Marty Brennaman slams Adam Dunn....again.

[RichRed]

Philly loves the guy that 'hustles', gets dirt on his uniform (Lenny Dykstra/Chase Utley), but the clean smooth consistent performer like Abreu, on of the top Phillies players of all time gets ragged on by Joe on the street because of ill informed perception(accepts walks).

There's a Phils fan on another message board I visit who was livid that the Phillies let backup catcher Sal Fasano go to the Yankees while "bums" like Burrell and Abreu were still collecting paychecks. Sal Fasano. I'm not kidding.

(I'm sure he was ecstatic four days later when Abreu was sent to be with his old teammate in New York.)

[Ltlabner]

"deprived of Marty"? That's some serious man-love you've got for that fellow.

Together they were like bitter/sweet chocholate. Without sweet Joe, Marty is just ... bitter. I know Marty has mentioned that he really owes alot of his success to Joe. I said before they broke that team up that either of them alone was nowhere near as enjoyable as the both of them together.

I don't think its too much to ask a man in his position to keep in mind that the listeners are also customers or potential customers.

Well, I used the word deprived because that's the word Ron Madden used in the post I was responding too. And yes, I enjoy Martys broadcasts, both those from my youth and those now. I guess I have as much man-love defending Marty as some here have for defending Dunner.

I agree totally about Joe's departure effecting the team chemistry (of course we all know that team chemistry is a bunch of bunk ) of the broadcasts. Marty still made snarky comments back then (he loves Shea stadium ya know) but his approach definatley changed once Joe left the booth. I wonder if he felt a sub-concious pressure to carry things by himself? He said Steve wasn't his first choice so perhaps he felt he had to "compensate" for a "light-weight"? Not saying that's acceptable, just throwing it out there.

I'm not sure Marty thinks in terms of "customers or franchise figurehead". I have no idea how the views his role, but if I had to guess he'd say "play by play guy" and think to himself, "wise jedi-master/historian who has seen all". I'd be willing to bet a small sum of money that if asked if he was a "marketing tool" of the Reds he would scoff.

[Ltlabner]

Is the product that is being broadcast over WLW and XM Reds Baseball, or is it "Marty and Friends?" If you're listening to the game for Marty, then maybe Marty should have his own show where he can talk about whatever he wants and callers can call in and praise him.

If people are going to stop listening to Reds baseball if Marty leaves, then I question whether they're really a Reds fan or not. He's going to leave eventually.

In any case, he's going to be gone. Does he want people to remember him as a great announcer, or does he want people to remember him as a grumpy old blowhard who used his status and media access to drive people away from the game?

Personally I tune in to hear the games presented in an entertaining fashion. So for me, the answer is both. I don't listen to Grande because he gives me the game portion of the product, with zero of the entertaining delivery. I liken it to having a weatherman you enjoy. You can get the weather report anywhere, but you tune into Mr. XYZ because he presents the information in a way you find enjoyable. If all you wanted was purely the baseball game, then you could simply read a text account of what happened.

Who said anything about people not tuneing in once he retires? Speaking for myself, I'll continue to tune into some source of entertaining presentation of the games when I'm not able to attend in person. Who knows, perhaps by then they'll have an entertaining TV broadcaster and I can see and hear the game.

I would guess that Marty doesn't give a crap what some dissafected people think of his performance.

[westofyou]

I would guess that Marty doesn't give a crap what some dissafected people think of his performance.

At last we have reached ouroboro stage of the thread.

[lollipopcurve]

I would guess that Marty doesn't give a crap what some dissafected people think of his performance.

If you're disaffected by disaffection, are you affected?

[RichRed]

If you're disaffected by disaffection, are you affected?

Effectively.

[Yachtzee]

At last we have reached ouroboro stage of the thread.

And I am the snake head eating the head on the opposite side,
I Palindrome I.

[TRF]

HR's do both and require no help.

Dunn's in scoring position when he strides to the plate.

But you make my case for me. Dunn scores 100 runs a season because he's on base a ton AND he has prolific power. Imagine how many runs he could score with a set position in the lineup and good protection too. Might do wonders for his RBI totals if he isn't batting 6th, which he has done 212 times over the last three seasons.

[vaticanplum]

Dunn's in scoring position when he strides to the plate.

Wow, now there's a soundbyte.

[edabbs44]

HR's do both and require no help.

