Marty Brennaman on Adam Dunn
The most recent edition of the "Reds Hot Stove League" radio show featured a contentious but one-sided exchange between a caller ("Kenneth from Dayton") and the Reds' long-time announcer Marty Brennaman.
Caller: People here don't realize that Pat Burrell and Adam Dunn don't get paid $12 million to hit .300. They get paid to hit home runs; that's it.Marty's son Thom is understandably concerned about his dad's blood pressure. I will resist the temptation to speculate that he may also have concerns about senility. I will also ignore Marty's inconsistency about whether Dunn is paid, in part, to hit home runs, and concentrate on his main contention, that Dunn does not drive in runs. Somehow Marty must have missed the fact that Dunn has:
Marty: No, they get paid to drive in runs, is what they get paid to do.
Caller: And hit home runs.
Marty: No, unh-uh. Home runs are incidental. It's run production that they are going to get paid for. Adam Dunn hits 40 home runs and barely reaches a hundred RBI's.
Caller: But, if you're going to talk about potential run production, look at his on-base.
Marty: (angrily) I don't care about -- I don't care about his on-base! I get so blasted tired hearing some people talk to me about Adam Dunn's on-base percentage. Adam Dunn ain't paid to walk. Adam Dunn's paid to hit home runs and drive in runs for God's sake, and they can take off, uh, they can take off the walks, and you're out of here! (hangs up)
. . .
Marty: We are heading toward a break. Don't call and talk to me about Adam Dunn's on-base percentage--
Thom: You sure?
Marty: --because it pushes my hot button.
Thom: I would have never known.
Marty: I'm tired of hearing about how many times he walks. He was paid to hit home runs, paid to drive in runs. He homers; he doesn't drive in runs.
Thom: You know, you're too old to get worked up like this.
- The most RBI by a left-handed hitter in the National League over the past 7 years: (2002-2008)
- The most RBI by a left-handed hitter in the National League over the past 6 years: (2003-2008)
- The most RBI by a left-handed hitter in the National League over the past 5 years: (2004-2008)
- The most runs scored by a left-handed hitter in the National League over the past 6 years: (2003-2008)
- The most runs scored by a left-handed hitter in the National League over the past 5 years: (2004-2008)
As Martinbuckeye would say:NTWHBS. Your interpretation is 100% accurate.
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I can think of three people that can make Marty's blood boil just by the mention of their name: 1) Adam Dunn, 2) Buck Showalter, and 3) Jim Bowden
Great post!
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Looks like Marty goes well together with Dusty "Walks clog the bases" Baker. Great piece.
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As a Yankee fan who wants Adam Dunn in the Bronx, I enjoyed reading this. A lot.
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Bluzer....You are like SO many myopic-minded people who worship mere stats. What Marty was trying to say was that Dunn totally sucked when driving in runs when it MEANT SOMETHING! Usually, the run production from Dunn came when the game was not on the line, a blowout, or when the opposing pitcher had the game so in control he could "take some chances" with his pitch selection. If the Reds REALLY needed that big hit....Dunn would choke. Stop ragging on Marty. Stop making insinuations about another man's career choices that you know nothing about.
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Tim, I think if that was what Marty was trying to say, he would have mentioned RISP. And why shouldn't people rag on Marty? I mean, it's not like he doesn't rag on anyone else, is it? He rags on Dunn for driving in "only" 100 runs a year, ignoring the fact that no other Red has driven in that many in a year this century. (This is the 21st century, remember.) And I have heard Marty say on the air that he did not go national because he thought he already had the ideal job, so it's simply not true to say that I know nothing about his career choices.
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Maybe if Dunn had some protection in the lineup he wouldn't "choke" in clutch situations. Since when do ruin's not count for anything? The last I heard every run counts especially if your team is down and you need to stage a rally. Dunn's OBP could be used very effectively if he had someone in the lineup behind him that could hit for average/power and if he had someone in front of him that could get on base as much as he does via the walk and being a selective hitter. There's no denying that Dunn is a pure power hitter. Power hitters don't care about their average they're paid to hit home runs and drive runs in which Mr. Dunn does better than any left hander in, almost, the past decade.
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Merty Brenneman is a MORON
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Sam, we could bat around this issue all day, but in reality, baseball, like politics, is pretty much an unchangeable mindset for most people when you get right down to it....regardless of the facts.
Yes, I concede that if you had the "27" yankees or the '75" Reds it would help most any player be better. But those teams were great because they played as a team, and they executed in the clutch. While it is unrealistic (and perhaps unfair) to compare players to those great teams, it is also unsound logic to make excuses for players that fail in the clutch to blaming it on his teammates. In the majors, players are paid and expected to perform, and perform under all sorts of difficult circumstances. The more successful players learn how to perform under pressure-packed moments (hell, at least a modest amount of times). You say that every run counts for something? Well, yes I agree but I follow the Reds a lot and unfortunately, many, many of the runs Dunn produced were not produced when they counted the MOST....i.e. when those runs would have made a difference in the outcome of the game. If you want to argue stats, I concede that Dunn hits a ton of home runs (mostly solos). Before you blame those solo home runs on his teammates not being on base enough, mind you that Dunn has had ample opportunities to drive in runs in scoring position but did not execute. The stat lovers somehow overlook this glaring fact. My thoughts here are not to disparage Dunn personally. He COULD be that great player. He is young and talented and probably a great person. He just needs to find that next level that I believe he could if would focus his energies on those meaningful run-producing opporunities.
