Author Topic: Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread  (Read 32577 times)

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Offline Lintyfresh85

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #50: May 14, 2010, 02:50:36 PM »
well, whatever. its cool. Desmonds doing well for a rookie, so that's a positive. I am not saying he has been a bum.

I just think the whole "King Desmond" thing is a little premature for a guy with a line like that. 

guzman would be ripped to pieces for those stats.

No way. Guzman is a one dimensional hitter. AVG. is all he brings to the table. He's not fast, he doesn't have a glove and he can't be a run producer... that's why he's knocked. 

Offline The Chief

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #51: May 14, 2010, 02:53:36 PM »
I just think the whole "King Desmond" thing is a little premature for a guy with a line like that. 

Just remember who is the one calling him "King."  It's only one guy, and maybe that guy's brother :P

Offline Lintyfresh85

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #52: May 14, 2010, 02:55:13 PM »
Yeah, its only Hammonds. No one else is going along with it.

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #53: May 14, 2010, 02:56:01 PM »
I'm with Linty ... Desmond is an absolute above average glove.  Any MLB analyst would tell you the same thing and most scouts said he'll show some pop but should be an MLB average hitter and that he'll be known for his glove.  He's batting .300 over his last 10 games and you can see him every game pick up something he learns from the veterans. 

If he can be a .275-.290 hitter with 15-20 HR, 70 RBI, 15 SB and that glove ... boy I'll take that.

Offline Evolution33

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #54: May 14, 2010, 02:56:10 PM »
We could just call him Ricky Ricardo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi_Arnaz

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #55: May 14, 2010, 02:57:08 PM »
You guys are tards if you really think I think he's the best player in baseball.  It's just a lil moniker. 

Offline JMW IV

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #56: May 14, 2010, 03:01:24 PM »
Desmond is decent but he is not even close to being the star that people seem to want to label him as.

I am not convinced he is automatically "ss of the future" over Espinosa.

I am doing a PA and taking the opposite viewpoint because no one else will.

I will leave room to change my opinion though. let's see what people are saying when we are 100 games into the season instead of 35.

Offline Salamander Man

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #57: May 14, 2010, 03:03:29 PM »
well, whatever. its cool. Desmonds doing well for a rookie, so that's a positive. I am not saying he has been a bum.

I just think the whole "King Desmond" thing is a little premature for a guy with a line like that. 

guzman would be ripped to pieces for those stats.

Guzman makes a lot more money, is older, and doesn't play defense nearly as well.  (I like Guzzie more than most on here)

Offline Minty Fresh

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #58: May 14, 2010, 03:06:08 PM »
Desmond is decent but he is not even close to being the star that people seem to want to label him as.

I am not convinced he is automatically "ss of the future" over Espinosa.

I am doing a PA and taking the opposite viewpoint because no one else will.

I will leave room to change my opinion though. let's see what people are saying when we are 100 games into the season instead of 35.

Well, compared to who he replaced, he is the star we all want him to be. 

I don't think anyone here is claiming he's the next Hanley Ramirez but he's certainly on track to be better than the next Cristian Guzman.

Offline JMW IV

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #59: May 14, 2010, 03:21:51 PM »
damn you minty. I just had a vision of Bowden screaming "DA NEXT DEREK JETAH!!!!!".

Offline The Chief

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #60: May 14, 2010, 03:24:02 PM »
We need an animated Bowden Segway GIF.

Offline Minty Fresh

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #61: May 14, 2010, 03:27:45 PM »
We need an animated Bowden Segway GIF.

Complete with some form of Morgan from the meme thread.

Offline NJ Ave

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #62: May 18, 2010, 09:18:00 AM »
A SS under team control for the next 6 years who is already playing at this kind of level is an amazing asset. Desmond is on pace to be worth north of $10 million dollars this year with his play, and he's going to cost us $400,000. Why nitpick his OBP (lots of young players are overeager at the plate).

The interesting thing to me is: doesn't Desmond show how flawed minor league scouting is? All we heard about was his great arm. We heard he was going to have average range and make too many errors, and would probably be moved to second by the time Espinosa comes up.

Well, after making 3 errors in the first 5 games, he's only made 3 errors in the past 34 games and will almost certainly end up with just 15-20 on the season. Thus far, he's been just about at the top of the league in terms of range. The only thing that was correct about his scouting report was the most obvious thing: he has a great arm.

