? He's been over 100 strikeouts 10 times in his career. While he may not strikeout as often as Dunn, it's not like Pujols who only Ks about 60 times a season. But it's ok to compare the Neifi guys with Dunn who hit "weakly" to the pitcher? Manny swings hard and hits the ball hard and that is what has been said about Dunn. I'd rather have Manny then Dunn. I keep reading "Well, they'll not swing as hard" but yet Manny doesn't change his approach and Pujols is another guy who swings hard and is always a tough out while being more productive than Dunn. I don't think of Manny as a contact hitter but a guy who puts the bat on the ball and gets results more often than Dunn. Putting the ball in play with a hard swing gets Manny on base and drives in runs. Yes, maybe the error rate may be 2% (Which is the before said average) but with more contact you also have more of a chance of getting a hit as well due to getting a solid piece of the ball and bat speed with a guy like Manny or Pujols. I don't remember comparing Dunn to Neifi. I just said if you change Dunn's approach with 2 strikes, it could result in other outs that don't drive in runs, such as grounders to the pitcher, short fly balls, pop outs, etc. Maybe Manny has the ability to swing really hard with 2 strikes and still make solid contact more often than Dunn (sure seems to be the case, from my very casual observations of the two). But I don't think that's relevant to the discussion of Ks. Manny's a better hitter than Dunn, I won't argue that. But Dunn's better than most, Ks or not.

Fans telling players when they should retire

How many good 3-4-5 hitters hit weak grounders to the Pitcher? I agree that Dunn is very likely to walk/homer or K half the time he's up but you really wouldn't mind watching him take strike 3 time and time again because he won't change his approach? Is there a stat that shows how productive he really is? I can understand why a lot of people think he's an impact hitter and I agree he is. But, there is a lot of negative regarding his numbers as well and I'm curious on how much his approach really helps his team. I love his OBP and power numbers and I'd love to see a good statistical breakdown of how he helps/hurts a lineup. I was in a terribly long meeting, so it looks like this has been somewhat addressed, but I just want to clarify your point: you really just wanted to know his OBP/SLG breakdown with a runner on 3rd? B/c that was a very long-winded way of asking that question. What does "I love his OBP and power numbers" but you want a breakdown of how he helps/hurts a lineup mean? He has great numbers, but I want to see numbers that tell me if he hurts the team? What numbers are you looking for? Something that supports your notion that Ks are terrible? Also - lots of 3/4/5 hitters hit weak grounders to the pitcher. They also make other outs in those situations that don't score runs, which are no better than Ks. As jersey (and others) posted - he has a .400 OBP and an OPS over .900 in these situations. You really think an average hitter might have a 40% OBP with runners on? What's league average for OBP in all situations - something around .330? I'm going to guess that the league average hitter doesn't jump his OBP up 70 points with a guy on 3rd. Where did I say K's were terrible? I asked what the league average was not that I thought it was the league average. You're assuming info before you read what I wrote. No, I read what you wrote. Several times, in fact. That I inferred some things b/c it was difficult to understand by itself. You're pretty clearly arguing that ks are worse than other outs in the situation you described, and thus, Dunn is worse than other 3/4/5 hitters. If that's not what you meant, then I'd ask that you state your position again.

I've never heard someone argue ks are a fantastic result. But on the scale of terrible things, ks aren't worse than other outs, at least not significantly so.

How many good 3-4-5 hitters hit weak grounders to the Pitcher? I agree that Dunn is very likely to walk/homer or K half the time he's up but you really wouldn't mind watching him take strike 3 time and time again because he won't change his approach? Is there a stat that shows how productive he really is? I can understand why a lot of people think he's an impact hitter and I agree he is. But, there is a lot of negative regarding his numbers as well and I'm curious on how much his approach really helps his team. I love his OBP and power numbers and I'd love to see a good statistical breakdown of how he helps/hurts a lineup. I was in a terribly long meeting, so it looks like this has been somewhat addressed, but I just want to clarify your point: you really just wanted to know his OBP/SLG breakdown with a runner on 3rd? B/c that was a very long-winded way of asking that question. What does "I love his OBP and power numbers" but you want a breakdown of how he helps/hurts a lineup mean? He has great numbers, but I want to see numbers that tell me if he hurts the team? What numbers are you looking for? Something that supports your notion that Ks are terrible? Also - lots of 3/4/5 hitters hit weak grounders to the pitcher. They also make other outs in those situations that don't score runs, which are no better than Ks. As jersey (and others) posted - he has a .400 OBP and an OPS over .900 in these situations. You really think an average hitter might have a 40% OBP with runners on? What's league average for OBP in all situations - something around .330? I'm going to guess that the league average hitter doesn't jump his OBP up 70 points with a guy on 3rd.

Whogivesacrapaboutstrkeouts? When you strikeout 25 - 30% of your plate appearances (30 - 35% of your abs) it matters. It's not the be all and end all and he definately offsets it at least partitially in other areas but it is still a negative. If you are going to tout the positives it dimishes the argument if you simply ignore the negatives. It's simply not a negative if his productivity is still there. But you have to break down some of his productivity regarding the K's though. I wonder how many times he K'd w/a runner on third w/less than 2 outs? He's a heck of a hitter but I'm sure he's quite maddning to have on your team at times as well. That's is meaningless. What about a guy who doesn't K, but grounds into a DP with runners on with less than 2 outs? As said previously, and out is an out. Once again, an out is not an out in real life. It depends on the situation. A DP is 2 outs. Just answer this, would you rather have Dunn hit a fly ball to the OF or K w/ a runner at third w/less than 2 outs? In a single AB, if the choices are K or long fly ball, with a runner on 3rd and < 2 outs, obviously you pick the latter. But that's not the way it works. Over the course of the season, he's likely to put up roughly the same numbers in those situations as he does all the other times. My point is - if you have a choice of Dunn taking the same approach in those situations as he does all the other PAs during the season or completely changing his approach, I'd pick the former. I want the guy with an OBP-heavy .900+ OPS to have the same approach regardless of the situation. Does that mean sometimes he'll K in a situation where a fly out would be better? Sure. But he's also more likely to hit a HR or a double in those situations than a weak grounder back to the pitcher b/c he doesn't swing just to make contact.

