Reds 2014: The Price of Homer's Odyssey

Media reports that the Reds might actually be getting close to signing Homer Bailey. That would be a definite investment in the club going forward especially in the light of a angsty quiet hot stove for the Reds and their fans.

All this happening under the banner of a new manager, former pitching coach Bryan Price with the toothpick sent into the northern California sun.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/19/sports/baseball/little-leaguer-who-met-jeter-at-age-12-to-play-against-him-in-his-final-season.html?_r=0

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/02/19/sports/19FRAZIER2/19FRAZIER2-superJumbo.jpg

Oh yeah and this thread title also ties into this quote from Vin Scully's Dodgers/Reds broadcast last year I read about.

“Homer Bailey. Homer’s Odyssey. From Texas to the big leagues. And here he is in Los Angeles. No balls and two strikes.”
—Vin Scully

If Billy Hamilton plays good defense and is a terror when he gets on base, even a .325 OBP will probably be good enough. Hamilton won't be an upgrade on Choo at the plate no doubt, but he would be a upgrade on Drew Stubbs as he is not a self winding K machine. Every time Hamilton gets on base with Votto at the plate should be interesting.

Reds success depends on how many of the parts have a good year. If Ryan Ludwick bounces back, Todd Frazier improves some at the plate and Zach Cozart puts up a year like his last six weeks last year and Hamilton provides that above and the pitching doesn't get the injury bug - they are a playoff team. More goes right, the more they win vice versa with losing. They should be decent either way I figure.

This was a pretty good small article about Reds new backup catcher Brayan Pena.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/c-pena-gives-reds-cuban-214916400--mlb.html

I'll get these links on this year's Reds thread. It's a pretty good set of interviews with Joey Votto.

http://www.700wlw.com/onair/lance-36474/did-you-miss-joey-votto-on-12009654/

Joey Votto is just the man.

― earlnash, Friday, February 7, 2014 1:15 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is the other interview that I was going to post.

http://www.espn1530.com/onair/lance-mcalister-7818/did-you-miss-joey-votto-on-sports-talk-12035797/

― earlnash, Friday, February 7, 2014 4:13 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Joey Votto - part 3.

http://www.700wlw.com/onair/lance-36474/podcast-joey-votto-on-sports-talk-round-3-12053496/

― earlnash, Tuesday, February 11, 2014 11:35 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.redreporter.com/2014/3/8/5481770/a-storied-rivalry-part-i

Cool history article about the Reds and Cardinals rivalry.

“I don't have nothing to say to those cats. They know what the deal is. They just talk about how I was falling off and declining. How the (expletive) am I declining? I had 100 ... ribbies (RBI) last year. And I did that with one ... hand. And I won a Gold Glove? So how the (expletive) am I declining? Come on, man."

—Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, on refusing to speak with beat writers this year

is there an easy way to search for number of times a player hit with runners in scoring position in 2013? i'm trying to use baseball-reference's play finder but i'm not having much luck.

espn has it in splits: http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/31359/matt-adams

thanks! and i just found it in fangraphs' splits, too: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=0&season=2013&month=29&season1=2013&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=5,d

I think some of BP's decline last year has to be tied to when he got hit on the wrist against the Pirates back on June 1st. He just didn't hit with much power after that happened.

.296/.347/.481 at June 1st
.261/.310/.396 at season's end

I think this is something that isn't written into the dialog that perhaps should be.

john fay insists that it was mentioned constantly

Hadn't seen that article, but I have seen a few articles focusing on BP being 32 and starting to fade. BP did pretty much fry out a bit in the media overall last year, but hey, Phillips said it so he owns it. Calling the owner a liar after he gave you 70+ million bucks wasn't that smart a move. In the end, it's only going to cost Phillips as he has probably lost some luster in the local fans eyes.

Cincy is a bit fickle and prickly town when it comes to sports media coming off 20+ years of bad Reds and Bengals teams along with whatever failures UC and Ohio St add to the jaded miasma. It doesn't get wrote up as much nationally as say Cleveland or Philly, but it is there.