If Espinoza comes up in the next few years and his defense is anywhere near Desmond's (and most scouts think he's better) then deciding who has to be moved to second base will be a pretty nice problem to have, and would give up some of the top up the middle defense in the majors, and with Zimmerman at third maybe the best infield defense in the league.

In the meantime, I'm just enjoying Desmond as the first above-average position player from our farm system in 5 years.

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #63: May 18, 2010, 10:25:28 AM »
pretty good game for that Dessie last night, huh?   8)

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #64: May 18, 2010, 10:28:06 AM »
I think what was poorly scouted was his bat. I thought he was going to hit like Adam Everett.

Offline Evolution33

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #65: May 18, 2010, 10:44:03 AM »
I think what was poorly scouted was his bat. I thought he was going to hit like Adam Everett.

I saw him play a fair amount in the minors and when he did hit a homer it went a long way and thinking back now it seems like he hit one in every game I went to. I remember thinking is range was crap though as so many balls seemed to sneak through the middle. despite all those homeruns I witnessed I never really thought he was a good hitter, and thinking back I am not sure why.

Offline Lintyfresh85

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #66: May 18, 2010, 11:25:10 AM »
Imagine how good Desmond would be if he learned how to hit.

He swings at the first pitch 35% (league average 26%) of the time and is third lowest on the team in pitches per at bat at 3.51.

If he learned to actually wait for his ptich and drive it, no telling how good the kid could be.

Guzman has killed his power stroke and his ability to take a walk. I hate that.

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #67: May 18, 2010, 11:31:17 AM »
Imagine how good Desmond would be if they keep batting him 2nd in the line-up.

As far as working the counts and what not, I don't blame Guzman for the approach I blame two things: the fact Desmond is still young and Desmond is his own guy.  He can patern his game around some veterans, but he can still know when it's right to be aggressive early in the count and how to work it. 

Offline Lintyfresh85

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #68: May 18, 2010, 11:32:43 AM »
Probably not much different.

You can quote the numbers if you want... but until he gets equal at bats in both spots, it's just statistical noise to me.

He doesn't have a plan at the plate... he just goes up hacking.

Love the kids defense, hate his approach at the plate.

I'm not even saying having an approach is always the right thing to do.

Look at Dunn, usually, it doesn't matter what the situation is, he's going to work the count for his one pitch... and if it doesn't come, he's going to walk or strike out. Sometimes that hurts him... especially with men in scoring position and less than two outs.

Guzman's approach is to swing at anything close... another approach that is often harmful with RISP.

Desmond just needs to learn to slow down at the plate, pick a pitch to drive and attack it.

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #69: May 18, 2010, 11:41:22 AM »
Linty, again, I hate having to bring this up all the time ... look at his numbers when he bats second.  He's night and day there from batting 7-8. 

I agree though, he needs to work the count better, but at the same time ... I think he'll get better with more experience.

Offline Evolution33

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #70: May 18, 2010, 11:42:18 AM »
Imagine how good Desmond would be if he learned how to hit.

He swings at the first pitch 35% (league average 26%) of the time and is third lowest on the team in pitches per at bat at 3.51.

If he learned to actually wait for his ptich and drive it, no telling how good the kid could be.

Guzman has killed his power stroke and his ability to take a walk. I hate that.

I hope he is learning. He has had a couple of adjustment periods and has adjusted well and has hit afterwards. Maybe patients is something he will pick up.

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #71: May 18, 2010, 11:50:13 AM »
I hope he is learning. He has had a couple of adjustment periods and has adjusted well and has hit afterwards. Maybe patients is something he will pick up.

yeah.  He has exactly 200 career ABs at the major league level.  I think in time, he'll get better with working counts.

Offline NatsDad14

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #72: May 18, 2010, 11:52:28 AM »
He'll get better working the count the day he starts listening to guys like Josh Willingham instead of Guzman and Dunn.

Offline Lintyfresh85

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #73: May 18, 2010, 11:53:39 AM »
Dunn WOULD be the person you talk to if you wanted to learn how to work a count.


Offline NatsDad14

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Re: King Ian Desmond Appreciation Thread
« Reply #74: May 18, 2010, 11:59:37 AM »
Dunn WOULD be the person you talk to if you wanted to learn how to work a count.



Dunn is the guy you want to talk to if you like holding your bat back on 2 strike pitches and not learning how to play situations correctly.