Left Field 2009

[Centerfield]

Left Field (along with a starting pitcher if Oliver Perez bolts) is one of the two spots the Mets must absolutely attend to this off-season. I have doubts that Delgado will repeat the success he had this year, and this position is probably our best chance of getting a middle-of-the-order guy. I guess a good place to begin is the free agent crop:

Bobby Abreu NYY
Moises Alou NYM
Garret Anderson* LAA
Rocco Baldelli TB
Willie Bloomquist SEA
Emil Brown OAK
Pat Burrell PHI
Endy Chavez NYM
Adam Dunn ARI
Jim Edmonds CHC
Cliff Floyd TB
Brian Giles* SD
Ken Griffey Jr.* CWS
Vladimir Guerrero* LAA
Raul Ibanez SEA
Mark Kotsay ATL
Jason Michaels* PIT
Greg Norton ATL
Jay Payton BAL
Scott Podsednik COL
Manny Ramirez LAD
Juan Rivera LAA

(*denotes an option)

With the Angels likely to pick up Vlad's option, Manny is obviously the cream of this crop, but he is looking for a multi-year deal at 37.

[Guest sharpie]

I'd vote Ibanez. He's local and he puts up good numbers year after year. Plus, he played in 162 games this year, 159 two years ago.

[metirish]

A mostly sorry looking bunch.

[Benjamin Grimm]

If, over the winter, Daniel Murphy shows that he's NOT a second baseman, then he needs to be in the mix for left field. Hopefully it won't come to that.

[Guest AG/DC]

Nothing sorry about Pat Burrell. A damn consistent man for the last four years.

GP: 154, 144, 155, 157

OPS+: 128, 122, 127, 123

[Benjamin Grimm]

I've always seen him as a future Met. My crystal ball has told me that he'd become a Met some time around age 38.

[Vic Sage]

yeah, except there is a guy on that list who is 28, has hit 40+ hrs the last 5 seasons, with a career OPS+ of 130. Burrell, is 32, hits 30+ hrs (in a good year), and has a lower OB%, SLG% and OPS+ (119).

so why no love for Adam Dunn? Don't talk to me about Ks, unless your willing to talk about his BBs.

[Valadius]

Why no love for Adam Dunn? His batting average leaves something to be desired.

[metirish]

Dunn
Burrell
Ibanez

I can see Minaya going hard after Dunn.

[metirish]

Valadius wrote: Why no love for Adam Dunn? His batting average leaves something to be desired.

Oh no you didn't............

[Benjamin Grimm]

Dunn is only 28?

Wow. They're nuts if they don't at least talk to him.

[Vic Sage]

Oh, and Ibanez will be 37 next June, with inferior numbers to Dunn in all the above-refenced categories.

[Vic Sage]

Batting average?

seriously?

seriously??

[Valadius]

Yes, seriously.

You know why batting average is so important? It impacts whether or not or how much you move the runners on base. A walk moves a runner over one base. A hit potentially moves them over two or more.

Also, note the fact that his doubles totals are relatively atrocious for a guy with his homer power. And note his relatively low total bases numbers the last three years.

[Frayed Knot]

One of the (non-statistical) knocks on Dunn was that he never seemed real interested in baseball. He grew up in football country in east Texas and, despite scholarship offers as a QB, drifted in baseball simply because it was something he was real good at, but remained more interested in humting, fishing and football. He's a talented player with real assets but never seemed to get better at anything at least partly, it's thought, because he wasn't putting the work in.

Supposedly the trade from the dullness of the Reds in Cincy into a real pennant race in Arizona woke him up and "they" say his attitude was rejuvenated and he now sees what he's been missing. A contending team who snaps him up and puts him in a good situation surrounded by some good players might, just might mind you, be catchng a real good wave rgiht on the brink.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Valadius wrote: Why no love for Adam Dunn? His batting average leaves something to be desired.

So does Ryan Howard's, but he seemed to help the Phillies a little bit.

Dunn
Batting: .243 OBP: .417 Slg: .472

Howard
Batting: .251 OBP: .339 Slg: .543

[metirish]

Without doing a lot of research Dunn's 2b hits are comparable to other power hitters like Piazza , Howard and Burrell.

[Guest AG/DC]

I agree that singles are better than walks, but three hatfuls of walks are better than two hatfuls of singles.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

When a guy's got 40 homers, every year, its ridiculous to complain about about his dearth of doubles. What do you want, he hits his home runs less far?

[Vic Sage]

dunn (162g avg) =
554ab /100r /40hr / 96rbi/ 114bb /180k / .247ba / .381 ob/ .518 slg
130 ops+/ 287 TB/ 137h / 29 2b /1 3b / 8 gdp

his dearth of triples is also quite damning.

[batmagadanleadoff]

AG/DC wrote: I agree that singles are better than walks, but three hatfuls of walks are better than two hatfuls of singles.

This is a neat way to sum up Dunn's abilities. The key to an offense is not to make outs. That's it. Only after the batter doesn't make an out in the first instance, is it meaningful to debate whether a home run is better than two doubles or whether you'd prefer one triple over two singles and a walks. Because anything is preferable over an out.

Dunn is one of the least likeliest batters to make an out; By that crucial measure, he's one of baseball's best hitters.

I'd always find room on my team for a guy who on bases close to .400 every single season, even if he couldn't hit any homeruns.

Throw in Dunn's 40/HR's a season (five years running) and Dunn's a no-brainer.

[soupcan]

metirish wrote: ="Valadius"]Why no love for Adam Dunn? His batting average leaves something to be desired. Oh no you didn't............

Echoing irish.

I walked this plank here with RBIs a year or so back and got bitch-slapped.

[DocTee]

FK's analysis of Dunn reminds me of another Met LF, Kevin McReynolds.

[Guest AG/DC]

Wow. I could hear Vic's head exploding in Manhattan from here.

[soupcan]

soupcan wrote: Echoing irish.

'p'Unintentional by the way.

[metirish]

soupcan wrote: soupcan wrote: Echoing irish. 'p'Unintentional by the way.

Funny.....

Fro those not in the know......Irish Echo is a newspaper over here..

[Frayed Knot]

]FK's analysis of Dunn reminds me of another Met LF, Kevin McReynolds.

In some ways maybe, although McReynolds was a better all-around player and always played hard while he was on the field.

Dunn's biggest drawback isn't BA it's that he's an atrocious outfielder who also had no interest in moving to 1B when Cincy was overstocked with OFers a few years back. And, again, part of the rumored problem is that he did little work to improve on it, preferring to do nothing more than to take his 4 hacks (or 16 balls) a game and go home.

Maybe that's on the verge of changing.

[Centerfield]

The drawback from these swing and miss guys is that they're less likely to drive a run in from third with one out, but on the plus side, he's much more likely than the average guy to drive in the runner from first with two outs.

Some interesting stats on Dunn. We rave about Delgado's MVP-type year (.871 OPS). Dunn beats him in OPS (.898). Dunn also beats Beltran (.876) as well as Ryan Howard (.881). Of all Mets, only David Wright has the edge on him OPS-wise (.924), and David does this by outslugging him. David has fewer HR's but nearly twice as many doubles.

ON EDIT: Of course, you have to adjust for park with these numbers, which I don't know how to do, but just being in the mix with our three best players should mean something.

[Guest mario25]

I say Adam Dunn would be a great Mets LF. Pat the Bat can eat my shat...

[Guest AG/DC]

I would have gone with "scat."

"Left Field 2009" sounds like a dimension in a pitcher friendly park.