Adam Dunn on the Block?

[DrungoHazewood]

Has anyone ever heard this story before? Is this true?

http://www.sirbacon.org/4membersonly/docellis.htm

Los Angeles, April 8, 1984- Former Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Dock Ellis says he was under the influence of LSD when he pitched a 1970 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres.

(more follows in the link)

Yea, that's pretty well known.

I think a no hitter and a cycle are of similar difficulty. Similar levels of skill required. Lots of luck necessary in each case. Park geometry and effects have a big impact on each (part of the reason the O's only have two cycles, neither at home - Memorial and OPACY were both poor 2b/3b parks). And fairly equal numbers of good and bad players have done each thing.

[Mark J]

Non-immortals who've thrown no-hitters

July 26, 1991 (10 innings) - Mark Gardner (9 inn.) and Jeff Fassero (0 inn.)

April 8, 1994 - Kent Mercker

July 12, 1997 (10 innings) - Francisco Cordova (9 inn.) and Ricardo Rincon (1 inn.)

June 25, 1999 - Jose Jimenez,

September 3, 2001 - Bud Smith

[DrungoHazewood]

Non-immortals who've thrown no-hitters

July 26, 1991 (10 innings) - Mark Gardner (9 inn.) and Jeff Fassero (0 inn.)

April 8, 1994 - Kent Mercker

July 12, 1997 (10 innings) - Francisco Cordova (9 inn.) and Ricardo Rincon (1 inn.)

June 25, 1999 - Jose Jimenez,

September 3, 2001 - Bud Smith

The list is a lot longer than that. Bumpus Jones probably takes the cake. Seven career starts, in six of them his ERA was 10.19, the other (his first ML start) was a no-no.

[TyCobb]

Would this be possible?

Trade Benson and Penn for Dunn

Trade Lopez and C+ prospect for Burrell or sign Luis Gonzo

Sign Jason Schmidt and Gil Meche

Sign RP

Roberts 2b

Markakis RF

Dunn DH

Tejada SS

Burrell LF

Gibbons 1st

Mora 3rd

Herendez C

Patterson CF

Schmidt, Bedard, Cabrera, Loewen, Meche

[KstateBird]

No, that philosophy is so foolish that I have to think it was taken out of context in someway or that Krivsky has a substance abuse issue during which he says things he doesn't really mean.

My guess is that Krivsky meant that in terms of degrees, i.e. he'd rather Dunn only hit 30 HRs and strike out only 100 times than hit 40 and strikeout 200.

[MP]

I know I sleep better at night after a GIDP with the bases loaded in the 9th. Strikeouts are just so embarassing they kill team chemistry.

Drungo / Baltimoron / 1970 / etc.. Adam Dunn always brings it out, so why not dive in!

Could someone please give me a good explanation for why high strikeouts are something you want out of a pitcher? Just in general - why is that something that helps teams win games?

[Mackus]

Are you sure? I bet I could dig up some pretty mediocre pitchers who have thrown no-hitters.

Mediocre over their careers, but I'm sure they were pretty impressive that night.

I've always felt that a no-hitter is a lot more impressive than a cycle. I mean, theres only one thing more impressive in pitching than a no-hitter, which is a perfect game. For a hitter, a cycle isn't the most impressive thing they can do. I think its much more difficult to go 3-4 with 3 HR than it is to go 4-4 with a 2B, 3B, and HR.

I know they happen at about the same frequency, and that both require a lot of luck, but a cycle always seems more like coincidence than skill. Most major league hitters have the ability to hit a HR, to hit a 3B, to hit a 2B, to hit a 1B, and to get 4 hits in a game. The trick is doing them all at once, which is just a matter of chance, IMO. Not every major league pitcher has the ability to even pitch 9 full innings, yets alone do it without giving up any runs, or even better without giving up any hits.

Both are generally just a guy finding the zone for one night, and not a real indication of their overall ability, but a no-hitter is just so much more impressive to me in terms of difficulty and having it actually be related to performance.

[Mark Carver]

Drungo / Baltimoron / 1970 / etc.. Adam Dunn always brings it out, so why not dive in!

Could someone please give me a good explanation for why high strikeouts are something you want out of a pitcher? Just in general - why is that something that helps teams win games?

Well, I would guess anytime that a ball is not batted into the field of play, increases your teams chances of winning. I'd rather see 27 strikeouts than 27 outs made in the field of play.

[MTOsFan]

The list is a lot longer than that. Bumpus Jones probably takes the cake. Seven career starts, in six of them his ERA was 10.19, the other (his first ML start) was a no-no.

I now have a new favorite "Goofy sounding baseball name".

No offense Drungo.

[DrungoHazewood]

Drungo / Baltimoron / 1970 / etc.. Adam Dunn always brings it out, so why not dive in!

Could someone please give me a good explanation for why high strikeouts are something you want out of a pitcher? Just in general - why is that something that helps teams win games?

Because a strikeout is almost always an out. Put the ball in play and it's only an out ~70% of the time. The more strikeouts a pitcher has, the less he has to rely on his defense. The more balls put in play, the more hits he gives up.

And if you want to open the DIPS can of worms, pitchers have relatively little influence on the outcome of balls in play. So strikeouts are the single biggest influence on a pitcher's batting average against.

Batters, on the other hand, have a much greater control on balls in play (some guys hit the ball harder and in better spots than others) so it's possible to hit for a high average and consistently produce runs despite striking out a lot.

[rosekeister]

Could someone please give me a good explanation for why high strikeouts are something you want out of a pitcher? Just in general - why is that something that helps teams win games?

Just offhand I'd say high strikeout totals often reflect a hard throwing pitcher whose fast ball has natural movement that makes him hard to hit. Gamewise when a pitcher is in trouble, especially with a runner on third with less than two outs, it sure is nice when the pitcher strikes out the batter not even allowing the ball to be put into play where who knows what may happen i.e. hits, seeing eye grounders, soft flares into no man's land, errors etc.

[PA Bird Fan]

If Dunn's nickname is "The Big Donkey" and we're comparing him to Dave "Kong" Kingman I'm thinking perhaps a new nickname for him could be ..."Donkey Kong".

(Forgive me for adding nothing of substance to the conversation. I'm a hopeless punster. I'll go back to lurking now).

[mason]

we are in dire need of a power bat...the big free agents will probaly not come here, so we have to look into trades. of all the rumored trades we've heard, i'd take burrell and ensberg over dunn. obviously teixeira would be the ideal one, but i've decided that was a pipe dream. i've heard rumblings about richie sexson. i'd be very interested in looking into that. dunn for a year is not worth what we'd have to give up for him

[Ralph]

2b- Roberts

RF- Markakis

SS- Tejada

DH- Dunn

LF- Wilson

1b- Gibbons

C- Hernandez

CF- Patterson

3b- Mora

Bedard

Cabrera

Benson

Loewen

Eaton

Trade Rodrigo Lopez & Hayden Penn for Adam Dunn.

Sign Adam Eaton 1/5

Sign a couple of reliable arms to add to the pen.

How does that sound?

[BigSkip]

2b- Roberts

RF- Markakis

SS- Tejada

DH- Dunn

LF- Wilson

1b- Gibbons

C- Hernandez

CF- Patterson

3b- Mora

Bedard

Cabrera

Benson

Loewen

Eaton

Trade Rodrigo Lopez & Hayden Penn for Adam Dunn.

Sign Adam Eaton 1/5

Sign a couple of reliable arms to add to the pen.

How does that sound?

We'd either...

A. Need a bit more thunder in the order,

or

B. Need everything to break right for the pitching staff