The Big Donkey Report

As the Reds’ struggles in left field continue, I thought it might be a good idea to post an update on how Adam Dunn’s year is going in Washington. I’m feeling a little crazy today, so I decided to get my stats on. 

Here are some numbers to chew on…

Adam Dunn’s line with his new club read as follows: .299/.460/.610. His OPS is 1.070—that ranks 12th in MLB and sixth in the NL.

The Fab Four (Dickerson, Hairston, McDonald, Nix) are sporting a paltry .239/.319/.389. Just for kicks, let’s throw out Laynce Nix’s numbers (.333/.394/.633) because he never plays. Without Nix, the stats are even uglier: .208/.294/.308 between the remaining trio.  

Seven is the number of home runs Dunn has knocked out so far. In case you’ve been living in a cave, he’s hit at least 40 in the past five seasons. Three is the number of home runs hit between Chris Dickerson (1), Jerry Hairston (1), Darnell McDonald (0), and Laynce Nix (1) this entire season.

23 is the number of walks Dunn has taken. 17 is the number of walks the rest of ‘em have taken—and sometimes, Hairston will play SS while Dickerson or McDonald will play LF! That maximizes their chances and they still have fewer walks. Hurray!

One is the number of errors Adam Dunn has committed in LF in 2009. Four is the number of errors “The Quartet” has committed so far (three belong to Chris Dickerson and one to Ronald McDonald). 

The reason I throw out these numbers is because when the club parted ways with Adam Dunn, the reasoning was:

1) He was going to ask for too much money in free agency. Bronson Arroyo alleged that he was seeking a crazy ton of money while Adam Dunn said something along the lines of: “I never even talk to Bronson.” Don’t quote me on that, it’s a generalization.

2) He strikes out too much. Granted, the Big Donkey does have a tendency to swing and miss. He’s led the Majors in that category a few times. But he also has a tendency to hit home runs. As mentioned earlier, he’s hit at least 40 in the past 5 seasons. 

3) He’s too slow, he’s a defensive liability, and he’s a bad influence on a young club. Dunn has had more than his fair share of errors, this is true. But so far this season, he’s got nothing on Chris Dickerson.

It’s also true he’s not going to run down as many fly balls as C-Dick, but what does it matter when the ball hits your glove and bounces out? Dunn was also criticized for his seeming lack of hustle. I have to admit, I was one of those critics.

But from all accounts I’ve read and heard, Dunn does try and he does hustle. Some say his size hides that fact. Now as for being a bad influence on a young club, I cannot speak to that either way.

From what I have seen from him, he seems like a great clubhouse guy. But that’s just from what I’ve seen. Like everyone else, I’m not privy to the everyday goings on of the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse. 

So after all these statistics and comparisons, what do we have? We have a trio (and sometimes a quartet) of players who, when their powers combine, can’t do half the things Adam Dunn can do.

After hearing how without Griffey (I had no complaints with his departure) and Dunn on the team, we would be able to win more games off of sheer speed and defensive prowess, it seems like we were sold a bill of goods.

Instead of Adam Dunn, the good and the bad, you get Chris Dickerson, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Darnell McDonald. In other words, just bad. In reviewing these statistics, it’s scary to me to think of how this club could be performing right now. But more than that, it’s sad.

It’s highly doubtful that Adam Dunn will ever return to Cincinnati in a Reds uniform. So the good news of this post has to lie with what’s on the horizon. The Reds farm system is chock full of outfield talent.

Hopefully, in the coming days and months, I’ll be able to highlight some of these silver linings and give Reds fans (including myself) a hope for left field. Right now, in my opinion, the best bet the Reds have is not being properly utilized.

Laynce Nix could be making a return to his promising form of old. Before I go, I’ll leave you with one more number. Four: the number of games Laynce Nix has started this season.

Better yet, make that two. That’s how many games he’s started in LF. His other two starts were due to Jay Bruce’s hand injury. So until Dusty Baker decides to give Laynce Nix more than one start every three weeks, we’ll never know what he can bring to the table.