Let's play a game..... Who am I ?

Here are your clues:

!st round draft pick

made MLB debut at age 21

I got trade by the team that drafted me and then that team traded me again.

I am over 6' tall and my official wt is listed as 240#

in my first year my BA was in the low .140's

by the age of 25 I hit more than 100 MLB HRs

after my initial struggle I went on to post multiple season at over .800 OPB

I received MVP votes and finished in the top 5 at least once

I have been to multiple All Star games.

Who am I ?

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You are Paul Konerko?

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It's about more than just drawing walks. It's about getting favorable hitting counts, wearing out starting pitchers, etc.

Thread is hot garbage, btw.

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The Royals have gone to the last two World Series with the exact opposite approach.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Half right.... and the other half would be ?

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Mike Cameron

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another hint... the title of this thread .....

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It's spring training.

Maybe the early parts from last year ate good

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I pointed out the Konerko similarities to these jokers a long time ago.

it is almost uncanny how similar PK and Rizzo's early careers match... I was amazed but you know the 'subbies" will never admit it.

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Ahh OK.. Thought ya meant other half of the trade, konerko didn't really get a chance til the he came to the Sox.. Very fee at bats til he got there.

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Rizzo on the juice would kill Konerko.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

That's true, but the Royals are an odd case. Generally speaking, working counts is the formula for success. You want favorable counts so that the pitcher has to offer up some weak ass get-me-over fastball. You want to get to the opposing team's bullpen by the 6th inning (note that this would not be beneficial against the Royals).

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I'm pretty sure Rizzo was not a first round pick?

What you say may seem correct and is conventional wisdom adopted by most teams, but if it's actually true, why is offense at deadball era levels? Why are guys striking out more than ever without an increase in walks? The entire approach of going to the plate looking to walk rather than looking to hit is wrecking the game.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

You're right.

This is a vastly better version of baseball than the steroid era.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

It's bad in a different way.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

If this baseball is bad what would you call the NBA?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

a 6th round steal by the conman

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I don't know if guys are looking for walks, I think its more about taking one when its there... I hate it when I see a guy 1-2 with 3 pitches fouled off that were out of the zone.

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Something I don't watch.

Seriously, I like baseball regardless, but there are times when it's better than others. The DH era until the early 90s was a really balanced game. Say what you will about the steroid game, it was very popular with fans. I don't know anyone who watches baseball to see guys try to walk.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

That's the game though. You don't want the guy to get caught looking on a two strike count either. He has to protect the plate. He can't take a chance that the ball is going to drop in for a strike.

If they're not going up looking to walk, they are going up looking to see pitches. Seeing pitches is on their minds more than driving the ball. And more and more it ultimately results in a strikeout.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

I would take the guy who strikes out a lessor clip and makes more contact with balls in the zone, if all other numbers are essentially equal.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

There's a difference between guys like Frank Thomas and Ted Williams and the Joey Vottos. In their time, people complained that Thomas and Williams "walked too much". That's silly. But those guys weren't striking out 130-150 times per season. I think Frank only struck out more than 100 times once or twice and Ted whiffed about 30-40 times a year. The difference is they didn't miss good pitches to hit in the interest of running up a pitch count. I don't want my highly paid slugger trying to take a walk in a critical spot so some other guy can do the heavy lifting. Take the walk if the pitch isn't there. That's it.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Which Slugger are we talking about?


or the guy who did this?
[img]
http://bullseye-prod.aggrego.org//wp-ag ... fGj9T2o%3D[/img]

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Rizzo, and every other baseball player, gets paid to be the best baseball player they can be.

Rizzo isn't going to hurt the team overall just to put up better 'traditional slugging" statistics.

He isn't an 80 year old baseball fan. He understands what leads to winning and what leads to Abreu.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

The only way he understands it is by watching the opposing team as his career W/L record is far below .500.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

For now.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I don't think Konerko's career would be looked on very fondly if he hadn't had that completely natural rejuvenation in his 30s.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.