Dunn Signs with White Sox for 4y/$56m

[Potomac Cannons]

Ha! Yankee fans remember the side-toss flip to Posada to get the runner against Arizona. Jeter ran across the field, RF overthrew the cutoff, Jeter grabbed ball and flipped sideways to Posada. Didn't look. Posada tagged the runner out.

Also remember the ball hit off the top of the left field wall in the 2000 WS. Temo Martinez went into a celebration trot around 2B, as David Justice fielded the ball and fired to Jeter, who turned and fired to Posada. Martinez was out.

And 10 years ago Jeter wasn't a below average fielder.  Way to prove the homer fan point.

[Potomac Cannons]

Basically average, I would say. That said, it is an upgrade defensively over Dunn, which the organization seems to be obsessed with. And it's at least a ridiculously better offensive output than a bum like Pena, which seemed to be the obvious non-Dunn alternative the organization would go with. So while Dunn is still the ideal option, it ain't gonna happen at this point. Faced with Pena or LaRoche, the latter is heads and tails over Pena.

For the 10 billionth time, NO ONE IN THE ORGANIZATION HAS EVER BEEN LINKED TO PENA OR EVEN MENTIONED HIM.  Pena's name comes from the same idiots who were wrong about everything near the trading deadline.

[Potomac Cannons]

The longer someone plays a position, the truer their UZR becomes. LaRoche's is slightly negative.

His career UZR is -15.9 but most of that comes from his first 3 years.  Throwing out two top 5 performances, and another above average performance, in a four year span doesn't make sense (especially when they're the last 4 years).  He's developed into an above average defender despite starting off pretty bad.

[Coladar]

For the 10 billionth time, NO ONE IN THE ORGANIZATION HAS EVER BEEN LINKED TO PENA OR EVEN MENTIONED HIM.  Pena's name comes from the same idiots who were wrong about everything near the trading deadline.

Granted, but before LaRoche it seemed obvious it was either going to be Pena or sticking with Morse/Willingham. Pena is defensively superior, and the club has gone on record saying defense at first is absurdly important to them. The pieces all fit. The club rarely goes on record saying anything in regards to situations such as player signings. So even though they didn't come out and say it, I have to agree with all the hack writers that Pena seemed likely to be their most likely FA option before LaRoche became available. Note I said the obvious non-Dunn FA option. I never said the club came out and said they were signing Pena. I simply made reference to the fact he seemed their obvious choice.

[Lintyfresh85]

The thing about Pena is... outside of his one GG season, his defense was never great to begin with.

Since the GG season, it's gone back to sucking, just like it did before the one good defensive year.

[Sharp]

Ha! Yankee fans remember the side-toss flip to Posada to get the runner against Arizona. Jeter ran across the field, RF overthrew the cutoff, Jeter grabbed ball and flipped sideways to Posada. Didn't look. Posada tagged the runner out.

Nationals fans remember the awesome dive Dunn made to get to a ball very few first basemen would have gotten to.  He trotted to and stepped on the base.  Didn't look.  Got the runner out.

Also remember the ball hit off the top of the left field wall in the 2000 WS. Temo Martinez went into a celebration trot around 2B, as David Justice fielded the ball and fired to Jeter, who turned and fired to Posada. Martinez was out.

What are these quotes proving?  Every freaking shortstop has great moments of defensive brilliance, or at least is capable of it--otherwise he wouldn't be a major league shortstop.  Even defensively challenged players like Dunn look like great defenders at times.  That doesn't mean Jeter is currently brilliant defensively. Did you watch the WS?  Tons of grounders rolled by for base hits that a good defensive shortstop would've ranged to relatively easily.

[welch]

And 10 years ago Jeter wasn't a below average fielder.  Way to prove the homer fan point.

PCan, please stay around, if only for the laughs.

Write this down: I am a third generation Washington Senators fan. My grandad watch Walter Johnson. My dad cheered for the Nats from the time he was old enough to say "Joe Cronin". He took me to my first game to see Mickey Vernon receive the Hillerich and Bradsby Silver Bat in honor of having won the AL batting championship.

Recognize the player in my avatar? (Hint: he did not hit .275 at Potomac, so you might have missed him. Double hint: he's holding his 2,000th hit, mostly for the Nats.)

"Homer" ????

That word means Roy Sievers, Harmon Killebrew, Jim Lemon (met him once...shook hands...he had the biggest hands I've ever seen), Frank Howard.

I live in New York, so the Yankees and Mets are everywhere. I remained a Nats fan from '71 onward, hoping for baseball to return. And yes, while you see a World Series in any Class A kid who hits about .250, I've seen enough minor league kids fail that I'm not impressed until they prove something in the majors. Frank Baker 2 went 4-for-4 in his first game with the Yankees. Was he the SS of the future?

That's also why I am getting sick of "the Plan is on track" and irritated with the Nats front office.

(Still waiting for you to find and analyze that Nats pitcher in the high minors with such great numbers: 1.86 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 11.2 SO/9. Looks good??)

[Lintyfresh85]

Add another 'media hack' to the list that says the Nats are on the prowl for Carlos Pena  

Nationals more likely to seek a plus-defender for first base, such as Carlos Peña

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/11/03/offseason.preview/index.html

[tomterp]

Add another 'media hack' to the list that says the Nats are on the prowl for Carlos Pena  

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/11/03/offseason.preview/index.html

I think he's just repeating stuff he's already heard, didn't sound like any new information.

[cmdterps44]

okay, if everything goes the way we want it, Dunn will be signed tomorrow. I'm just throwing a bullcrap guess out there.

[hammondsnats]

haha i told my dad of that SI story ... he will flip out more than i will if we get pena over dunn.

[The Chief]

Well this thread is a virtual lock to take the #1 all-time spot now.  Only need about ~90 more posts.

[hammondsnats]

sign dunn

[JCA-CrystalCity]

    
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[HalfSmokes]

sign Dunn

Only need about ~90 more posts.

~87

[cmdterps44]

Countdown to a new topic!

[spidernat]

   
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[hammondsnats]

sign dunn

[wpa2629]

Sign him

[Evolution33]

I bet this gets one post away and then gets locked for the new Adam Dunn is a Cub thread.

[Lintyfresh85]

Nah.

Adam Dunn is a White Sox thread.

[cmdterps44]

Sign jim

[Sharp]

Sign jim

Thome?  Actually that might not be the worst idea in the world.

[Lintyfresh85]

Maybe he meant Slim Jim?

As in, snap into a Slim Jim, and SIGN DUNN.

[Sharp]

It's kind of funny, looking at the first few posts in this thread we all thought he would gratefully accept 1-2 years at $10 million a year.  Goes to show that we're not the world's greatest prognosticators.