Adam Dunn's failed experiment

[caulfield12]

Never liked this move. Nothing against him personally but I never saw the value in having somebody who is HR-or-bust, most often bust.

 

 

Typical KW overcorrection.

 

Went from Thome, which wasn't working according to Ozzie and/or KW....to Kotsay/Andruw Jones, which contributed to costing us the 2010 division (75% the fact that Jim went to the Twins and played so well in the place of Morneau)....which left a HUGE power gap from the LH side which couldn't be addressed internally because of our weak minor league system.

 

If they actually found the right combination of hitters, they could have filled that position with the same production at a fraction of the cost....but Mark Kotsay wasn't the right hitter for 300-350 DH AB's at that point in his career.

[Dick Allen]

You are the last person I thought I'd see defending Dunn to any extent, but I agree completely with everything you're talking about.

I am not a fan especially batting 3rd, and would rather the Sox be spending that money on something else. But his homers are useful. I just don't see how anyone can come to the conclusion he is much different from last year yet. If he puts the ball in play more often, I don't see how he possibly will hit less home runs over the course of the season.

[Chicago White Sox]

I am not a fan especially batting 3rd, and would rather the Sox be spending that money on something else. But his homers are useful. I just don't see how anyone can come to the conclusion he is much different from last year yet. If he puts the ball in play more often, I don't see how he possibly will hit less home runs over the course of the season.

Read the article.

[Dick Allen]

So you think he can achieve those numbers with his new approach or you're just confident he'll ditch it in the near future?

 

Again, I don't disagree with you about what Dunn is capable of, but he needs to go back to his old approach. The numbers in that article show why swinging early in counts is killing his game. This isn't just a slow start like last year, this is a flawed approach to hitting that is unlikely to ever work for Dunn.

I'm questioning this "new approach". Was he experimenting with this "new approach" last year when he was slumping? If he's putting the ball in play when he's going well, the ball is eventually going to start leaving the park really often. Again, I don't think Dunn is an All Star. I don't think he's worth $15 million a year, but he can be a big part of an offense, and I don't see anything wrong with him hitting the ball. He's in a slump. Right now, he popping out when he would be drawing walks. When he's going well, he'll be popping homers when he would have been fanning.

[Steve9347]

So the big plan with Adam Dunn was to take away the one thing (taking walks) that lead to him getting meatball pitches, and thus turn him into a complete waste of a player?

[Dick Allen]

So the big plan with Adam Dunn was to take away the one thing (taking walks) that lead to him getting meatball pitches, and thus turn him into a complete waste of a player?

No. He's supposed to be swinging at meatball pitches, making more contact, hitting more home runs, and driving in more runs. It will eventually lead to more walks.

[Steve9347]

No. He's supposed to be swinging at meatball pitches, making more contact, hitting more home runs, and driving in more runs. It will eventually lead to more walks.

But he makes no contact. He's f***ing awful.

[Dick Allen]

But he makes no contact. He's f***ing awful.

A lot of people that have a problem with him now defended him last year. Historically, even his walks haven't led to many runs on any team he is been on. The reality is, his worth is putting the ball in the seats. I would imagine he will do that as much as any White Sox in 2013. I would also imagine his walk rate will be a little higher than it is now.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Dick Allen

[Lillian]

He won't likely be able to resume drawing walks until he demonstrates to opposing pitchers that they need to pitch more carefully to him.

At this point, it makes more sense for them to just pitch to him. Wouldn't you?

 

[witesoxfan]

He won't likely be able to resume drawing walks until he demonstrates to opposing pitchers that they need to pitch more carefully to him.

At this point, it makes more sense for them to just pitch to him. Wouldn't you?

 

Well you keep pitching him over the plate an eventually he goes on a stretch like this.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

He won't likely be able to resume drawing walks until he demonstrates to opposing pitchers that they need to pitch more carefully to him.

At this point, it makes more sense for them to just pitch to him. Wouldn't you?

 

This is what I have seen this year. They aren't going around him anymore. They are going after him.

[klaus kinski]

Still, he "made an Impact"

[greg775]

Dunn actually had a good year last year until the team's late meltdown. He was as bad as anybody the last two weeks during the choke job right? Before that, though, he had tons of huge home runs.

[flavum]

Batting cleanup tonight.

[joeynach]

I don't know how you can conclude anything on Dunn. I'm sure he's had stretches like this just about every year of his career. He's probably a .200 hitter with close to 40 homers and 200 k's. Not worth what they are paying him, but useful in today's game.

 

Yeah you can get that in Mark Reynolds, the Indians signed him for something like 1 Year and $6M. We gave Dunn 4 Years and $56M for similar expected production. Terrible.

[joeynach]

Throwing away $14 million on nothing seems pretty bad if the alternative is an .800 OPS DH. Hell, if you straight up platooned him you'd probably get a little bit better than that. As painful as he is to watch, there is some still value if he reverts back to 2012 form, even if he's overpaid.

 

Also, let's be honest, how many left-handed power hitters will be available this coming offseason? How do replace his bat in the lineup against RHP? That's going to require money and/or talent and we're already going to need to use assets to replace Konerko most likely.

 

If we had some internal candidate knocking at the door, then maybe you could make an argument, but right now we're better off getting Dunn back to normal and hoping for an .800 OPS player.

 

There are always options available for .800 OPS at a low or buy low price. Youklis one year deal with Yanks, Reynolds one year deal with Tribe, Carlos Pena one year deal with Astros, heck even Chris Carter acquisition by the Astros looks like a good one for a buy low high production DH. We have a player in Dunn who already was on the border of no value. With the White Sox in two seasons he has produced -2 WAR. Now he has tinkered with his approach, failed miserably again, and is on his way to a -4 WAR year. At some point enough is enough, maybe taking a flyer on a Chris Carter type would offer more value to the team. Dunn already debunked the regression to the mean myth. What more do we need to see to call his signing a failure and his value to the team negative.

[joeynach]

A lot of people that have a problem with him now defended him last year. Historically, even his walks haven't led to many runs on any team he is been on. The reality is, his worth is putting the ball in the seats. I would imagine he will do that as much as any White Sox in 2013. I would also imagine his walk rate will be a little higher than it is now.

 

You sound like KW and his infamous speech before the 2nd half of the 2011 season talking about how we should all expect to see the numbers on the back of guys baseball cards. Which obviously is another one of those old time baseball myths with no merit as Adam Dunn so kindly proved in 2011.

[caulfield12]

Or the typical Chris Rongey post-game response...

 

 

[caulfield12]

Or the typical Chris Rongey post-game defensive response...