There’s nowhere to hide in baseball. Your batting average is displayed in three-foot-high digits on the scoreboard before each at-bat. The scouts behind home plate hone in on your every weakness. Each flailing swing is just a few clicks of the Internet away for anyone to see.
When you’re Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox, and you’re hitting .165 with 142 strikeouts on August 9, and you’re in the first year of a four-year $56 million contract, you are past the point of being unable to hide. You are a full-blown spectacle, with folks openly questioning whether your season and your contract are the worst in history.
And the fact you are such a likeable guy — the “Big Donkey” — is probably only making it worse. You answer every question from every reporter who visits your locker, and you answer them honestly. You take every well-intended phone call from every well-meaning friend offering a few encouraging words and maybe a hitting tip.
“I got a phone call from Chipper [Jones] just a little while ago,” Dunn said Monday in the visitors’ clubhouse at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where the White Sox were preparing to open a series against the Baltimore Orioles. “Everybody’s trying to help, help, help. You appreciate that kind of stuff. But what are you supposed to do? If you’ve got the answer, bring it. Because I don’t.”
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1. Esoteric throws a 'hard slider' Posted: August 09, 2011 at 07:15 PM (#3896402)Still, I'm really glad Rizzo didn't sign him over the offseason. I remember well how he was castigated by the fans for that. Maybe he knew something we didn't, maybe he just got hilariously lucky (I tend to think it's the latter since he'd been pursuing the ultra-cheap Mike Morse for quite awhile). But either way, good call.
The fans, or Boswell twice a week for several months?
Beer. Beer is almost always the answer. The good stuff not the swill.
If that doesn't work, try Mantle's secret -- blowjobs. Might not help your swing but blowjobs are always nice.
If neither of those work, you've got nothing left to try but Mark Grace's slump buster routine.
Then, only as a final act of desperation, try Boggs's eating chicken thing.
He should reinvent himself as Donkichiro.
Jason Bay, 4 years, $66M. Thus far, he's +2.5 WAR (total) in the first two years of his contract.
Mets' fans will now write 100 times on the board:
It really could be worse.
It really could be worse.
It really could be worse.
It really could be worse.
Morse didn't replace Dunn at first base. LaRoche replaced Dunn. Morse replaced LaRoche.
It really could be worse.
It really could be worse.
It really could be worse.
If I could forget the context, maybe. But this is Minaya's legacy so, no, not really.
Sorry.
Speaking of hijacks, where's Lassus? I know he was high on Tejada this offseason and so far Tejada hasn't produced, though with Murphy and Reyes out he'll have a good shot at improving his numbers. Was there any reason he's been struggling?
Now, now. Don't judge prematurely. Perhaps Minaya's legacy will turn out to be HOF pitcher Matt Harvey, Omar's last # 1 draft pick. You just never know.
As for your question to Lassus, I'd look for him in the chatter, rather than on an Adam Dunn thread.
Way to go out on a limb there. Calling that a kid in AA isn't going to the HOF. I'm impressed!
Next you'll be telling us that the Astros aren't going to win the 2011 World Series, right?
Where was this voice of reason when I was high on Atlee Hammaker?
Oh, well.
Lassus was watching Tejada get the GWRBI in tonight's game. :-D
To be fair, this is like the 73rd Dunn article this week.
Seriously, Tejada's been struggling this season. What's the word on that?
Lousy players struggle? Or if you think he has potential, 21 yo players usually aren't ready for the majors? Am I missing something?
Lassus was high on Tejada, but as of Tejada's return to the majors he'd made no progress at all, something that it's not unreasonable to expect a 21 year old to make. Therefore, is he hurt? Is he trying something new?
Etc.
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