Bluzer: I appreciate your taking time to answer my comments.
Lone Ranger: Your insult to Marty (by the way genius, it is spelled MARTY) was uncalled for.
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The Adam Dunn is not clutch thing is greatly exaggerated. I'm going to use WPA which isn't perfect, but does an alright job of measuring in-game value in terms of what a player provided in concrete terms of increasing his team's chances to win.
Adam Dunn ranked 29 in terms of WPA, ranking above MVP candidates like Kevin Youkilis, Josh Hamilton, and Ryan Howard, and other great players like Curtis Granderson, Milton Bradley, Nick Markakis, Chase Utley, and Alfonso Soriano.
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You obviously don't follow Dunn when he chokes so many, many times. The Reds might have won a couple of pennants if not for He and Griffy....the other over-rated bust.
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There is no question that Dumb Adam Dunn is overrated and overpriced in this free agency market. He is a one dimensional player whose only tool is that he can hit the ball about 2 miles- when he does hit it. Dunn is a lifetime .247 hitter who hit considerably lower than that in 2008 with both Az and Cincy. Conversely, Ken Griffey Jr does not deserve the label " overrated bust" Unlike Adam Dunce who I have never seen signing an autograph for any fan, even a child, Griffey is a class act who is a surefire 1st ballot HOFer. His injuries which were beyond his control, are a tragedy for the American institution of baseball.
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Dude, you have got to be on opiates!! Next to Ken Harrelson, Brenneman is by far the worst baseball announcer I have ever heard. Do you think that he is stuck doing baseball on RADIO in Cincinatti which, in MLB is considered a third world market, because he has any talent or fan appeal? This guy and his kid are worthless lowclass BUMS, losers, incompetent morons
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LOL...tsk,tsk..Just when I thought you beginning to talk like a rational human bieng there you go regressing into a dumbass again. Firstly, this discussion is supposed to be on the impact ballplayers have on thier game....not on mean-spirited insults to other people. Why do you do that? Marty, by the way, does not need me to defend him. I doubt that you would have the balls to debate with him about anything, let alone baseball, which he knew more about by the time he was probably ten years old than you will ever know in your beer-drinking, hot-tempered life. He would tear you a new asshole in a battle of wits. However, you are correct that Dunn has been a major disappointment in the clutch. It never ceases to amaze me that people fail to distinguish stats from "timely" production. Stats are for egos, cluch production is for champions.
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Actually, you are wrong because the thread of this discussion is was initiated as a reaction to Marty Morons inane outburst. Keeping this to baseball, I think that the Nationals screwed up signing Dunn to a 20 million dollar contract. Plain and simple. the dude isn't worth that kind of bread. It looks like the Nationals are getting ready for an American League campaign with tons of hitting and no pitching. Well one thing that we can be sure of is that Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler will do a better job on the radio for the Nats than the Brenneman Bums.
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..... I am well aware that the nats play in the NL East. It just looks like they are gearing for an AL campaign with their power laden offense which is not supported by much pitching.
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Dunn and Griffey are gone, thank God.
As for Marty, I can understand his frustration with Dunn. The real issue with Dunn was his strike out ratio. Had Dunn understood the value of BABIP, he wouldn't have been swinging for the fences all the time. And he would have had 120 RBIs on average each year.
All Dunn cared about was how many homers he'd hit, so he could get the big money contract.
His selection at the plate was more the opposing pitcher deciding on whether to pitch to him. In a clutch situation, the pitcher would either pitch around Dunn or bare down and strike him out.
Marty understands that. Dunn was not a team player and neither was that big ego, Ken Griffey Jr.
These guys were two major reasons the Reds have sucked over the last five years.
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A former co-worker called the Reds Announcer 'Marty Bitterman.' Good name for him.
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To anyone saying Marty is dumb or a bad broadcaster...he is a freaking Hall of Famer!!! More than anything any of you schmucks have accomplished. And I love his honesty in a media filled with political correctness. The stats thrown out about 'most RBI's by a left hander in the NL' are mostly by circumstance. Most great RBI hitters are in the AL, he has been healthy every year, has been in the NL every year, and hits in the middle of the order every year. Also, he plays in Cincy. Ryan Howard will dwarf Dunn's numbers and do it in 2 years less than Dunn's 7. The fact is, because he hits 40 HR's every year doesn't mean he is indispensable. The Reds will be a much better team with him gone.
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Too bad you live in Cincinatti and only hear the minor league rants of Marty and Thom Brenneman. Maybe someday you will get to hear some professional broadcasters do a game.
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Brenneman's NOT a Hall Of Famer, no matter how much he likes to promote himself as such. He was voted the Frick award by his fellow broadcasters, but that does not make one a member of the Baseball Hall Of Famer. Anyone who doubts this can easily check it on the Baseball Hall Of Fame's official website-it makes a point of declaring that Frick award winners are NOT to be considered Hall Of Famers on its front page. This was in repsonse to egos like Brenneman's (and other winners of the award) that insist upon putting themselves in with the players and managers who actually are members of the HOF.
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Agreed! The only thing a Ford Frick award proves is that he has hung around for a substantial time as a broadcaster. The Bittermans, Marty with his ridiculous 60's combover, are by far two of the absolute worst baseball broadcasters that I have ever had the misfortune to hear call a game. They are exiled to radio in Cincinnati for a reason, and it sure isn't that they have any talent.
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