Willie, Bloomquist and the Dunn

Although he doesn't offer much offensively, Willie Bloomquist's versatility in the field excites many baseball fans. AP

I think it's probably fair to say that Adam Dunn, for all his obvious talents, can be a remarkably frustrating player to watch. He is a dreadful left fielder, a designated hitter in outfielder's clothes. He's slow*. He strikes out a ton. He hits .225 with runners in scoring position for his career (and over his career he has never hit better than .248 in those situations). He walks (797 times) about as often as he gets a hit (955 hits) -- those walks might be good for value but that doesn't make them fun to watch. There is a sense around the game that he does not especially like playing baseball; and nobody who has watched him play with any regularity would argue that he demonstrates Willie Mays' joy.

*Though it should be noted that he's not a bad base runner ... according to the Bill James base runner analysis he's actually a very GOOD base runner. He's brutal going first to third, as you might expect, but he tends to score from second on singles and from first on doubles, he doesn't run into many stupid outs, he doesn't get caught stealing, and he doesn't ground into many double plays (though in his case that probably has little to do with his running and a lot to do with his fly ball tendencies and his many, many strikeouts).

At the same time, I think it's probably also fair to say that Willie Bloomquist, for all his obvious shortcomings, can be a fun player to watch, if you are a certain kind of baseball fan. He plays all the positions -- he has at least 10 games at every position but pitcher and catcher -- and he seems to play them all credibly. He can run (he has stolen 71 bases in 87 attempts), and he hustles, and he has that underdog thing going for him. He has only six career homers, but, hey, one was a grand slam. No one who has ever watched Willie Bloomquist play would doubt that the guy loves ball.

Yes, in my mind, Adam Dunn and Willie Bloomquist are almost perfect opposites. And while they are not anything close to equal baseball players, I would also say that you would not want to build a whole team of Bloomquists or Dunns*.

*According to the Baseball Musings Lineup Analysis -- one of my favorite toys -- a whole team of 2008 Adam Dunns would average 6.67 runs per game -- so that's 1,080 runs per season.

A whole team of 2008 Willie Bloomquists, meanwhile, would average 4.177 runs per game -- 677 runs per season. So using the Musinator, Dunn is 400 or so runs better offensively than Bloomquist. That sounds about right to me. Of course, it's downright frightening to imagine how two Adam Dunns would turn the double play.

By the way, this Lineup Analysis is sort of a fun way to compare players. Take the great NL MVP race of 2008.

According to the Musinator:

-- A team of 2008 Albert Pujols would score 1,488 runs for a season.

-- A team of 2008 Ryan Howards would score 977 runs for a season.

So, by this way of thinking, Pujols is 500-plus runs better. And he's a much better defensive player, and a much better base runner, and ... I'm really not sure why this was ever really an argument.

It's also a fun way to look at the Hall of Fame ballot. Here, using the players' career numbers, is what a complete team made up of each player would score for a season:

Mark McGwire: 1,199 runs per season.

Rickey Henderson: 953 runs per season.

Jim Rice: 948 runs per season.

Tim Raines: 918 runs per season.

Don Mattingly: 916 runs per season.

Dale Murphy: 880 runs per season.

Dave Parker: 864 runs per season.

Andre Dawson: 837 runs per season.

Alan Trammell: 812 runs per season.

Of course, that's just offense, and it doesn't take into account much base running, the home park or anything else. A defensive spread with McGwire or Rice is positively frightening, and I'm not sure how a lefty-throwing Rickey plays shortstop or catches. I would say that eight Trammells would have the best defensive team, though it's worth remembering that Murphy began his career as a catcher.

I find all this to be a little bit more than an interesting side note -- I think that, in many ways, Dunn and Bloomquist represent opposing philosophies about baseball.

I think the Adam Dunn philosophy is built around what you can see, what is measurable, what is cold and hard and real. With Dunn, you get a titanic power hitter who plays every day, hits long home runs (exactly 40 every year -- no more, no less), walks a lot, strikes out every three or four at bats, plays zero positions, doesn't have much speed and doesn't do those little things that show off his great love of the game. The Dunn Way is the Michael Corleone Way, strictly business.

The Willie Bloomquist philosophy, meanwhile, is built around passion, what is intangible, this sense that if you can get a bunch of guys who KNOW HOW to play the game, who LOVE the game, who HAVE BASEBALLS BEATING IN THEIR CHESTS, then you can do wonderful things (even if the players can't hit worth a damn). With Bloomquist you have an astonishingly weak hitter who plays occasionally, cracked ONE EXTRA BASE HIT last year*, doesn't get on base, plays seven defensive positions, can really run and gets his uniform so dirty that, according to his jarringly lengthy Wikipedia entry, he has over the years been called (mostly in jest/derision) Wee Willie, Ballgame, The Ignitor, Effin, WFB, The Spork, Princess Willie, Willie Boom-Boom and, by Angels announcer Rex Hudler, The Mighty Bloomquist.

*Fewest extra base hits in a season (30 or more total hits)

1. Willie Bloomquist, 2008, 1 XBH, 46 hits

2. Glenn Beckert, 1974, 1 XBH, 44 hits

3. Bill Killefer, 1921, 1 XBH, 43 hits

4. Eddie Miller, 1979, 1 XBH, 35 hits

Luis Gomez, 1974, 1 XBH, 35 hits