February 11, 201313 yr http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/891412...t-contracts-mlb 12. Adam Dunn, designated hitter, Chicago White Sox It's been talked about in board room strategy sessions and huddles with managers, written on by stat mavens and beat writers. Now the notion that teams are emphasizing defense at the expense of offense has turned from intriguing theory to an actual, verifiable trend. Witness the modest contracts doled out to solid-offense, lousy-defense/minimal-positional-value players like Josh Willingham, Jason Kubel, and others. If you're going to pay an offense-only player $15 million a year in that climate, he'd better be Babe Ruth crossed with Rickey Henderson crossed with a St. Bernard puppy who brings you neck-barrels of Cristal. Adam Dunn is not that guy. He's not quite a full-time DH yet but he might as well be, costing his team two to three wins a year when he was a full-time outfielder and remaining a net negative when shifted to first base. And while the 33-year-old slugger regained his power in smashing 41 homers last year, he still hit just .204/.333/.468. Of course that's a marked improvement over Year 1 of Dunn's four-year deal, when he "hit" .159/.292/.277 and offered his usual negative baserunning and defensive value; FanGraphs calculated that Dunn made his team lose three more games than your typical replacement-level player that year, making his 2011 season one of the worst recorded by any player in the game's history. At least we're down to the final two years of Dunn's anachronistic deal. 11. John Danks, pitcher, Chicago White Sox Given the money being paid to some truly mediocre pitchers over the next few years, we can't go too nuclear on the four years and $57 million left on Danks's deal. In Danks, the White Sox also have a 27-year-old lefty starter who averaged about four Wins Above Replacement per season from 2008 through 2011. On the other hand, Danks got hammered for a 5.70 ERA over nine starts last season, didn't throw a single pitch in a major league game after May, and had shoulder surgery in August. The White Sox are saying he'll be ready for Opening Day, but we've heard plenty of similar promises for pitchers coming off shoulder surgeries in the past, many of them later broken. The hope is that we're overrating the recency effect here, that Danks will rebound to career norms shortly, and that a year from now, this ranking will look ridiculous. And that the words "Carl Pavano" and "Yankees" will never be uttered at New Comiskey.
February 11, 201313 yr If you read the full Danks write up, they list bunch of players with worse contracts than him. He doesn't belong on this list.
February 12, 201313 yr lol @ Danks being ahead of Dunn. Did they not see how much money Anibal Sanchez got? If Danks returns back to being healthy, it's nowhere near a bad contract. Edited February 12, 201313 yr by chw42
February 12, 201313 yr Author QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 11, 2013 -> 06:12 PM) lol @ Danks being ahead of Dunn. Did they not see how much money Anibal Sanchez got? If Danks returns back to being healthy, it's nowhere near a bad contract. If Danks has a normal John Danks year, that contract is a bargain.
February 12, 201313 yr The author is estimating Danks' shoulder injury will leave him a shell of himself. In which case the contract would not be good. He acknowledged that if Danks returns to form the ranking "will look ridiculous".
February 12, 201313 yr And it should be remembered that they were not necessarily bad contracts when they were signed. If Danks stayed healthy, that contract wasn't looking too bad. If Dunn had been Dunn and not Done in year one, it would not have looked that bad. s*** happens. Players are winning these and the team and fans are losing.
February 12, 201313 yr QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 12:32 AM) If Danks has a normal John Danks year, that contract is a bargain. That is thinking positive and to go along with that if Dunn can get his average up and still hit around 40 homers and get at least 100 RBI's then his contract isn't too bad either. I would like to see that average up to at least .250/.260 which he can do IMO
February 15, 201313 yr That is thinking positive and to go along with that if Dunn can get his average up and still hit around 40 homers and get at least 100 RBI's then his contract isn't too bad either. I would like to see that average up to at least .250/.260 which he can do IMO Oh I would love 40 HR with a 250/260 average and less K's but that is never going to happen with Dunn. Frankly I hope the Sox find a way to get rid of him. That would open the door to having Konerko DH or possibly bringing up some minor talent next season, or even making a trade. As far as Danks, I do not recall what problem/injury was found in his shoulder that needed surgical repair. Does anyone have that information? It seemed like his arm was examined any number of times before a decision was made to perform surgery. Depending on what that surgery was, I wonder what kind of recovery other pitchers have had from it. Peavy was an unusual case where there wasn't much information on how one would respond that injury and the surgical repair. I am worried about Danks while just hoping that he is back to where he was two or three years ago. We will probably get a good idea if he will be back to form in Spring Training. Edited February 15, 201313 yr by southside_hitman
February 15, 201313 yr Our resident physical therapist has said that there should literally be no problems with Danks. The classify Peavy's as a "shoulder" for some reason, but it was his latissimus dorsi, which is actually a very large reaching muscle generally in the upper back with but with connective points in the shoulder and lower back.
February 23, 201313 yr I feel much better about the Dunn contract even if he hits .150/25 HRs, at least they didn't pay the money Cleveland did for Swisher.
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