Monday, January 29, 2007

Lonnie Wheeler thinks Adam Dunn should be traded for Ass Penny

I hope the title didn't give too much away re: my feelings about this suggestion.
To start off, let's admit that Brad Penny isn't that bad:

2005: 3.90 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, ERA+ 104 (NL average: 4.22, 1.38*)
2006: 4.33 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, ERA+ 106 (NL average: 4.49, 1.37*)

But he really isn't that good either.
Here are more numbers from some other guy to make my point:

2005: 4.17 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, ERA+ 108 (AL average: 4.35, 1.37*)
2006: 4.75 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, ERA+ 93 (AL average: 4.56, 1.42*)

Who dis other dude is? He be Kirk Saaarloooos. So clearly Penny is better than Saarloos. But, point is...gosh, not that much better.

Look, I know, it's really hard to look past Opening Day starts by Cory Lidle, Jimmy Haynes, and Joey "Oh, my God...is that a manitee on the mound? Someone should do something about that. Seriously, who has Sea World's phone number?" Hamilton, but the fact is that the Reds rotation is solid now.

ON THE OTHER HAND, the Reds offense let itself be lulled to sleep in the middle of the playoff race last year. Also, our best hitter left for free agency. Also, our second best hitter is aging and kind of susceptible to injury. Also, I have a bad feeling Brandon Phillips and David Ross aren't going to hit nearly as well as they did last year.

That said, Wheeler does make a good point that Dunn's superficial value (big ole homers) is probably a lot higher than his actual value (subpar fielding, low BA w/ RISP), so trading him wouldn't be a bad idea. Let's just not trade him for another Eric Milton. Because we already have like 4 of him.

Also, Brad Penny totally looks like a dick.

*my calculations, could be off

2 comments:

Wily Mo Adams said...

Adam Dunn for Brad Penny? That rumor is so May 2003.

Gweedoh said...

No kidding.

Up next: my critique of the Griffey for Phil Nevin proposal that has everyone's shorts in a bunch.