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Thursday Apr.25/2013

Adam Dunn has hit 40+ HRs 6 times in his career and 38+ HRs in 8 of the last 9 years. He is the Classic ‘3TO’ AKA 3 True Outs: HR/BB or SO. At The MLB Reports, we call it a ‘Dunn Trick’ when he does all 3 in a game. But this year he is hitting a meager .100 – with only 3 HRs. His time may be up.

By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024

Welcome to the 1st installment of the Mid – Week Around the Horn blog.  This weekly piece will feature random thoughts from the MLB – that I just cant go on without saying something.

Notes:

Will somebody please (for the love of god) remove Adam Dunn from  the #4 slot.  I think he would be best hitting 9th – even 2nd (if he continues to walk).  Hitting a .100 as the cleanup hitter has to have cost the club some games.

Shin-Soo Choo is off to a hot start and we are having an awareness week for him at the MLB Reports.  He has a Career 3 Slash Line of .282/.386/.856 and had 20+ Stolen Bases in 3 out of the last 4 years.  The one year he didn’t achieve 20, he swiped 15 Bags in 85 Games.

Shin-Soo Choo trains with the Reds

Brett Lawrie has come back from injury in the last week – already John Gibbons was tossed out of a baseball game defending his Third Baseman with a home plate umpire. Lawrie has to tone it down a bit.

Toronto drew 135,ooo+ fans over their weekend series with the New York Yankees.  Lets see how they draw when lesser light teams come in.  At 9 – 13, the fans may not show the faith in the club yet.

Baltimore finally lost an Extra Inning game last night.  They have been winning with smoke in mirrors for so long.  With Dylan Bundy visiting Dr. James Andrews – and possibly going for Tommy John Surgery, the time to strike for another Starting Pitcher should come soon.

Like we said at the MLB Reports, we were big advocates of Baltimore signing Kyle Lohse.  Milwaukee Brewers can thank their season thus far, that the Veteran Right Handed Pitcher was still available.

The 1st Round Draft Pick compensation is not that steep of price to Milwaukee.  Draft picks are so risky in baseball, that you should never worry about a Draft Pick being lost, (unless you are a top 5 – 6 pick).  

The Mariners should have spent money on a big time bat in Free Agency over the winter.  There are certain teams like:  Baltimore, Seattle and Toronto that can fluctuate 10-15 K fans in attendance by how good their teams are.  Unfortunately a lot of the last 10 years have been a struggle.

Seattle has no business not spending cash.  They feature the 6th biggest city in the USA, and once upon a time drew 40,000 fans a game to Safeco Field.

Yankees fans – do not worry about Ichiro Suzuki‘s slow start.  Fans that followed him in his Seattle days, knows that the man takes off in May every year.

The Washington Nationals feel like that team that is going through growing pains.  I won’t rehash the hard stance we took on this website last year with the whole Stephen Strasburg situation – other than to say you never give up  a chance to go for a World Championship when presented the chance.

Strasburg has been good so far this year, but from the time he knew he was being shutdown  last year (until now), he has lost some of his edge.

Everyone that is a fan of baseball should always cheer for Rick Ankiel.  Again may I point out that the man used to be an incredible pitching prospect?  The man goes down to the Minor Leagues and learns how to be a hitter.  This was not an easy task.  

Ankiel has a huge flair for the dramatic.  With 5 HRs and 11 RBI in just 42 At-Bats this year, he is helping out that Astros club. He may be their 3rd best Starting Pitcher on the club too.  He just won’t ever pitch.

The Tigers should still try to find a better Closer than Jose Valverde for the Post Season this year.  Not sold on that guy despite a nice season debut last evening.

Jason Grilli is looking extremely solid with the Pirates so far this year with converting his 1st 9 Saves.  The Bucs have quietly have  strung together a decent run here after starting slow.

Roy Halladay has looked a lot better in the last few starts.  In my opinion, the Phillies will begin to heat up as the weather does.  ‘Chooch’ also returns in 3 more games.  His influence behind the plate should spark the club.

Ted Lilly pitching well for the Los Angeles Dodgers last night, plus Matt Kemp hitting his 1st HR last evening – has to be a a little bit of consolation for the team – even though the Mets beat them by a Walkoff Grandslam.

It is too bad  Mike Napoli caught for the majority of his Career thus far, who knows how great of a hitter he could have been as a First Baseman.

Coco Crisp is in the middle of all Oakland A’s rallies, scoring 20 Runs in his 1st 19 Games Played.  He also has 7 SB, 11 BB, 8 2B, 5 HRs and 11 RBI this year.  His OPS is 1.043.

Brett Myers has been lit up for 10 HRs allowed so far this campaign.  Gives new meaning to his sound-byte – “Boom…Outta Here…”

Yu Darvish looks like the best pitcher in the AL so far, and Matt Harvey would take the honors in the National League.

Mike Napoli has authored 5 straight years of 20+ HRs in limited AB. I often have wondered just how good the man would have been if he was primarily a First Baseman his entire Career. He leads the Majors with 26 RBI in his 21 Games Played. The big man has belted 15 Extra Base Hits (10 2B,1 3B and 4 HRs) in the young season.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners.***

Chuck Booth – Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner and author of the Fastest 30 Ballgames:   To learn more about my  “The Fastest 30 Ballgames Book” and how to purchase it, click here .

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