Adam Dunn continues to be gone

in new thread sadness.

I feel like somebody died… What a thing to see when I get back from band camp.

Are we actually going to win again this season?

I bet his Mother is thrilled…if you think I dislike/hate sMarty….Donkey’s Mom wouldn’t even listen to the games…

Well Crolfer you’d better get to work on your baseball skills….we going to need you weaseling into the Reds organization….well more like a mole…

Bob how could you do this? I thought you were smarter than the average Dustbag. This is a bad as Robby’s screw job.

Dunn is my favorite Red. I’m not willing to use past-tense yet. I can’t imagine why the Reds would trade their only offensive threat, let alone one who actually seemed to like it here. They better get the Jesus twins (Cool and Gay) in return or this is absolutely worthless.

As I said to my friend who broke the trade to me: “I mean, from a purely fan position, Walt Jocketty has just joined Vladimir Putin on the “people I want to waterboard” list.

Good luck Dunner…and here’s hoping y’all backs finish the year strong.

Marty Brennaman Really Does Hate Adam Dunn

Tempers run a bit hot.

CoPa and Jay Bruce right now.

When will Votto be back?

And when will the other two players in this deal be named?

tHan and Gray killed it.

Sitting here watching the Dodger/Phillies game. Someone on another message board wrote:

Oh, and Jocketty got Dan Haren-ed on that deal. Dunn would have been a type A free agent, and Dallas Buck’s minor-league numbers are entirely unremarkable. The two PTBNLs can’t be that good. So, Jocketty gave up two first-round picks for three dubious prospects, instead of just keeping the high picks. AZ gives up nothing, keeps Dunn, and gets the picks if he walks.

Really, if we’re trading Dunn, we’re admitting we wont’ (can’t) be good for 2-3 years. We might as well have a full out firesale. Harang? CoCo (not that anyone would want that piece of shit).

Keep Bruce and Phillips. Trade the rest. This team is fucked for 3 years.

Tomorrow’s line up something like this

Kepp ss
Patterson cf
Bruce rf
BP 2b
EdE 3b
A. Phillips lf
LLM 1b
Bako c
Fogg (or whoever is pitching)

Now this is a line up that is committed to winning – Right Bob?
Even when Cherry and Vottomatic are back there is not a consistent power threat to be found – anywhere – period – on this team.

THIS IS THE GUY WHO WANTS A WINNER NOW -

Ultimately I must look to Castellini for this royal fuck up – He hired Jocko – He brought on Bavassi – He hired Dusty and guess what so far they all suck.

Specifically, shutting down Harang for the rest of the season. Perhaps going to a 6 man rotation to reduce Volquez and Cueto’s innings?

Getting Dunn a smart move by Diamondbacks
Monday, August 11, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry
Arizona ranks 10th in the National League in OBP, 10th in slugging and, not coincidentally, 10th in runs scored, despite playing in a pretty good hitters’ park. Their left fielders have hit .235/.308/.387 - but hey, Eric Byrnes has just two years left on his deal! - and their right fielders have hit .252/.339/.418 (including Justin Upton’s outstanding start to the season).

I understand the Diamondbacks were looking to add a left-handed bat, but really, they just needed to add a bat, period, and they did it in a way that will address one of the weakest spots in their lineup by acquiring Adam Dunn from the Reds. The pickup was a no-brainer, and unless one of the players to be named later turns out to be right-handed pitcher Jarrod Parker, the price doesn’t appear to be too high for a seven-week rental.
In the short term, Dunn fills the right field hole vacated by Upton, who has been out for a month with an oblique injury. When Upton returns, however, the D-backs will have to choose between sitting Upton or Chad Tracy. Upton has been an offensive zero since mid-May, but is going to be one of the top hitters in the game in a few years and needs to get his at bats in at the big league level. Tracy has outhit Upton this year, but is 28 and has no upside and a below-average bat for first base. Sitting Tracy would allow Arizona to return Conor Jackson to first base, creating a better defensive alignment.

The one prospect we know of who is going back to Cincinnati is Dallas Buck, who was the best prospect in the Cape Cod League in 2004 as a rising sophomore, but who saw his stuff slip under heavy usage at Oregon State and ended up having Tommy John surgery in 2007. Buck is 10 starts into his return, too early to make any judgments about whether he’ll be the 87-88 mph sinkerballer he’d become by the time he was drafted or the 91-94 mph sinkerballer he was before he wore down. He’s still generating groundballs and throwing strikes, so even throwing in the upper 80s he has big-league value, and makes sense for the Reds as a prospect with some upside due to his injury status.
The Reds were looking at getting two draft picks for Dunn if he departed as a free agent, with zero risk of him accepting an arbitration offer; at the least, they will end up with three prospects rather than two, all of who are already in pro ball and closer to the majors than the two players they might select in next June’s amateur draft.

I used some of Slyde’s stats from earlier today…

It’s painful.

There are too many errors to properly fisk, but here’s a few lowlights:

Dunn was who he was: a guy who could hit a baseball 400 feet more often than almost anyone else, but couldn’t produce a two-out RBI single.

Actually, Daugherty is technically correct: Dunn hasn’t had an RBI single with two outs this year. Instead, Dunn’s been slugging in high leverage situations: .222/.462/.750/1.212 in two-out, RISP situations. Hence the lack of singles. By score, Dunn’s highest OPS comes when the Reds are two runs behind or in the lead. His other clutch stats show he’s doing as well or better than in normal situations.

