1st pick of the 2023 baseball amateur draft
There are no great articles on Grantland. Bill Simmons should be shot for foisting that garbage on us.
The article was pretty much spot on. If Dunn had any respect for the game, he'd just retire.
Are any of those folks who argued that Dunn was a hall of famer still around?
For the most part, I thought the article was accurate.
Dunn's decline is a strange case because he had been SO consistent over previous seasons, we all projected that he would keep up those numbers with a slow gradual decline. What has happened can only be explained as:
1. He "got old" over night. This happens in all sports where a player over 30 who has got some miles on the odometer just loses whatever athleticism that was keeping them competitive.
2. It could be more of a mental thing, compounded by switching leagues and struggling with AL pitching. Just like Tiger Woods problems are largely mental, it could be that Dunn is just in a major funk. Being a DH could be a factor. Maybe playing the OF helped keep him sharp.
3. You also have to consider maybe a more chemical explanation that could involve you know whats. I'm not saying there is any evidence, only that in this day and age you always have to consider it.
All in all I wouldn't be surprised to see Dunn make a comeback next year under the right circumstances.
Dunn hasn't adjusted to being a DH. Its gotta be different. He needs to step up the cardio and get in the weight room. Couldn't hurt. Could him the confidence he needs to become great again.
Kearns was just a good baseball player. Like Jeff Franceour, nothing flashy about his game, not yet a journeyman but knows how to play the game of baseball.
That would imply that Kearns was ever near the top to actually fall from somewhere? I would say it was more like he just rolled over, not an actual fall.
UNC Tar Heels 2017 National Champions 6 time NCAA Champs!!!
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Kearns had the talent. He didn't have the drive to be a great, or even good baseball player.
What a waste.
Kearns was also a little snake-bitten.
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...-kearns-career
What Kearns and Lopez have done after the trade should be some vindication for Krivsky.
Not anymore.
I think his fall off has to do with all the stuff that people were saying over, and over, and over again when he was here. Lazy. No work ethic. No motor to improve or adapt his game. Damn, I just saw his picture, but he looks like he put on about 20-30 lbs since his time here.
People would bash Marty over what he would say about Dunn, but it was all proven right. Maybe he got by on those years here by a friendly homerun park and being relatively young, but it's all come crashing down since then. If you don't put any effort in to adapt and hone your craft, and get better this is what happens.
Dunn benched for the rest of the year basically:
http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story...e-sox-too-long
It is the work ethic that did him in. Only an offseason program with tons of conditioning will get the Sox their 56M dollars worth. I'm actually rooting for him.
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