Ok Philip, snap it down here.

Why even hit-and-run against the Sox? Just straight up steal. They really bailed us out there.

For a 1B, he has no power. His OBP isn't that good. He's an adequate fielder and that's the only thing he does well.

 

He's a gap power hitter playing 1B, which makes him very below average.

 

He had 35 doubles in 2008 and 41 last year. He won't come close to that this year, I'll admit. But to say he's very below average really isn't fair. He's sort of a poor man's...John Olerud? OBP is a lot lower, but other than that, they're quite comparable. Or maybe a Wally Joyner. And nobody ever gave those two any slack for their lack of power.

 

I'm not saying Loney's one of the best first basemen in baseball. He's decent, for sure, and when talking about having a guy with .174 BA and record-breaking K pace replace him, he definitely doesn't deserve to be called below average.

Really good post. Something disturbing with Dunn is how he seems to not be able to carry good swings from one game to the next. He looked good on Friday, and now it's back to swinging an invisible bat. There's no consistency in his approach. A lot of games, he's very patient the first one or two times up. However, he'll have a few bad at bats and then find himself in a hole in a later at bat cause he's being too aggressive.

 

My brother and I were discussing this at the game on Friday night. For whatever reason, he can't seem to execute consistently for any stretch of time. I didn't see much of him when he was on the Reds/DBacks/Nats, but I wonder if he has ever gone through an extended funk before. His career numbers kind of make it seem like he coasted through each season doing his thing (40 HRs / 100 RBIs / .250 avg) without experiencing any significant hot or cold streaks.

He had 35 doubles in 2008 and 41 last year. He won't come close to that this year, I'll admit. But to say he's very below average really isn't fair. He's sort of a poor man's...John Olerud? OBP is a lot lower, but other than that, they're quite comparable. Or maybe a Wally Joyner. And nobody ever gave those two any slack for their lack of power.

 

I'm not saying Loney's one of the best first basemen in baseball. He's decent, for sure, and when talking about having a guy with .174 BA and record-breaking K pace replace him, he definitely doesn't deserve to be called below average.

I agree. He's significantly outproducing Dunn at a fraction of the cost.

It's truly a lose-lose situation with Dunn. You play him, he sucks. You bench him, you are benching $13 million a year. There is literally know way to win in this situation with Dunn.

 

 

Unless it forces the White Sox to bring up Viciedo to replace him earlier than they would have replaced Pierre.

 

Was Nick Swisher close to this bad in August, 2008 when he was benched?

Yeah, you've clearly dismantled the usefulness of those stats. Who cares right? Not like anyone who works in the game does. Not like the team Bill James works for has had any success using them.

I don't care, I mean it's ridiculous really, I'm a purist like the old ways, just like a baseball pagan or something LOL

I hate those damn sabermetrics, I mean who cares about war and whatever, bill James never played and he's gotten rich on these stupid stats

 

Hey, those are fighting words to the sabes people. Knock it off!!

 

Just kidding. I'm not a sabes guy either though Bill James lives here and he is a great man.

Dunn, Beckham and Rios are 0-7 with 4 K's, 2 infield pop-ups and line out to left

 

 

He had 35 doubles in 2008 and 41 last year. He won't come close to that this year, I'll admit. But to say he's very below average really isn't fair. He's sort of a poor man's...John Olerud? OBP is a lot lower, but other than that, they're quite comparable. Or maybe a Wally Joyner. And nobody ever gave those two any slack for their lack of power.

 

I'm not saying Loney's one of the best first basemen in baseball. He's decent, for sure, and when talking about having a guy with .174 BA and record-breaking K pace replace him, he definitely doesn't deserve to be called below average.

 

Olerud hit for a lot more power and got on base a lot more. There's a huge difference between a .400 OBP (Olerud) and a .340 OBP (Loney). Plus, Olerud was a great defensive 1B. Loney's just above average.

Edited June 26, 201114 yr by chw42

I hate Jerry Hairston. Never paid much attention to him, but he really put me off with that silly temper tantrum he threw Friday night. What a putz.

Who cares who they were invented by? They tell you a hell of a lot players. They are not an end-all-be-all, but stats in baseball are extremely meaningful.

The same stats that don't take in account the little things and the intangibles of a player

Unless it forces the White Sox to bring up Viciedo to replace him earlier than they would have replaced Pierre.

 

Was Nick Swisher close to this bad in August, 2008 when he was benched?

Nick was pretty horrendous for the Sox. He was in a tough spot with chicago. Led off early and got so focused on OBP and changing his approach for the leadoff spot that he was mentally all out of whack. Taking good pitches, swinging at s***. He was a mess and was having a hell of a time hitting it hard. Add to that some bad luck (real low BAPIP, partially because he wasn't hitting it hard, but also due to below average luck) and you had a guy that was a mess. Defensively he was in a tough sopt too as he wasn't exactly a stellar CFer.

Unless it forces the White Sox to bring up Viciedo to replace him earlier than they would have replaced Pierre.

 

Was Nick Swisher close to this bad in August, 2008 when he was benched?

Swisher hit .191 (.725 OPS) in the 2nd half of 2008.

The latest from Greg Walker.

 

They're trying to get Dunn more balanced and out on his "right side" more, instead of loading and having all of his weight back.

 

The phrase was "he's spinning around the ball and hooking/pulling everything" instead of taking a nice, balanced swing with proper weight distribution and transfer.

 

Not sure how that can change his long/slow bat. We'll see.

 

Thanks for the info. I think that getting more onto his right (forward foot) is indeed a way to try to shorten and speed up his swing, because he can't lay back and do his current full swing.

He's Humberlievable.

The same stats that don't take in account the little things and the intangibles of a player

That doesn't mean they're useless or should be scoffed at.

C'mon White Sox! Humber deserves better!!

He's Humberlievable.

Appropriate song to set to his curveball highlights.

He's Humberlievable.

Where can I find pitcher's run support numbers? Looked on BR/Fangraphs and am coming up empty. Phillip has gotta be getting like three runs a game.

Hernandez at 100 pitches.

 

Really no reason to worry about pitch count though as he really does not have any stuff to lose as he tires anyway.

Wow, the pacing on Hawks's attempted HR call there was really weird.

I thought that ball was gone off the bat.

Damn, Alex just missed that one.