I feel really bad for the guy. He's a good kid, and always accountable. He's never begged off the tough interviews after a bad game, and there have been a lot of them. But clearly the combination of the K's, the errors, the pressure of a pennant race, and of course the losing, much of which he contributed to, all got to him. He had a horrid September, and he wasn't much better in August. Had he been at least able to run into a few more balls Dunn might have gotten pitched to a little bit more. But it never happened.

From the time they got Dunn to yesterday, in his last 36 games he hit:

.227/.311/.391 .702 OPS with just 4 homers and 15 RBI and 51 K's in 148 PA

That's MVP Zoilo Versalles.

I didn't realize until hearing it tonight that CoJack hasn't homered since... forever.

July 27th was the date of Jackson's last homer.

Since then, 48 Games, 208 PA's .271/.337/.351 .688 OPS 15 doubles, no homers 20 RBI 22 runs

He is 12 for his last 20 in his last 4 games, rescuing his numbers, but too little too late.

He's been playing great defense in left though. Fielding Bible has him +9, and ranked 3rd, and he threw out another runner tonight. He also has a +22 Baserunning rating at Bill James Online. He's made himself a better player....but the power may just be "what you've seen is what you'll get"

Bonds put up a strikeout record that lasted 34 years and his total has since been bested 6 times in the last five years, including three times this year. This is the second straight year that the record has been broken and third time in last five years that the record has been broken after lasting 34 years.

It'd be so cool if he struck out 200 times.

Paradoxically, it's only the strikeouts that keep baseball watchable. With the BABIP, imagine if strikeout rates were what they were 20 years ago! Every game would be 11-10 and last five hours.

SZ, what do you think the Diamondbacks should do this offseason wrt the offense? Should standing pat and hoping for better performance from the young players be the plan?

It's not going to be that simple or black and white for them. I'm sure they'll make moves and trades. They won't "Stand Pat". I haven't really been able to quite figure out yet what I think they should do though. There don't seem to be a lot of options. Not much left to trade away that will bring return, not much on the way from farm system to help the offense, and not much budget to go buy an offense. So they are going to have to be patient. They weren't obviously, this past year. So they'll need to retrench now.

Paradoxically, it's only the strikeouts that keep baseball watchable. With the BABIP, imagine if strikeout rates were what they were 20 years ago! Every game would be 11-10 and last five hours.

Great point. Of course reigning in bat technology, or softening up the ball a bit would take care of the BABIP.

I have been hearing Cain for Fielder. Does Scherzer for Fielder make sense? Is that better for the Brewers?

That's MVP Zoilo Versalles.

Who also won the Gold Glove.

Fielder isn't going anywhere. Even with the defense falling apart and gaining 30 lbs he is the only lefty bat of consequence. And he certainly doesn't seem upset about Ned's departure.

Now, should Gamel step forward next year with Prince's price tag going up and his conditioning likely going down then a trade might happen.

He's only been caught stealing twice, so at least the Juan Samuel Triple Crown is out of reach.

Great point. Of course reigning in bat technology, or softening up the ball a bit would take care of the BABIP.

I think that swinging less hard to avoid strikeouts would take care of the BABIP. Otherwise someone (other than late-era Tony Gwynn) would have hit .330 by just poking at the ball.

I think that swinging less hard to avoid strikeouts would take care of the BABIP. Otherwise someone (other than late-era Tony Gwynn) would have hit .330 by just poking at the ball.

I think the BABIP and the strikeouts have more to do with being selective and waiting for pitchers to throw pitches that are high yield. With the stigma removed from strikeouts due to the smaller parks (and thus better chance for extra-base hits and less chance to get balls through the infield on ground balls), hitters can wait longer for good pitches. Which would make their BABIP higher, because if you only swing at pitches you can kill, then you're either going to strike out or hit it hard.

So it's not the swinging hard, but swinging at more marginal pitches that would decrease both the strikeouts and the BABIP for most players. Of course, the way to do that is to return the strike zone to something larger than a postage stamp.

