Pinto notes two related problems with Blue Jays GM and, we were told, Billy Beane protege JP Ricciardi: first, the release of Frank Thomas has worked out badly, a move I thought questionable and badly-explained at the time and that Beane obviously recognized as a buying opportunity. (H/T). Second, Ricciardi has ripped Adam Dunn, questioning Dunn’s desire for the game and his low batting average, the kind of justifications that generally precede a team backing away from a player without an especially good reason for doing so. I can understand why you would not want nine guys like Dunn on your team. He does have some significant holes in his game. But like the caller Ricciardi was responding to said, the Blue Jays are not exactly overflowing with guys who produce Dunn’s kind of combination of power and patience – the team leader in HR has 8, Vernon Wells and Rod Barajas are the only guys slugging over .434, and Lyle Overbay’s the only guy on the team with 30 walks. Toronto is slugging .376 as a team; the starting left fielder is slugging .303.
That said, the bigger concern with Dunn is not overvaluing his bat when translated to a new ballpark. Dunn’s career line of .242/.373/.494 on the road is good, but lags pretty far behind his career .252/.390/.545 line in Cinci, most of that compiled in Great American Ballpark, where he has hit .254/.387/.561.
2 thoughts on “Badly Dunn”
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Forget about the Blue Jays, how about those surging Yanks? Seven wins in a row and counting, Joba adjusting well to being a starter, bats heating up to compensate for Wang’s injury, etc.
Your last post on the Yanks was to illustrate how low they had sunk this year. Crank, I’m beginning to think you don’t -like- the Yankees. 🙂
It’s sad, really, that the Yankees don’t receive more media attention . . .
There was a good article on The Hardball Times a couple of days ago about how especially inept the Blue Jays are with RISP this year. The numbers were pretty frighteningly bad. However Halladay, Marcum, McGowen, etc. have done a great job keeping that boat afloat. One has to wonder if they start to hit at career averages with RISP if they will start to creep up or if they are putting so much pressure (and innings) on their starters if this could go south in a hurry.