Dave Miley, Retarded Manager
There is plenty wrong in Cincy right now, not the least of which is the complete misallocation of funds in Griffey (not necessarily Cincy's fault) and Eric Milton (completely Cincy's fault). Four quality outfielders in a game that only requires three is also pretty lame considering the need for decent pitching on the starting staff. But I digress. What's ailing me today, however, is something completely within the realm of changeability for the everyday team. It's not a GM problem or an owner problem -- it's a manager problem.
Rare is it that we see an onfield manager have a huge effect on the outcome of a team. His decisions on whether to steal with ineffective base thieves or to never use a closer in a tie game or to never use better, younger players (thank you, Lou Pinella, on that last bit) may have a direct influence, but it's unlikely he's going to have a very significant effect on the team's final won-loss record. That is, unless he bats his best player sixth like Dave Miley is doing with Adam Dunn.
Dunn has one of the higher SLG%'s and OBP's in the league. Why put that in sixth place and not third in the order? Why is Griffey not batting second or fourth? Why is Sean Casey so high in the order? It's just very confusing for me at this point. I understand loyalty to the veterans, but this is a team with some good hitters that need to be utilized properly. Placing a guy with a .400 OBP and a .550 SLG% sixth in the order is a complete misallocation of Runs in my opinion. Let's get out of this nonsensical "strikeouts are horrible and your batting average is everything" mentality and please place Dunn in a strategic spot. The three spot is generally saved for the best hitter on the team, so let's break with the traditional mindset that strikeouts are bad and put Dunn there, for God's sakes.
Signed,
Dunn Appreciator
Rare is it that we see an onfield manager have a huge effect on the outcome of a team. His decisions on whether to steal with ineffective base thieves or to never use a closer in a tie game or to never use better, younger players (thank you, Lou Pinella, on that last bit) may have a direct influence, but it's unlikely he's going to have a very significant effect on the team's final won-loss record. That is, unless he bats his best player sixth like Dave Miley is doing with Adam Dunn.
Dunn has one of the higher SLG%'s and OBP's in the league. Why put that in sixth place and not third in the order? Why is Griffey not batting second or fourth? Why is Sean Casey so high in the order? It's just very confusing for me at this point. I understand loyalty to the veterans, but this is a team with some good hitters that need to be utilized properly. Placing a guy with a .400 OBP and a .550 SLG% sixth in the order is a complete misallocation of Runs in my opinion. Let's get out of this nonsensical "strikeouts are horrible and your batting average is everything" mentality and please place Dunn in a strategic spot. The three spot is generally saved for the best hitter on the team, so let's break with the traditional mindset that strikeouts are bad and put Dunn there, for God's sakes.
Signed,
Dunn Appreciator
posted by Bodhizefa at 11:29 PM
4 Comments:
A question to the Dunn Appreciator, I am nonetheless confused - is your suggestion from a baseball viewpoint or a fantasy viewpoint?
More a baseball viewpoint that the Reds are squandering their Runs potential, but yes, it's at least a little bit fantasy motivated (what isn't these days, ya know).
Ok - with that said, isn't third a bit of a stretch for a guy with a swing as long as Dunn's? Fourth I can see, but 3rd? Wouldn't they be looking at a lot of strike 'em out - throw 'em out type DPs? I don't think Miley's long for the job, but wouldn't Dunn in the three hole help his shove out the door?
Dunn in the three hole would provide the team with multiple things (and I should've expounded in the original blog entry, but alas, I'm lazy :)
You, I'm sure, realize that a lot of Dunn's "real" value is derived from his ability to get on base. Well, generally speaking, putting him higher in the order would garner more chances for him to be driven in by some high slugging but lower OBP-type players (Griffey and especially Pena at this point). Also, with the notion of splitting up lefty batters, I'd likely want Pena fourth. Essentially, given the lefty-righty mix in Cincy, I'd go with something like:
Freel
Casey
Dunn
Pena
Griffey
Lopez
Randa
LaRue
It's actually a pretty sweet hitting line-up, to be honest. All they have to do is stay healthy, although granted, it's been tough for some of them to do just that in the past. An argument could be made that Casey is too slow for the 2nd spot, but it's tough to change that order around without screwing with the lefty/righty mix. And I think Casey is more likely to be the better hitter by the end of the year of he and Randa.
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