BP is not the only one that has run into this kind of stuff, Homer Bailey basically flipped the bird to Marty Brennaman after that no hitter for him riding his ass for a few seasons and didn't even allow to be interviewed on the Reds radio post-game after throwing his second no hitter. It wasn't really that smart for Ryan Ludwick to call out the fans for not attending games down the stretch after he separated his shoulder with that gonzo head first slide on opening day and lost pretty much the season.

It's been a weird off season for the Reds as last years 90 win club ultimately was a disappointment, which is why Dusty got shown the door.

I think the lack of off-season moves really is just the current environment of MLB. A whole lot of clubs didn't make moves. It seemed to me that overall there was more pitching available and really decent bats were pretty scarce on the trade/free agent market. The Reds were able to extend Bailey at a decent cost, which could turn out some benefits and that along with bounce back years could be enough.

brandon phillips is also not speaking to earlnash, who spent all winter trying to trade him to the braves/yankees/anyone

Probably so... :)

I think they tried, but my guess is that people wanted the Reds to eat too much money. It was pretty funny that the Yankees said Phillips was too expensive with like 58 million left on his contract then turn around and sign Brett Gardner for like $52 million.

I think the club that Cincy should have been talking to Baltimore as I think they need a couple pitchers and they might have been able to work something with them before they signed Cruz. Don't know who the Reds would have gone to get, but they seem like a team that didn't do much either in the off season. Or heck call the White Sox, as those dudes are crazy.

On the field, I don't have much problems with Phillips, he plays every day and does his job. The guy is the best fielding second basemen that I have seen play on a regular basis. I grew up watching Sandberg and Phillips has more range and a better arm. Can't really compare to Alomar or O-Dog, as I never saw them play that much.

http://espn.go.com/blog/spring-training/post/_/id/1869/price-will-likely-be-a-great-leader

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2014/03/14/cincinnati-reds-bryan-price-dusty-baker/6443139/

Bryan Price won't play matchups with bullpen.

It's only spring training, but Hamilton has definitely been doing what the Reds want. He's putting the ball in play, drawing walks and stealing bases.

Reds got some injuries piled up this spring even outside Chapman getting stunned by the come backer.

Mat Latos is going to start the season on the DL.

Jonathan Broxton doesn't look like he will be ready any time soon.

Sean Marshall sadly sounds kind of bad, it looks like he might be out a while. I hope he gets better. I really like watching him pitch. His curve is real good, I'm kind of surprised he got left a reliever. The guy has three pitches.

Skip Schumaker has a bad shoulder and is going to miss a few weeks.

Bailey, Cueto, Mesoraco and a few others are banged up. I sure hope that sore muscle isn't the same one that has fell Cueto the past couple of years too.

Alfredo Simon has been prepping to start all spring training, he will move up to the rotation.

Brett Marshall seems to be the guy that some articles thing will end up in the bullpen filling in. He was a Yankee farm hand and I think is out of options type thing. He might be a free agent if he doesn't make roster opening day.

It looks to me that Roger Bernadina is going to make the Reds out of spring training probably as outfielder/pinch hitter.

Neftali Soto seems to be a player of interest in whether he will make the club. He has hit with some power and the Reds have had the primary first basemen playing at third and also back at catcher, where he played earlier in his minor league career. The guy has some pop and part of the idea is if he makes club, then Brayan Pena would be available for pinch hitting, as there would be still another catcher.

http://redlegnation.com/2014/03/27/this-week-on-the-farm/

There are some good names in this list of Reds minor league coaching staff. Quite a few coaches are guys I remember seeing play and some not all that long ago. Elmer Dessens name really jumped out at me on the list.

billy hamilton's first 4 PAs of 2014 are strikeouts

not trying to rub this in reds' fans faces (and there's more innings to be played of course), but what's the deal with bryan price? the cardinals' (idiotic) broadcasters have mentioned a few times that price doesn't "believe" in the whole thing where you try to have a right-handed pitcher throw to a right-handed hitter, playing the advantages, etc. instead (according to the announcers at least) he's apparently much more inclined to pick a guy for an inning and stick with him, regardless?

i was skeptical when they said that, but during that last inning Ondrusek was having crazy control problems that persisted throughout the inning, and he was probably lucky to get out of it with only 3 runs scored. and price didn't make any sort of change?

i dunno, i guess i'm just wondering if there are rumblings among reds' fans about this or what

I think the problem is that the Reds bullpen is running with some arms that would be in AAA if Chapman, Sean Marshall and Broxton were healthy on the roster. Manny Parra is the only other lefty they got and he pitched in the first two games. He did start the inning with really the only available lefty in Bell then Adams clubbed the double and it all started.