Jose Hernandez regrets his past decisions...

Bonds put up a strikeout record that lasted 34 years and his total has since been bested 6 times in the last five years, including three times this year. This is the second straight year that the record has been broken and third time in last five years that the record has been broken after lasting 34 years.

And it would be more except that at least one player (Jose Hernandez) sat out at the end of the year so that he wouldn't break the record. I seem to recall someone else doing that as well.

With the stigma removed from strikeouts due to the smaller parks (and thus better chance for extra-base hits and less chance to get balls through the infield on ground balls), hitters can wait longer for good pitches.

Sorry to nitpick here, but this doesn't follow. First, wouldn't smaller parks make XBH less likely? And infield dimensions are the same regardless of the park size, so how are grounders hard to get through in smaller parks?

And it would be more except that at least one player (Jose Hernandez) sat out at the end of the year so that he wouldn't break the record. I seem to recall someone else doing that as well.

Preston Wilson.

So it's not the swinging hard, but swinging at more marginal pitches that would decrease both the strikeouts and the BABIP for most players. Of course, the way to do that is to return the strike zone to something larger than a postage stamp.

I shudder to think what the strikeout totals would be if the strike zone were made larger.

Does Scherzer for Fielder make sense?

Define sense

I shudder to think what the strikeout totals would be if the strike zone were made larger.

I don't know. Initially yes, they would spike. But over time, as players realized they had more plate to cover and thus less opportunity to wait for a grooved pitch they could drive, on top of fewer opportunities to walk, I think the result may be positive. Ideally, there would be more incentive to avoid two-strike counts, where'd you really be at the mercy of the pitcher. I'd like to see it, coupled with the ball/bat changes you mentioned.

Does Scherzer for Fielder make sense?

Define sense

Fielder is arb eligible this off season, and has 3 years of control left. Whats he stand to make over the next 3 years, 25-30 million ? Of course there are the weight issues, and how that might affect his health over the next few seasons. BUT....he would be cheaper in just dollars than trying to retain Dunn, and over the next 3 seasons, he should be better than Dunn. The problem in that comparison is Dunn would only cost money, plus two draft picks they lose if they don't let him walk, whereas Fielder costs money AND topline, major league ready talent. So if it came down to that, I'd hope they just signed Dunn and gave JB more payroll to work with.

The D Backs have 6 years of control over Scherzer, but he is probably not going to be able to give them much more than 160 innings next year,(He only threw 109 this year) and you really can't count on him for 200 innings until 2010 at the earliest.
If the D Backs were intent on limiting his annual increase in innings to 30-40 per year, he wouldn't cross the 200 innings threshold until 2011. (No idea if thats the plan...just sayin) And there are of course some questions about his shoulder, and durability, as well as suitability to remain in the rotation as opposed to being made a closer. While I share the shoulder/durability concerns, I have no concerns about his suitability to remain a starter, health permitting. His changeup and slider are improving with each start, and I don't think you'll hear too much about him being a 1 pitch pitcher any more going forward.

So overall...no, it doesn't make sense for Arizona, IMO. RJ is gone after this season, and they still haven't extended Webb. They need to hold on to Scherzer and let it play out and see if he can develop into a front line starter, and look for other ways to improve their offense.

I agree with shoewizard. If the Dbacks are going to overpay for a LH overweight statue at 1B, might as well lock up Dunn long term and keep Scherzer. Of course, that begs the question of what you do with Eric Byrnes, since with Dunn at 1B you can only play Jackson in LF... Eric said on a radio show recently that he'd give the DBacks a middle finger if they tried to trade him (he's got a full no trade clause, thanks to Jeff Moorad's malnourished feeble brain)...

Knowing Doug Melvin he will target Derek Lowe.

Reynolds did it! 200 Ks. First time in 133 years of major league baseball, and the funny thing is that, if Jack Cust can apply himself this weekend, three guys could end up doing it this year.