Baseball Musings: Ricciardi Dunn

June 19, 2008

Ricciardi Dunn

In a follow up to the previous post, J.P. Ricciardi appears to be losing it:

Ricciardi slammed Dunn on his Wednesday night phone-in show on The Fan 590, a Toronto radio station. His comments came after a caller suggested the Jays acquire Dunn, who is hitting .227 with 18 homers and 43 RBIs with the Reds.
"Do you know the guy doesn't really like baseball that much?" Ricciardi said to the caller. "Do you know the guy doesn't have a passion to play the game that much? How much do you know about the player?

"There's a reason why you're attracted to some players and there's a reason why you're not attracted to some players. I don't think you'd be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here ...

"We've done our homework on guys like Adam Dunn and there's a reason why we don't want Adam Dunn. I don't want to get into specifics."

Ricciardi was generally sympathetic as callers vented following the Jays 5-4 loss to Milwaukee. But Ricciardi's demeanour changed when a caller mentioned Dunn as a hitter who might "save" the Jays' moribund offence.

"He's a lifetime .230, .240 hitter that strikes out a ton and hits home runs," Ricciardi said.

"Yes, he hits home runs, which none of the Toronto Blue Jays are doing," the caller replied.

That retort triggered Ricciardi's shot at Dunn as a player who "doesn't really like baseball that much."

I'm surprised no on mentioned Dunn's great OBA, .395 this year and .382 for his career. Adam gets on base and hits home runs, who cares how much he likes baseball! He does two things that add to offense very well. Ricciardi, should be all over players like Dunn, just like Billy Beane was happy to take in Frank Thomas.

MLB Fanhouse says it well:

As for Dunn's like of baseball, his lack of passion led him to miss all of 15 games over the last four seasons. He hit 166 home runs over that span so whatever his issues with average and whiffs, he's productive. Whatever his feelings about the game, I'd rather have a player who produces like Dunn and is indifferent toward baseball than Shannon Stewart, say, who may love the game but isn't very good at it.

I'm also reminded of my favorite Bill James quote:

I mean, I would never say that it was not important to have a team with a good attitude, but Christ, Sparky, there are millions of people in this country who have good attitudes, but there are only about 200 who can play a major-league brand of baseball, so which are you going to take? Sparky is so focused on all that attitude stuff that he looks at an Enos Cabell and he doesn't even see that the man can't play baseball. This we ballplayer, Sparky, can't play first, can't play third, can't hit, can't run and can't throw. So who cares what his attitude is?

J.P. is a huge disappointment. He's supposed to be a guy who understands what the numbers mean and act accordingly. He's done a great job building a pitching staff, but letting Frank Thomas go and going off like this on Adam Dunn makes me wonder if he understands how to build an offense. Maybe it's time for him to go.

Posted by David Pinto at 10:58 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Thank God. I always thought I was the only person who never liked Enos Cabell.

But I'd be willing to take a lot of guys like Dunn who don't like baseball, yet find a way to play everyday at a very good level.

Posted by: John Royal at June 19, 2008 11:43 AM

Just downright stupid stuff from a guy who is probably losing his job.

I do have some thoughts about Dunn that's been sort of nagging at me. Most of us that read this site are probably fairly sabermetrically-minded and would agree that Dunn gets a bad rap. Obviously OBP is more important than BA. Furthemore, I keep hearing this guy compared to Dave Kingman, but Dunn's career OBP is about 80 points higher.

But could it be argued that it is somewhat problematic to have a guy in the middle of the lineup who has a very big gap between BA and OBP? You want the guys in the middle of the lineup to drive in runs. And while I would never kill a guy for taking a lot of walks, maybe it's not as helpful to have a guy like Dunn in the middle of the lineup. Sure we don't want the guy flailing away at pitches out of the strike zone in an over-zealous attempt to drive runners home, but maybe it isn't so crazy to suggest that he isn't being as productive when he walks 100-150 times a year, considering how much power he has.

Again, I emphasize that I like Dunn as a player. But I wouldn't totally dismiss his sub-.250 BA as not being something of a problem considering where he hits in the order.

Posted by: crankycon at June 19, 2008 11:45 AM

David, as for the pitching staff it's actually rather clear that JP lucked into this staff as he has. Both Marcum and McGowan were buried last year behind retreads like Tomo Ohka because he didn't think they were all that good. The only reason they even pitched last year was because of injuries in the staff and then they were just too good to send down.

