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| Washington Natiionals |
1B/OF/DH - Adam Dunn wants to remain in the field. Problem is, nobody else seems to want him there. Dunn is an incredibly gifted power hitter whose high strikeout rate is negated by his ability to walk and reach base (.381 career OBP). The big knock on Dunn is his defense, which is not pretty, regardless of where you put him (The Reds preferred LF, the Nationals tried 1B). Dunn has said he does not want to be a Designated Hitter, but once he sees where the contract offers are coming from, I think we’ll see him change his mind.
PREDICTED DESTINATION: Detroit Tigers - dugoutdoctors
Keppinger, like Bourn, doesn't have much power, but he can provide value with exceptional contact skills and a good enough walk rate. He swung and missed only 2.5% of the time, the lowest rate for any MLB player that qualified for the batting title. The 29-year-old does an unreal job of controlling the strike zone and putting the ball into play. He ended up finishing the year with a .288/.351/.393 line- not great, but good for a middle infielder. Without a quality alternative, it's likely that Keppinger is Houston's second baseman again coming into next season.
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| Mack Ade |
Even before his trade to the Mets, I was exasperated by Frenchy. He was a frequent target of the sabermetric Internet snark brigade, and with good reason. Despite awful on-field production, he received golden boy treatment from the mainstream media, who loved covering all of his "I have a new approach!" epiphanies. Baseball Think Factory documented much of it -- the puff pieces, the ridiculous quotes, the bizarre corporate blog. Casual baseball fans don't spend/waste as many of their waking hours reading about baseball as I do, so most Met fans were blissfully unaware of the Jeff Francoeur Chronicles. When he arrived, they saw potential and remembered his infamous Sports Illustrated cover. I saw a .634 OPS and fluff stories about his lucky turkey underwear. To every person who was happy to have him in Flushing, I wanted to scream "You don't understand! It's Jeff Francoeur!"
Naturally, he went on a BABIP-aided hot streak for the Mets in the 2nd half of 2009, just to mess with his doubters. Fans fell in love, beat writers fell harder, and the saber-haters among the fanbase had a new poster boy to wave in the face of the spreadsheet crowd. "Give him an extension!", they said. "He's only 26 you statnerds!", they wailed. Meanwhile, Braves fans sat back and offered up some prescient advice: "Just wait."
The Yankees and representatives of the Bleacher Creatures have come to an agreement to end a long and unfortunate tradition: the taunting of visiting fans in the right-field stands with the lyrics, "Why are you gay?" sung to the "YMCA" song played between innings in mid-game.
A YouTube video filmed by a fan went viral recently, showing Yankee fans in the bleachers serenading a visiting fan with the song, while photos were superimposed in the film of young gay adults and teens who had committed suicide. The Yankees were understandably upset with the homophobic chants and the images associated with them. - NYDN
As usual, there are a number of caveats regarding minor league translations that an inevitable number of people forget and give me a gigantic migraine about.
Translations are not true-talent projections. They are simply translations of lower-level performance that are subject to the same caveats as all performance statistics are. They’re subject to issues of small-sample size. They’re subject to luck, fluke years, career years, injuries, and reflects players not being experience professionally. If you see anyone post “Betances ready for the majors - translation of 3.82 in 14 starts for Tampa” or “Szymborski says Martin Perez is not a prospect” please insult that person in accordance with whatever internet meme is hot at the time in question. - download
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