then why is he even playing anymore, then? he's on the road already. if being with his family is such a high priority to him, he should just retire. Maybe he's decided getting paid millions of dollars is worth being away from his family for 80 or so days a year, but not 200 days. wait, is this early august or early april? early August...maybe mid-August? somewhere right in there, I guess. But if he goes to Boston now, he spends the next 3 months away from his family. I don't know a great deal about Giles' family, but it would seem he can't just up and move them all to Boston for the next 3 months. Maybe he doesn't think Boston's going to win it all this year and just making the playoffs isn't enough for him to be away from his family that long. my argument is that he's not spending that much more time away from his family than he would if he stayed in san diego. i don't know, maybe a playoff appearance would conflict with a pta meeting or something? I understand your argument, I'm just suggesting that Brian Giles might have a different definition of "much more time away" than you do. If he has kids, his wife likely isn't coming to Boston with him. So he's spending the next 3 months away from them (maybe Boston makes another WC trip in there, but whatever). If he stays in SD, he'll be home more, especially since their season will end earlier than Boston's. My point is that even if he doesn't want to spend more time away from his family and the cost is a chance at a title, that shouldn't mean he has to retire. Maybe he just loves playing baseball and is getting filthy rich doing it, so if he can do that and still spend as much time as possible with his kids, he's happy, even without a WS.

If there's one thing LA needs it's more corner OFs. That's why they offer little more than a b-level prospect, knowing they would pull him back instead. If they actually got Dunn for a b-level prospect, then it was well worth it. You don't have to have good intentions of making a fair trade when you put a waiver claim on a guy. No kidding. I can't think of a team in MLB that wouldn't be able to find a spot for Adam Dunn if they got "stuck" with him on a waiver claim.

Really? I can't remember the last time Richard Justice came to the correct conclusion.

then why is he even playing anymore, then? he's on the road already. if being with his family is such a high priority to him, he should just retire. Maybe he's decided getting paid millions of dollars is worth being away from his family for 80 or so days a year, but not 200 days. wait, is this early august or early april? early August...maybe mid-August? somewhere right in there, I guess. But if he goes to Boston now, he spends the next 3 months away from his family. I don't know a great deal about Giles' family, but it would seem he can't just up and move them all to Boston for the next 3 months. Maybe he doesn't think Boston's going to win it all this year and just making the playoffs isn't enough for him to be away from his family that long.

then why is he even playing anymore, then? he's on the road already. if being with his family is such a high priority to him, he should just retire. Maybe he's decided getting paid millions of dollars is worth being away from his family for 80 or so days a year, but not 200 days.

and of course henry the horse dances the waltz

I didn't think we'd get an answer to this question, but here it is: Valdosta, Georgia http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080807&content_id=3270063&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc A couple good quotes from Eyre in there. Good luck to him, except when we possibly meet his team in the playoffs. 8 miles to the gallon?

http://sportscomplex.blogs.citypaper.net/blogs/mu/2008/08/07/scott-eyre-is-a-phillie/ Brian Schlitter

Reported Attack Site! This web site at http://www.sportsnetwork.com has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences. Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system. Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners. So if I click that link, my computer might stand up and attack the guy down the hall? That might actually be worth it.

I know the clubhouse attendants sacrifice a virgin at his locker before every game, but I didn't think it was every inning. "sacrifice" a virgin? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

can you explain that position a bit? Someone could probably do it better than me, but it has to do with fewer sharp cuts with the routes they take. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Griffey hasn't had alot of joint problems, but rather a lot of hamstring problems. I would think that sharper cuts are harder on the joints, and all-out sprinting in the outfield is harder on the hamstrings. So if you think CF is easier from that point of view, it's still the worst place for Griffey to be playing. And other than the one weird RF injury, haven't all his leg injuries been on the bases?

Things I want to see soon: 1. A photo of any of the girls in Vance's sig wearing a half shirt You realize there's a google image search just a click away, right? You realize that my post was just a clever joke, right? Also: well done, Derwood - I knew that was coming. Yes, I got that you post was in jest. As was mine.

Things I want to see soon: 1. A photo of any of the girls in Vance's sig wearing a half shirt You realize there's a google image search just a click away, right?

I'd do the same I assume neither of you, or anyone that's supporting checking out his performance in AAA, discounts the abilities of any of our players that tear up AAA but struggle in the majors. If he goes to AAA and puts up an .850 OPS, what does that prove?

I think you still have a Dusty hangover. No, I'm not thinking Lou would play him every day. But as between Lopez and Cedeno as the backup SS, I see no reason to pick Lopez for the next 2 months.

So who are the tough teams?

My first reaction was "why do we need another middle infielder." Then I looked at his stats for the last 2 years. I can't type all the expletives that I added to my initial reaction. What's the point of wasting money on Felipe Lopez. The worst part about adding him would be that Lou might actually play him.

He's right. That you don't cover as much ground in CF? No, that it's the easiest place to stay healthy in the OF. can you explain that position a bit?

He's right. That you don't cover as much ground in CF?