Nationals News: MacDougal is Back Edition!

Because I’m going to have to sit and watch these guys every night. I’ve seen them lose 94 home games over the last two years. I don’t care to see them lose another 45 this year.

Then you are correct.

As to whether he’s a “horrid” first baseman, the thing is that even “horrid” first basemen can’t do that much harm to the team. He’ll field at worst 90% of what an average first baseman would field. First basemen don’t usually get all that many ground balls to field. Even if he played every single defensive inning this year, that still would only translate into fewer than 200 batted balls that he should get to, which would mean he would at worst allow an additional 20 batted balls to become hits or errors. A generous translation turns this into an extra 10 runs, or one loss due to his defense. Considering he will add 40 – 45 runs, 4 – 4.5 wins, with his bat, he helps this team immensely.

Comparing him with Kearns, Young, and Guzman is almost insulting. Please look up “active career leaders in OPS” and you will find Adam Dunn’s near the top of the list. This is no player they can replace easily or cheaply.

1) he will not become a passable first baseman. IF he does, i will offer full public apology and renounce my position on the Ministty of Plenty

2) he has a very unstable skill set that make giving him more than a one-year after his 30th birthday an extremely risky position

3) his value to the Nationals will never be more than at this season’s trade deadline. if they re-sign him to a long-term expensive contract, he turns into a dead weight. albeit a weight that will still hit some home runs, but his defense will get worse, not better, as he ages.

4) i’m not hating on Dunn. i LIKE Dunn. i always have. but he is what he is, and if the Nats commit to him for a long-term contract, it is a very bad idea. this team needs to get younger, not older.

i was in favor of the original Dunn signing on the caveat that Rizzzo would do the right thing and trad ehim at this year’s deadline. if that doens’t happen, i will be sorely disappointed.

Is that offense is a more important facet of the game than defense for a first baseman. So if I say “he’s a good hitting first baseman”, and you reply “but he’s a bad fielding first baseman”, you haven’t convinced me that he’s a bad first baseman. Similarly, if you had responded, “Yeah, but he can’t steal bases”, I would be unimpressed.