Price's angle on bullpen use is more that you don't keep getting people up and down and burn arms that could be throwing pitches in games instead of in the pen. I think the angle being that Dusty did that a crap ton with the obvious under lying message perhaps being that some of the over use of guys like Nick Masset and Sean Marshall perhaps be tied to it. That's my reading of the tealeaves.

I'd figure Sam LeCure would have been the guy they would have gone to instead of Ondrusek if Broxton and/or Chapman were around.

'...Nick Masset and Sean Marshall injuries perhaps be tied to the practice'

~billy hamilton watch~

also, as i'm sure you all saw: https://twitter.com/MattSebek/status/451846715956420608

i cringed when adams did that. i was hoping the replay would show it to be more of a friendly broseph move on adams' part, but it looks more like he was just frustrated with the fan.

man, that Hoover pitch to Davis was a 73mph hanger

The Reds bullpen has had a couple bad days this week, but I'd say Parra getting a 2 inning save today was in line with some of what Price was talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Asf5Exg94NI

hamilton tags, scores on a popup, basically

I got to say so far the Reds are playing up to form shown the past few years. They struggle against clubs with top pitching and then seem to demolish second rate stuff. If you go 4-8 and lose all four series against clubs that pitch well, you are going to have to play big against the dregs. The Reds have pretty much done this for the past few years.

The Pirates are struggling in the same way, they are getting pitching and not scoring much. Reds and Pittsburgh for six games in the next week or so are big division games.

Reds got the Cubs for two series coming up in the next couple of weeks. Cincy has owned them pretty hard the past few years, especially in Wrigley. I'm sure the Cubs management has been reminding everyone of that fact and it will be interesting to see if this relationship changes. Chicago has also gotten some pretty good pitching out of the gate.

The past couple of years of baseball reminds me of the game from when I was kid around 82' and 83' as the power numbers were much lower and overall team ERA was much lower. The K numbers these days are pretty crazy, that part of the game is different.

Oh yeah there was a couple of cool off-field stories during Reds telecast.

I guess Evan Longoria out of tribute to Dave Parker printed up a bunch of the classic black t-shirt from the We are Family Days. Cincinnati native Dave Parker along with other Red/Cincy Natives Ron Oester and Ken Griffey Jr. are going into the Reds Hall of Fame this year. Parker was a guest of the Reds this weekend and I guess had a meetings with both clubs and Thom B. mentioned that Joe Madden said each player went back to meet The Cobra and that the scene was like going to meet the Godfather. Pretty cool. Get well Cobra!

http://sports.cbsimg.net/images//visual/whatshot/Parker_boppin2.jpg

The Pirate and Reds games are pretty interesting, if not oddly unlike their other games. Walker will probably finish with 13 HRs and hit 8 of them against the Reds.

GABP is a crazy home run park usually when it is really hot, but that right field porch at the field is so open when the wind is gusty, it's crazy easy to hit a home run if you get it up as it will catch the wind without the stadium in the way. When it's hot the breeze comes off downtown straight over that river which is so much cooler.

I got to say though I like seeing Mesoraco and Super Todd getting some big hits early in the year. The Reds can just pencil Votto into #2 and leave it that way.

The bullpen is pretty f-ing scary at this point.

Cozart: .109/.146/.152

Hopefully Cozart can figure it out as the Reds really don't have any other good options at shortstop at all. From what I have been reading, the guy is trying to pull everything and pretty much grounding out all the time. That said, he is pretty good with the glove. If he can get back to .250 and hit doubles like he has the past couple years, that should do.