Dunn's in scoring position when he strides to the plate.

But you make my case for me. Dunn scores 100 runs a season because he's on base a ton AND he has prolific power. Imagine how many runs he could score with a set position in the lineup and good protection too. Might do wonders for his RBI totals if he isn't batting 6th, which he has done 212 times over the last three seasons.

Yeah...his RBI total would skyrocket since he is a career .219 hitter with RISP. Again, I realize that average isn't everything but you get most of your RBI from hitting in RISP opportunities. Adam has shown that he doesn't exactly thrive in getting hits in those situations.

Let me break it down for you this way, all stats coming from 2006:

Dunn hits .221 in 176 PAs (40 walks) with RISP and gets 59 RBI.
Howard hits .256 in 213 PAs (49 walks) with RISP and gets 83 RBI.
Morneau hits .323 in 194 PAs (27 walks) with RISP and gets 94 RBI.
Pujols hits .397 in 167 PAs (41 walks) with RISP and gets 88 RBI.

I realize I picked some good ones there, but Dunn has no one to blame but himself for not having more RBI. Facts are facts. Produce with runners on base and you'll have a greater total of RBI. It's simple logic.

[Hoosier Red]

Believe it or not I think TRF and edabbs agree more than they're letting on.

Dunn has been a top 20 offensive performer. He wasn't last year. His two bad months really dragged down the season.

Per TRF 2007 will be a defining season for him. Does he get back to the production level of a top tier offensive player, or does his OPS continue to slide.

The only difference is TRF believes he will, color edabbs skeptical.
There everybody happy?

[Yachtzee]

Yeah...his RBI total would skyrocket since he is a career .219 hitter with RISP. Again, I realize that average isn't everything but you get most of your RBI from hitting in RISP opportunities. Adam has shown that he doesn't exactly thrive in getting hits in those situations.

Let me break it down for you this way, all stats coming from 2006:

Dunn hits .221 in 176 PAs (40 walks) with RISP and gets 59 RBI.
Howard hits .256 in 213 PAs (49 walks) with RISP and gets 83 RBI.
Morneau hits .323 in 194 PAs (27 walks) with RISP and gets 94 RBI.
Pujols hits .397 in 167 PAs (41 walks) with RISP and gets 88 RBI.

I realize I picked some good ones there, but Dunn has no one to blame but himself for not having more RBI. Facts are facts. Produce with runners on base and you'll have a greater total of RBI. It's simple logic.

Let's wait and see on Howard and Morneau. They had great seasons last year, but it was Howard's first full season and Morneau didn't exactly tear it up in 2005. Pujols, of course, is a rare talent indeed.

[Roy Tucker]

At last we have reached ouroboro stage of the thread.

I had to look that one up.

[edabbs44]

Let's wait and see on Howard and Morneau. They had great seasons last year, but it was Howard's first full season and Morneau didn't exactly tear it up in 2005. Pujols, of course, is a rare talent indeed.

Wasn't trying to compare Dunn to those three. Just saying that if anyone wants Dunn to have more RBI, he needs to pick up his performance in those situations. Hitting in a different spot in the order won't matter.

Believe it or not I think TRF and edabbs agree more than they're letting on.

Dunn has been a top 20 offensive performer. He wasn't last year. His two bad months really dragged down the season.

Per TRF 2007 will be a defining season for him. Does he get back to the production level of a top tier offensive player, or does his OPS continue to slide.

The only difference is TRF believes he will, color edabbs skeptical.
There everybody happy?

Agreed. I'm tired.

[Ltlabner]

Part of Marty's problem with Dunn is probably something he doesn't realize. This is Dunn's 3rd Manager. All three have had ideas of how to "fix" his swing or his approach. Marty is feeding of their poor results to make Adam "their" kind of hitter.

I can't imagine how much it would screw with your head to know you have tallent in area A, but constantly have people telling you to focus on B, C, D, E and F instead of helping you maximize area A first.

Here's a note from todays BP in an unfiltered article about BJ Upton and Gary Sheffeld.

Sheffield, in fact, was accused of tanking during his 1991 season... I don’t know whether Sheffield tanked, but here’s the parallel: when you have a young, talented baseball player who is unhappy and has some growing up to do and is being told five different things about his future from five different people, you can’t necessarily take the stats at face value.

I thought of your post TRF after reading this on BP and thought it related to the point you were making.