Any other club could have claimed him and the trade would not have been made. None did.

FAIL. Teams with records better than Arizona, which is most contenders, did not get a chance. It should be obvious that it makes no sense to pick up Dunn if the improvement means you reach 72 rather than 70 wins. You can only question the Dodgers here, and even then a claim would’ve been strictly for defensive (block AZ) purposes.

Regardless, Dunn’s tax bracket didn’t match his production, at least not here.

I realize that this is a throwaway comment, but the highest federal income tax bracket starts around the league minimum. So all MLB players are in the same “tax bracket.”

Even with all of the bashing Daugherty is careful to never say that the Reds will be better. The seven-word summary is “Dunn sucks; we’ll see if they’re better.”

I’m a little more upbeat about the situation.

Yes, it pretty much defeats any chance of winning for the next 2 years or more… but it is typically easier to attain offense than pitching and Reds are finally getting a decent rotation fitted together. (assuming they remain healthy… but don’t remind me of that right now)

With no good FA PPs this offseason, I’m hoping they’ll focus more on trades and plugging holes with youth rather than blowing it all on Tex or something similar. (although a CC would be nice)

I need to take a look at the 2010 FA list now…

He notes something that I had not heard, and that is that Jocketty is in the Dominican Republic right now. I find it interesting that the GM is away when the biggest move of the season goes down. I have nothing at all to support this, but it seems an awful lot like an initiation rite for Bavasi. “Welcome to the Reds, son. Now axe the best player on the team.” Again, I haven’t read anything to support this, or seen Bavasi’s name even mentioned during any of this; I’m just looking for goats and reasons to hate.

Oh, and there’s this illuminating quote from Dusty:

“David slew Goliath, you know. We just have to see. You guys ask me questions, I don’t really have any more answers to,” Baker said.

Pat White will save us all!

The Reds get to .500? Aaron Harang’s record gets to .500? Cory Patterson’s batting average gets to .500? The Reds next home game attendence gets to 500?

It looks like Dickerson is getting the call – no surprise there – but Doug Gray also sees evidence that Drew Stubbs is getting bumped to Louisville. Makes sense since Stubbs is next in line for CF. He’s hit well in Chattanooga (.315/.400/.402), albeit in just 92 ABs. I wonder if we’ll see Stubbs in Cincinnati in September? Not that he deserves it, but it could give an indication as to whether they need to seek a CF in the off-season.

Given the trade of Adam Dunn for three minor leaguers, it may look like the Reds in full long-term, rebuilding mode.

But Bob Castellini didn’t hesitate when asked if he thought the team could win next year:

“Absolutely.”

That’s going to take some doing. Because the only thing the Reds have done so far in the rebuilding job is demolition. Ken Griffey Jr., David Ross and Dunn have been jettisoned. The Reds have gotten role players and minor leaguers in return.

Castellini said the Dunn trade was not a reaction to the way the team has played lately.

"It might look that way, but we’ve been trying to improve the club constantly,” Castellini said. “This was a very hasty process, this trade came together in the last couple of days. We’re doing the best we can to get better."

The Reds have lost nine out of their last 10 games.

“We’ve been terrible,” Castellini said.

Is he out of his fucking mind?

the Reds will end up signing Pat Burrell, whoi s basically a four-years older, righthanded version of Adam Dunn. And then when the Reds lose 90+ next year, Burrell will be the new whipping boy for all the yahoos at WLW.

Let’s face it.

The blame for this team’s poor performance doesn’t lie with Griffey’s lack of production, or Dunn’s high strike out numbers.

To me, it’s Dusty Baker.

Why did he insisted on batting Cory Patterson leadoff with an OBP less than his weight?

Why did he insisted on living in the past by batting Griffey third or fourth? You can live with that kind of production from an outfielder in the 7 hole, not in the 3 or 4.

Why did he refuse to teach Jay Bruce a lesson and sit his ass on the bench the game after he half-assed it in the outfield and dropped a ball and also stupidly ran the Reds out of an inning on the basepaths? (He should have pulled him from the game immediately.)

Why would he put Dunn in the outfield if the guy has no earthly idea what a glove was used for? (Remember a few years ago, the Rangers were too afraid of Soriano to ask him to move to the outfield since he sucked at 2B, so they traded him and it took someone like Frank Robinson with the balls to say, “son, you play outfield or you don’t play.)

You can trash Jockety all you want, but the man has rings. He’s built a winner. Who’s to say he won’t build another one here? Jockety didn’t sign Eric MIlton. Jockety didn’t sign Bronson Arroyo. Jockety didn’t sign Cordero.

The Dunn trade pisses me off only if the players we get back are Dallas Buck quality and less. But we don’t know who the other two players are.

It’s not THAT hard to replace a guy with his production. Carlos Quinten was had for a song last off season. So was Milton Bradley. They are out there. And cheaper.

It was different with Griffey. I mean, Jockety didn’t trade the 2001 Griffey, He traded the 2008 Griffey. And, as painful as it might be, that Griffey was worth just about what they got for him.

I’m not a Jockety apologist. I just say, let the thing play out.

This team wasn’t going anywhere this year with Dunn. It’s not going anywhere without him.

You got what you wanted. Now enjoy the slide, as our team continues to lose. Oh, but they’ll have good fundamentals and will hustle, and they’ll ground out, instead of striking out, in between the 40 home runs, 100 walks, 100 RBIs a year. Ignorance is bliss. Who knows, maybe we can re-sign Paul Householder or Duane Walker. They played the game with passion, you know.