It's been a good three games. The bats have woke up and the pitching has been down right excellent. For all the hype, you can't fault and have to like seeing guys like Mike Leake and Alfredo Simon do great work like that.

Considering all the talk surrounding Homer, Latos and Cueto and extending them etc., I think Leake is a really fine pitcher. Mike Leake is going to be more pitch to contact than a strikeout pitcher, but he's becoming very polished starting pitcher. He's got good control and placement. I'd say being able to play with Bronson Arroyo pretty much has setup a roadmap for what he could possibly do. All I am saying is that I would not be surprised if Leake puts in a 1000 innings for some club over the next five years of solid starts keeping a club in a game.

Alfredo Simon has been a real great pickup for the Reds. I don't know if it was a change in scenery or the coaching of Bryan Price but Simon has been real good in Cincinnati. Never saw him pitch in Baltimore, but he's done well out of the bullpen and this starting stint has been something else so far. He can throw hard, every once in a while he would hit mid 90s out of the pen. Considering that Cingrani is going to have some innings restrictions and Latos is probably not going to be ready at least for a few more weeks, Simon is going to get some starts. I know as a fan, I like to see players that struggle for a long time finally figure it out.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/19/reds-activate-reliever-sean-marshall-from-the-disabled-list/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

This move is kind of surprising. Stories a month back in spring training were making it sound like Sean Marshall was in pretty bad shape and might be out a while. I hope the guy can come back. I like watching Marshall pitch. If he can get healthy and build back up, I'd think a guy with his skills would be worth a shot as a back of the rotation starter. I think in Chicago he got moved to the pen by default as they had a good rotation and their bullpen was a mess, so perhaps they gave up on him a bit early. To me, Marshall has three legit pitches and with that curve, I see him as a pitcher that could possibly work hitters over multiple at bats.

Hamilton is going to struggle to get on base enough to make it matter, but here is another example of how his speed pretty much can make a run out of nothing.

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/26271672/v32283845/cinpit-hamilton-uses-speed-to-score-run-for-reds/?c_id=cin

this cueto fellow is pretty good

I'm sure for Johnny Cueto it is some small victory pounding back to back 3 hitters against the Bucs after last seasons playoff debacle. Cueto is now 15-5 career against the Pirates.

Good start by Tony Cingrani and finish by the bullpen. With the 3 out of 4 from the Pirates that puts the Reds back at .500 at 11-11. Not bad considering the bullpen issues the Reds have had this month and how cold the bats were that first week.

Hamilton homered! Ben Revere in no danger.

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/4/30/5668358/daily-puig-billy-hamilton-home-run-reds

Reds bullpen is just awful so far this year.

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v32496719/chccin-dad-makes-great-catch-with-toddler-in-tow

Good weekend for the Reds winning 3 out of 4 from the Brewers. They got Skip Schumacher back today and should get the Missile back next weekend.

Alfredo Simon has been really good filling in for Mat Latos this year.

I'm glad the Brew crew decided to play match up as that lefty reliever Smith was dealing. He had great movement on his pitches and totally had Jay Bruce confused. Of course the righty that comes in gives up a 400 foot shot to Brandon Phillips. Oh well...it happens.

Looks like Jay Bruce is going to be out for a month or so with knee surgery.

Ouch. It's not going to be easy to replace his bat in the Reds lineup.

the reds apparently have an outfielder on the 40 man roster named Juan Duran, which I absolutely cannot help but try to pronounce like yoo-ANNE dur-ANNE every time I see it

Hamilton: .245/.280/.330 and 11/16 in steal attempts

Johnny Cueto is at 1.4 fWAR and 3.5bWAR ( and 295 era+).

Sounds like the Reds might be dodging a couple bullets as Votto's MRI came up negative and he just has a strain in his leg and Jay Bruce is doing well and might be back within a week or so.

Reds also got Mesoraco back in a big way hitting the 3 run HR last night as Simon put together a good start coming of the clubbing the Rockies put on him last time out.

