Anyone else super paranoid? I know I am. Shaking in my boots that he's gonna be a shell. Is he injured or something? What the hell... Pisses me off. I think Irish's Loney curse is for real.
I won't live 86 years most likely so I would never see a Dodgers Championship. Seriously I'm at a point right now that I'm convinced I will never see a Dodgers title in my life.
i'm no expert but watching gonzo his mechanics look perfect for the player i used to see on a regular basis. he seems to put a swing on the ball but it hits the mitt. all those people who say he's lost his bat speed would seem to be correct. which brings us back to that same old question we seem to have asked about multiple players we have brought in under ned. didn't anyone scout the guy? or did we trade on reputation? don't recall seeing players snap out of a loss of bat speed. add to that the fact our hitting coach seems less than average and it doesn't exactly make me confident as fuck.
So everyone will ignore what he was doing prior to us getting him? He was in a hot streak at the time. So his bat speed just left on the plane ride to L.A.?
well something happened since the trade... Adrian's batting average has dropped 57 points his on base percentage; 48 points and his slugging percentage; 100 points
This pressure shit is self inflicted crap IMO. It's the same batters box. A ball is still coming at you, and you still use a bat. Whenever he misses fastballs right down the middle it is because of pressure? Don't buy it. Hit the ball. 1 HR in 115 PA? Only 16 on the year? Is this the same guy who once hit 40 in SD? He hasn't flexed much muscle in a while. He's not 26 and 6 years is a long time. If .290 with 20 HR is the best we're gonna get, rack up yet another disappointment. We didn't ask for a really solid player, we asked for a star. His OPS is under .800? Jesus. Everyone slumps. Pujols was a little leaguer in April. Gonzo is a proven hitter. But with the way things go for us I'm paranoid we'll get screwed again. Obviously he isn't gonna slug .300 next year. But how good is he gonna be? When does the pressure wear off? We paid a lot of money and gave up some top of the line goods to get you. He says his swing has been a wreck all season. His words. When I picture old Gonzo clips in my head and think of that player in a Dodger uni I'm ecstatic. But, uh, that guy will need to show up next year. I remember he hit an oppo bomb at Dodger Stadium at night when I was there. I thought to myself "holy shit. That was effortless. Not even fair. Slapped it 380 feet over the opposite field wall." I'm not so sure he can do that anymore...can't hit 30 in the AL East joke of stadiums? Again. Most of it is paranoia and some frustration I suppose.
You are right, it is self inflicted, but it's the reality when you assemble a team like this. These guys see who's in the lineup, they can read the papers, the net, and watch sportscenter and MLBTV. Schilling granted them the WS rings the day it was made! You are being more paranoid than realistic I'd say. Of course it's possible he will never be what he was in S.D., very likely I think. That may me due to roids, or lack of playing in the big stage of L.A. But he was damn near the MVP just last year...in BOS even! This season his "horrible" numbers before he came were still way better than most 1B in the NL, maybe all but Votto. You're not buying the "pressing" excuse? What is it then? Is it more easy to say it's a Loney Curse? Are you believing that he somehow lost batspeed on the flight to L.A.? Missing fastballs can very much be due to "trying to do to much". It happens even in slow pitch softball. I've seen it just last week. Two of my buddies were hitting the shit out of the ball in the game prior, hitting the fences. The next game, they didn't hit anything out of the infield and both fouled out once each. They were trying to kill the ball. Big leaguers do it too, and chase bad pitches, and then 2nd guess themselves on good pitches. A milisecond of secong guessing and you're late. It's a cycle that gets worse before it gets better usually. Good thing you mentioned Pujols. He is a great example. Hamilton is another. Both of these guys had a complete month of doing even worse than AGon has done this month. They seem to recover, logic tells me AGon will too. We all hope so.
No. I do no think there is a curse. I think that these Dodgers do not hit. I think that AGon is pressing like a bitch and his bat swing is behind because he is a bit out of shape. I think that next season is when we will get to see what we payed for in one way or another. Kemp is slowly starting to hit again. Hanley has been decent since coming over (the glove irritates the shit out of me). Ethier is finally in the two hole where he should be. AGon is not stupid. He knows that next year everyone is looking at him. I see him working out heavily in the offseason to get rid of extra pounds. We also need some ST where these guys can actually get to know each other.
You can look at it two ways: 1) At 160 million for 6 years, compared to the top players at his position, we are paying UNDER market value for a guy who's been a star as recently as 2011. 2) We took on a total of 260 M and gave up RDL and Webster for a guy who's power is dropping fast (before he got here), and whether or not he's gonna be a great player for us is something we will have to wait 8 months to find out. 'Great', however, means different things to different people I suppose. THERE IS NO WAY HE TURNS INTO A PIECE OF SHIT. It's not in him to be horrible. Too good of a hitter. Hopefully he's battling some injury and is out of shape. He can get healthy and in shape, get better acclimated to the Dodger hitting staff and return to something close to the guy we traded/paid for. Really solid doesn't really cut it for what we gave up and took on. He needs to be close to the guy he was, and do it for most of his contract.
there IS a curse a 2012 curse as I've said before, one spring together will resolve everything guys will learn their roles, who the leaders are, and just fucken relax the problem right now as I see it is that every one of them is trying to be the man all trying to hit bombs, no one doing the little-to-medium things... like just getting the fuck on base :soapbox:
yeah, lets just forget about this month of the season. even the entire season. the players will. lets get healthy and get ready for next year. I'm sure Matthew is fucking pissed, along with Dre and Clayton.
It's all good. I don't think it is even possible to think he will suck. Way too good. Just how big of a threat will he be for us for the next 6 seasons and will we some power return.
What an asshole Gonzo is. Going deep RF and oppo in the same game lol. I'm down with it though. Ford is gonna have a field day with this.
