As much as most of us root for Crush... He's not helping on offense...

[DrungoHazewood]

Ok, I brought up Weaver initially comparing him to Martin in the late 1970's but it was was you that compared Weaver to Martin in 1980. I'll concede Martin got carried away in 1980. but 1980 wasn't his complete record either.

I'll concede that Martin's pitcher usage throughout his career wasn't as extreme as in 1980, although it was more typical of 30-40 years prior.

[CA-ORIOLE]

If Chris can get the line up to/above .220, .300, .450 he's not hurting the team. I think you need a .750 OPS out of Chris with as much as he strikes out and considering his playing a power position (first base). Anything less doesn't really cut it.

Well something along the lines of a 110 OPS+ would be much more palatable than a 95 OPS+.

[Frobby]

Can you think of an example of someone with 40 HR who didn't have acceptable OBP/SLG?

Not really. Here's an article on the worst 40 homer seasons of all time. None of them were that bad, judging by wOBA. http://pinstripepundits.com/2013/01/curtis-granderson-40-home-runs-historical-perspective.html#sthash.FIdjUhyW.5qq425zl.dpbs

[Moose Milligan]

He hits them in bunches, hopefully this is a start.

[backwardsk]

I'll take 40 homers every day of the week.

That would be a record.

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[Hank Scorpio]

You went all batting average on me.

[OriolesMagic83]

I have a bigger problem with Davis blindly hitting into the shift time after time than I do with his strikeouts. There will probably be 3 or 4 hitters that exceed 200 strikeouts this year. I'm guessing that's a record. Davis is only 3rd in the AL in K's behind Carter and Souza. I think that Davis could add an easy 20 or 30 points to his average w/ a few well placed hits to the left side of the infield.

[Dipper9]

I don't know why you're all hating on Crush. I had confidence in him the whole time!!!!

[BohKnowsBmore]

It looks like he almost refuses to try to hit the outer edge pitches to the opposite field to beat the shift. He gets pitches in that area, but pulls them into the shift. Why not try something different?

On this item, can anyone point me to a player on another team who is going against an extreme shift with any level of frequency? We saw first hand Brian McCann look silly trying to bunt against our shift. As others have said, it's hard to "just try something different" at the mlb level. I do not believe that Davis is the only one seemingly not making the adjustment.

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[Dipper9]

On this item, can anyone point me to a player on another team who is going against an extreme shift with any level of frequency? We saw first hand Brian McCann look silly trying to bunt against our shift. As others have said, it's hard to "just try something different" at the mlb level. I do not believe that Davis is the only one seemingly not making the adjustment.

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I have mixed feelings on this. When we're down one and need a big blast, do your thing and swing for the fences. But when we're down 2 or more late in the game and need base runners, and they give you the 3rd base line, then he needs to bunt and get on base and be a team player. Jones does it. Paredes has done it. Manny does it. Davis doesn't. The other team's have been shifting on him for two years solid. He had all off season and Spring Training to work on bunting, and Buck even said "All our guys will be able to bunt." But yet he doesn't. So either he's a really terrible bunter and just cannot do it, or he's not taking one for the team and doing what's best for the team's success. I'd like to say he's just a really bad bunter, but who knows?

[DrungoHazewood]

I have mixed feelings on this. When we're down one and need a big blast, do your thing and swing for the fences. But when we're down 2 or more late in the game and need base runners, and they give you the 3rd base line, then he needs to bunt and get on base and be a team player. Jones does it. Paredes has done it. Manny does it. Davis doesn't. The other team's have been shifting on him for two years solid. He had all off season and Spring Training to work on bunting, and Buck even said "All our guys will be able to bunt." But yet he doesn't. So either he's a really terrible bunter and just cannot do it, or he's not taking one for the team and doing what's best for the team's success. I'd like to say he's just a really bad bunter, but who knows?

We've talked about this before: bunting is not trivial, especially when you've never really done it throughout your career. And even then it's not. Just yesterday or the day before I read that Billy Hamilton, fastest player in baseball, maybe fastest in baseball history, is 2-for-14 on bunt attempts. I can't even imagine the grief he gets for that on Reds messageboards. "If only he'd f'ing apply himself he'd be spectacular, but instead he doesn't care and is selfish and stupid!!!!! It's just a frickin' bunt!"

[Dipper9]

We've talked about this before: bunting is not trivial, especially when you've never really done it throughout your career. And even then it's not. Just yesterday or the day before I read that Billy Hamilton, fastest player in baseball, maybe fastest in baseball history, is 2-for-14 on bunt attempts. I can't even imagine the grief he gets for that on Reds messageboards. "If only he'd f'ing apply himself he'd be spectacular, but instead he doesn't care and is selfish and stupid!!!!! It's just a frickin' bunt!"

Billy Hamilton should be like Willy Mays Hays, any time he hits it in the air, he has to drop and give us 20 push ups.

[Redskins Rick]

He hits them in bunches, hopefully this is a start.

I truly hope so.

Davis on 105.7 this morning, reminded the fans, that Davis hit 3 HRs on May 20th last year and everybody thought he was coming out of his slump, well, we all know how that worked.

[Dipper9]

I truly hope so.

Davis on 105.7 this morning, reminded the fans, that Davis hit 3 HRs on May 20th last year and everybody thought he was coming out of his slump, well, we all know how that worked.

I was at that game in Pittsburgh. Fun times.

[DJHJR86]

I truly hope so.

Davis on 105.7 this morning, reminded the fans, that Davis hit 3 HRs on May 20th last year and everybody thought he was coming out of his slump, well, we all know how that worked.

He really is a buzzkill for the morning commute, isn't he?