SweetSpot had an amazingly tiny list of comps for Cueto's start this year (extending back to his final '13 start). Pitchers who've had 10 consecutive starts of 7+ innings and 2 or fewer runs:

Tom Seaver (1971) -- 13 starts/0.94 ERA
Mike Scott (1986) -- 12/1.40
Dwight Gooden (1985-86) -- 12/0.69
Ferdie Schupp (1916-17) -- 12/0.57
Gaylord Perry (1974) -- 11/0.92
Larry Dierker (1969) -- 11/1.33
Bob Gibson (1968) -- 11/0.27
Jim Merritt (1967) -- 11/1.53
Don Sutton (1976) -- 10/0.89
Johnny Niggeling (1943-44) -- 10/1.05
Johnny Cueto (2013-14) -- 10/1.25

The list goes back to 1914. Ferdie Schupp? Johnny Niggeling?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/cincinnati-reds-washington-nationals-340519120/?lbx=gs235&lbxexp=1

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/70087564/v33000857

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/70087564/v33001615

Two crazy good catches bailing out the Reds bullpen last night.

Reds had one of their best games tonight. Billy Hamilton definitely got Lincecum and the Giant's off their game causing a couple of bad quick throw errors that led to runs.

Billy Hamilton went yard for number 2 today. He's done ok. I'd love to see Hamilton get some more walks, but the guy has been a GREAT glove in centerfield this year for the Reds. He's got a very good arm. Don't know the metrics, but his defense has looked great to me. Hamilton still has some short stop in him too, the guy is very fundamentally sound in hitting the right guy in a relay situation. I got to think though they might be tempted to let him try some more at short at some point.

Homer Bailey seems to be able to throw better pitches 90+ pitches than he is in the first 25-30 pitches. Lot of power pitchers have that problem, it takes them a while to get going. It’s a big reason the Unit and Nolan Ryan walked so many people. They were not that good early, but once they got into a groove, they shut it down. Homer while of course not to that level (although I think it possible) is a similar pitcher style wise.

I’d love to see the Reds perhaps start stretching Chapman out. I’d basically have him set up twice a week to try to go for a 2-3 inning save. They get up a run early with the back part of the rotation going in the 5th or 6th, you bring in Aroldis and let him go the rest of the way and try to make the 1 run stick. They need to get aggressive with the good part of the pen on some days and try to nasty boys out that last 3 innings. Use the pen to close out games.

Tony Cingrani is going to be on an innings hold for the season. I could see having him miss 1 or 2 starts, perhaps using them in a long man setup like above for a few weeks. Then flip flop him and Simon in the pen. I’d say Cingrani goes to the pen for maybe 4 start turns. Perhaps you have Simon setup at date to cover for Cingrani’s first start, so maybe he only goes 5 (80-95 pitches) to ease him back in. SImon then comes in for a couple innings to get them to the back part of the pen.

@jazayerli
Lowest seasonal WHIP since 1893 (min: 100 IP): 1. Pedro Martinez, 2000: 0.737. 2. JOHNNY CUETO, 2014: 0.775. 3. Walter Johnson, 1913: 0.780.

https://blu178.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=3cE36kP4i5yDsrh3iZTnW3AgXsVaULLm4FhTV032Sis%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fcincinnati.reds.mlb.com%2fcin%2fimages%2femail%2fy2014%2fpromotional%2fCIN_HOFInductionGala_email_b.jpg

Shit, it cut off half...Ken Griffey, Ron Oester, Dave Parker & Jake Beckley are this years entries to the Reds Hall of Fame.

I think this will be a big year, as you have three Cincy natives going into the Reds Hall of Fame.

BILLY HOMERS ON BACK TO BACK DAYS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

reds have optioned cingrani and called up jumbo diaz

it is worth doing a google image search on the latter

from 2/27/14:

Diaz, who turned 30 on Thursday, went from 347 pounds at the end of last season as a closer for Triple-A Louisville to 278 pounds when he reported to camp....

"When I got here and everybody saw me, they said 'where is Jumbo?'" Diaz said. "I said 'I left Jumbo in the Dominican.' I'm New Jumbo right now. I feel really good."

Billy Hamilton turned a dribbler just past Darwin Barney into an easy double leading off the game tonight. Wasn't even close and he went in standing up.