Posted by: Aaron Clark at June 19, 2008 11:52 AM

I'll be interested to see what happens with Dunn at the end of the year. It's almost certain theReds won't resign him. He sucks beyond belief in LF. Where does he go and does he command big $$$. 40 HR a year is tough to come by but he doesn't do much else. I don't see the top teams making a run for him but what will the middle tier teams do?

Posted by: Bandit at June 19, 2008 12:13 PM

Wow, at least before JP was just a huge disappointment and embarrassment in Toronto, but now with these asinine comments he can project that to our American friends. He should have been fired yesterday! Along with his boy Gibbons (who is either reluctant or unable to manage properly-- basic things like making leadoff doubles count!) the Jays fans have wasted too much time in year SEVEN of JP's "FIVE year plan"!

Posted by: CJ44 at June 19, 2008 12:39 PM

CrazyCon, you make a good point. He might actually be a good #2 hitter.

Posted by: David Pinto at June 19, 2008 12:47 PM

A guy like Dunn is EXACTLY what the Jays need! It's like we're living in bizzarro land! He's probably got as many homers as the entire current roster. Moreover, as of today his OBP is more than .20 points higher than the Jays leader (Overbay).

JP is an Orwellian nightmare. Up is down, black is white. Have no power? Cut Frank Thomas! Trash talk Adam Dunn, a legit slugger who we could conceivably attain! Don't even consider Barry Bonds!...

Ughh, we in Toronto ceased believing the fantasy that JP was any or all of:

1. a baseball intellect
2. a Billy Beane Jr.
3. a numbers guy
4. a small ball savant
5. a competent manager
6. a non-scizophrenic GM
7. a GM who had a frame of mind that extended beyond "this" season
8. a person with whom you could have a reasonable conversation with

Am I missing anything?

Posted by: CJ44 at June 19, 2008 12:53 PM

Paging firejoemorgan.com
JP doesn't like guys who hit homeruns?

Posted by: rbj at June 19, 2008 02:14 PM

Regarding Dunn's spot in the lineup, it's not HIS fault Dusty Baker won't hit him #2. Looking at his 2005-07 splits by batting order position, he had his highest OBA by far at #2: .441. He's not over .400 in any other slot. His power's higher there as well, .601 SLG, his second-best mark for a slot with over 20 AB.

Posted by: Steve H at June 19, 2008 03:10 PM

I can understand why you would not want nine guys like Dunn on your team. He does have some significant holes in his game. But like the caller said, the Blue Jays are not exactly overflowing with guys who produce Dunn's kind of combination of power and patience.

The bigger concern is not overvaluing his bat when translated to a new ballpark. Dunn's career line of .242/.373/.494 on the road is good, but lags pretty far behind his career .252/.390/.545 line in Cinci, most of that compiled in Great American Ballpark, where he has hit .254/.387/.561.

Posted by: Crank at June 19, 2008 06:46 PM

Ricciardi is an idiot. Releasing Frank Thomas to play Matt Stairs everday was amazingly short sighted -- like Thomas doesn't start slow every damn year. He was doing well with Oakland before the injury and should be back soon enough.

Ricciardi doesn't seem to have much of a plan on how to improve his horrrible offense.

Posted by: MattNYC at June 19, 2008 09:30 PM

Okay, from someone in Cincy, Dunn is not the "productive" player you think he is. We all know his he hits HRs and and has a high OBP. We also know his average is embarrassing and his Ks are thru the roof. If you look really close at the fine print, he has a .221 avg w/risp. Not exactly productive. His homeruns...95% are meaningless, i.e. they only happen when the Reds are up/down by several runs and the game is out of reach. Again, not exactly productive. His .974 career fielding % suggests he's not the most sure-handed/footed player on the field. Not a solid outfielder by any means. In fact, his shoddy D negates any meaningful ball he puts over the fence. Ricciardi is somewhat right about the passion. Dunn is a very talented, atheltic person, he was recruited by Texas as a QB for goodness sake. However, it is clear to everyone in Cincinnati that he's not as good as he could be. I'm not saying I dont want him here in Cincy, but for $13 million a year and being a "small market" team, that money is better spent elsewhere. He'd be great in the AL as a DH.

Posted by: Keith at June 20, 2008 10:18 AM

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