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How Much Rope Does Dunn Have?


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“I’ve got some pitches to hit that I haven’t driven ‘em,” Dunn said. “Other than that, I feel like I’m ready to hit up there. I can only think of two at-bats that I’ve really went up and chased bad pitches. For the most part I haven’t really done that. You look at the numbers and they’re obviously horrible, but I don’t feel as bad as the numbers indicate.”

 

WELL YOU SHOULD

 

 

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QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 02:28 AM)
Yes 1-33, 11 K's, 2 BB

 

He even managed to play crappy defense at 1B too.

 

OMG. 1 for 33 with two walks. So he has done better than I would do in just three of the last 35 plate appearances. Wow. The difference in money, however - astonishing.

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Okay, Now it's just fascinating... I really wanna know what would happen when a Major League Baseball player is hitting below .100

 

I know the answer is absolutely nothing at all since he's a vet and signed to a major contract, but still...

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As a long time Adam Dunn detractor, this is actually getting interesting.

How long will this "slump" continue?

How long before he tries something radically different?

How long does management tolerate this fiasco, before they make some changes?

What do they do? They could sit him for a while, or move him down in the order, or strongly suggest that he try a different approach.

Are pitchers doing anything different to him than they did when he was having relatively good results in the N. L.?

 

In the meantime, I still contend that the best idea would be to emulate Paulie, or Rios or Flowers. Try to be as "short and quick" as possible.

It continues to baffle me why the biggest guy on the team has to have a long swing. It's completely counter indicated and counter productive.

With his size and strength, the objective should be to make consistent contact, and to hit the ball in the air. That would greatly improve his

chances for extra base hits, and neutralize the shift.

 

They are playing him to pull the ball to the right side. Therefore, he should try to hit any pitch away to left, through the giant hole on that side of the infield.

I suggest that he back off the plate so that when a pitcher threw inside to him, it would be a ball. Then, any ball thrown for a strike could be hit to left, by reaching out and using the "hands before the barrel of the bat" swing. Eventually defenses would stop the shift.

The other advantage of such an approach is that hitting the ball to the opposite field necessitates waiting for the pitch to get closer to the plate, which would give him more time to see the ball. That's always a good thing.

 

However, instead we watch him continue to follow the same failing approach at bat, after at bat. He stands in the same spot in the batter's box, uses the same size and weight bat, assumes the same stance, and takes the same swing. What was it about such behavior that Einstein described as "insanity"? Very interesting, indeed.

Edited by Lillian
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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 06:52 AM)
Wow, you can measure the weight of his bat through the TV? You're awesome!

 

I'm just assuming that if he had changed bats, or done anything else different, we would have read or heard about it.

 

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QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 09:02 AM)
I'm just assuming that if he had changed bats, or done anything else different, we would have read or heard about it.

I think guys change bat size all the time. That's one that Hawk runs through, they change bat sizes regularly throughout the season, if for no other reason just due to tiring out/wear and tear.

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How much of these recent struggles have to do with management though? They wanted his approach changed to the point that now he isn't even taking walks. They want him more aggressive early in counts but that has never been what Dunn does. He works counts and hits mistakes a long way. He strikes out a s***load of times and his .obp the last 3 years has really stretched the acceptable levels of a true 3 outcome player. But Dunn has always hit 40 homers and walked over 100 times. That kind of production is very important. I just think changing his approach could correlate negatively with how many walks he takes if he is swinging earlier in counts. His White Sox career has not been too good but I find it funny that there are people who hated his game even when he was in Cincinnati. He was a monster. An awesome offensive force. That is what the White Sox paid for. They haven't gotten it but I completely understand and was jumping around like a schoolgirl the day he was signed.

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QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 09:06 AM)
How much of these recent struggles have to do with management though? They wanted his approach changed to the point that now he isn't even taking walks. They want him more aggressive early in counts but that has never been what Dunn does. He works counts and hits mistakes a long way. He strikes out a s***load of times and his .obp the last 3 years has really stretched the acceptable levels of a true 3 outcome player. But Dunn has always hit 40 homers and walked over 100 times. That kind of production is very important. I just think changing his approach could correlate negatively with how many walks he takes if he is swinging earlier in counts. His White Sox career has not been too good but I find it funny that there are people who hated his game even when he was in Cincinnati. He was a monster. An awesome offensive force. That is what the White Sox paid for. They haven't gotten it but I completely understand and was jumping around like a schoolgirl the day he was signed.

 

Its hard to pin this on management. When they got Dunn, they let him do what he always did, and it was an epic failure. At that point, they had no choice but to tinker

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QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 10:16 AM)
Its hard to pin this on management. When they got Dunn, they let him do what he always did, and it was an epic failure. At that point, they had no choice but to tinker

 

I agree with your point but if he isn't going to take walks he can't be on the roster. That was the balancing act. Taking the homers and walks in exchange for a ton of strikeouts. As bad as Dunn was last year he still made the 4th fewest outs on the team.

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Well...it's been pretty bad. He's obviously going to get plenty of chances to redeem this awful start, so let's just hope he does. 1 for 33 slumps are bad, even for him, but in the grand scheme he can make the numbers much less awful in a few games. Let's hope he does that. Also, can we do something about the Alexei-esque walk rate? Jesus. Trading a lot of walks for a few percentage points of K rate.

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QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 19, 2013 -> 12:11 PM)
Dollar for dollar, he's a bigger disappoint than Scott Linebrink & Jaime Navarro. Trying to think of other sizable free agents who flopped.

 

 

Linebrink was at least a key factor in our 2008 pennant...the first half, when he was healthy, he was VERY good until the injuries caught up to him.

 

David Wells...although that was just one year. More the way the injuries ended his season, his lack of strong results, the fight with Frank Thomas/radio comments and the way that year started 14-29 and was a struggle just to get back to .500.

 

Going back, I remember the disappointment over Cory Snyder and Steve Sax, although I would have to look up how we acquired both of them.

 

Tim Raines was pretty good with us, but I expected the game-changing player he was the first 7-8 years in Montreal and he was no longer that type of offensive force.

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