Reds completed the four game sweep of the Giants, first time that has happened out in SF since 1972 back when the Machine was in the NL West.

June has been a good month for Cincinnati. They have won five series straight and are 18-9 for the month.

It's been the weekend for that sort of thing. The Braves' 4-game road sweep of the Phils was the first of those since they were a Milwaukee team.

Four game sweeps are probably pretty rare, as they don't happen but a few times a season and it's hard to win four in a row against any MLB team. The list they had on Reds pregame had only four game sweeps back to the 72 series against the Giants, so basically you are talking only five four game sweeps for the Reds in 42 years. I have no idea whether that is more or less common in baseball.

Including a rain out doubleheader, the Reds and Cubs are playing an even more rare five game series in a couple weeks or so.

they'll be happening a lot more now that they added a ton more 4-game series to the schedule

"Go Reds!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbH4j9JatGI

@based_ball
batters have swung against Aroldis Chapman 271 times, and put the ball in play 44 times

what happened to jay bruce?

Some of it is some bad luck, but he just hasn't hit since hurting his knee for one reason or another.

This has been pretty much a lost season, other than the starting pitching, not a whole lot has gone right.

Hamilton post-All Star:

.211 / .265 / .272

This Reds club has been broken and just flat out sucking in the second half.

This past 3 games series has to be one of the worst Red offensive performances in a good long while.

You got to wonder if the Reds are going to get burned like the Twins on signing long term some of their top home grown players. It has been pretty much a full on lost season for Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Homer Bailey. Brandon Phillips was signed for dollars too, missed a few weeks and his bat seems diminished.

Billy Hamilton was decent in the first half and either clubs adjusted or he wore down as the season went on. Zack Cozart's bat has also been diminished this year, seeming to loose the power he showed in his last couple years. Both Hamilton and Cozart were good gloves.

Leftfield was a melange of less than mediocre play.

Although they both have cooled in the second half, Todd Frazier and Devin Mesoraco have both hit pretty well in 2014. Mesoraco also did decent to well behind plate and the Reds got some decent production out of their backup catcher Brayan Pena.

Outside Pena and Heisey as a pinch hitter (who can't hit when he starts), the Reds bench wasn't that good.

The Reds offense was shutout for the 17th time in 2014. That is the most times the Reds have been shutout in a season since 1943.

That is just terrible, getting shut out better than once every 10 games.

This was kind of unexpected, but cool. Got to like a guy from Jasper, Indiana that is into the classics and can win a gold glove.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/scott-rolen-anti-bowa-green-133003210.html

One other odd fact about Scott Rolen is that he had a basketball scholarship to IU from Bobby Knight and was going to go there and do both basketball and baseball. Rolen was unexpectedly drafted higher than expected in the second round by the Phillies and ended up turning pro in baseball out of high school.

I just hope that Joey Votto and Jay Bruce can come back from this injury filled season, as if they don't, the Reds are sunk. I just hope it doesn't end up like the Twins a few years back that invested big in a couple of home grown players in Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer only to have injuries to largely hobble both and cripple their offense.

I guess it could be worse that the Reds signed Choo for huge money and have him get hurt. Reds do have 'some' money to go looking for a player or sign one of the other starters to an extension.

Getting someone that can get on base and can play a competent left field seems to me to be the biggest need. Second thing would be securing at least one of the upcoming free agent bound starters (Leake, Latos & Cueto) to make a foundation for the starting staff with Homer Bailey. After that, I would figure it would be looking at options at short stop.

Brutal.

"They went 25-42 after the break, matching the club record for second-half futility. The 1933 team also had 25 wins after the All-Star game, the Reds' fewest in a non-strike season."

Adam Dunn definitely belongs in the hall of very good. He's in that big beer league slugger type player group with guys like Greg Luzinski, Richie Sexton, Frank Howard, Dave Kingman, Ryan Howard etc. Texas Rangers old owner tried to trade for him a few times. Dunn probably would have been a bigger name if he would have gotten there in the middle of his career (being a Texan and being able to DH).

Dunn was always a favorite of mine.