Mondesi/Gibbons/Sanders/Dunn/Burrell

[canibus]

What do you think of these guys. I currently have them ranked like this taking into account abilty and risk. Burrell could be huge but there is definitely some risk there. Same with Dunn. I see Mondesi doing pretty well this year with the Pirates, but he is an up and down type of player who you need to be ready to bench if he slumps. Gibbons could be in for a career year. Sanders puts up decent hr,r,and rbi totals year in and year out with some sb's as a bonus. He has been having a nice spring, too.

What do you think? AM I missing something important in my assessment? Do you agree/disagree with my ranking?

[Area51's]

I would go:

Gibbons
Mondesi
Sanders

Then a big drop off, then:

Burrell
Dunn

Mainly because of the flirting w/ Mendoza. On a given day, I could probably argue my way around moving around the top three. THey're pretty close given the situation/league.

[sportznow]

I like Gibbons the most, he's got great power potential and Baltimore's lineup looks really good this season.
Gibbons is pretty young also, 27 years old.
Dont be surprised to see 25 HR, 100 RBI, 85 Runs and a .290 AVG.

[Liberty30]

I really think Dunn will pick it back up this year. He may never hit .400, but if you look at his stats, last year was an anomaly. Bob Boone tried to get Dunn to swing more and in the process screwed up his swing a little bit. He should have a stellar year.

Burrell really doesn't have a good excuse for batting his age. I would definitely take Dunn over Pat

[canibus]

I really think Dunn will pick it back up this year. He may never hit .400, but if you look at his stats, last year was an anomaly.

.400? How about just not hitting .215 again. As far as looking at his stats, his BA has gone from .269 to .242 to .215 so that is not exactly reassuring. His HR totals have improved every yer, though, and I keep hearing predictions of 35+ this year. That would be nice. Yeah, I hope he turns things around this year. And IO think he has a better chance than Burrell.

Don't count Pat out, though. His BA is the one that really was an anomally, having gone from .258 to .282 the two previous years only to bat .209 last year. In 2002 he had 96 runs, 37 hr and 116 rbi along with a .544 slugging %. Plus, he's had 520+ at bats the last 3 years.

If you o to Dunn's news on ?Yahoo I jus found an intereting article about Dunn's brain

[Liberty30]

Thanks for the tip, interesting article


Dunn, 24, rarely swings at a bad pitch -- he walked 128 times in 2002, his first full season. With Ken Griffey Jr. hurt again, the Reds needed home runs, not walks, out of their biggest batter.

Dunn was told to swing at pitches off the plate in 2002. He did -- and struck out a club-record 170 times in 158 games. He finished with 26 homers.

Swinging away didn't work.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-reds-dunn&prov=ap&type=lgns

This is why I feel that his average (within reason) will go up. Minimum .260 IMHO.