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I was thinking about how awesome Vlad is despite being a completely free swinger and going after nearly any pitch thrown at him. So my next thought: best all time free-swingers lineup. I don't know <i>that</i> much about specific players' styles like you all might so I need your help. Other lineup ideas could be "Most Patience" or "Best Three True Outcomes" (that one specifically looks interesting.)
1 Juan Pierre - OF
2 Ichiro Suzuki - OF
3 Vlad - DH
4 Sammy Sosa - OF
5 Alfonso Soriano - 2nd
6 Nomar Garciaparra - SS
7 ?
8 ?
9 Bengie Molina - C
That's the best I can come up with so far. It would be a fun team to watch.
If Angelo had picked McClellin, I would have been expecting to hear by training camp that kid has stage 4 cancer, is actually 5'2" 142 lbs, is a chick who played in a 7 - 0 defensive scheme who only rotated in on downs which were 3 and 34 yds + so is not expecting to play a down in the NFL until the sex change is complete and she puts on another 100 lbs. + but this is Emery's first pick so he'll get a pass with a bit of questioning. - 1060Ivy
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<!--quoteo(post=106032:date=Jul 18 2010, 01:19 PM:name=bz)-->QUOTE (bz @ Jul 18 2010, 01:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I was thinking about how awesome Vlad is despite being a completely free swinger and going after nearly any pitch thrown at him. So my next thought: best all time free-swingers lineup. I don't know <i>that</i> much about specific players' styles like you all might so I need your help. Other lineup ideas could be "Most Patience" or "Best Three True Outcomes" (that one specifically looks interesting.)
1 Juan Pierre - OF
2 Ichiro Suzuki - OF
3 Vlad - DH
4 Sammy Sosa - OF
5 Alfonso Soriano - 2nd
6 Nomar Garciaparra - SS
7 ?
8 ?
9 Bengie Molina - C
That's the best I can come up with so far. It would be a fun team to watch.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You gotta have Randall Simon in there at 1B.
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Manny Sanguillen would be the catcher. He used to regularly smack hits by swinging at balls over his head, like you do in whiffleball.
And yeah, Simon was a classic.
Kung Fu Panda is definitely the 3rd baseman. That guy swings at <i>everything,</i>
especially if it's out of the strike zone. (shockingly, NL pitchers have caught on to this, and his stats are WAY down from last year).
Jeff Francouer would make the bench.
There's nothing better than to realize that the good things about youth don't end with youth itself. It's a matter of realizing that life can be renewed every day you get out of bed without baggage. It's tough to get there, but it's better than the dark thoughts. -Lance
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I don't think Sosa really belongs.
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<!--quoteo(post=106044:date=Jul 18 2010, 01:38 PM:name=Brock)-->QUOTE (Brock @ Jul 18 2010, 01:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I don't think Sosa really belongs.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Even in '98 when he won the MVP, he was still kind of a hacker, IIRC.
He gets credit for refining his approach; steroids or not, his 2001 season was one of the greatest offensive years in baseball history, and by then, he was definitely willing to take a walk.
There's nothing better than to realize that the good things about youth don't end with youth itself. It's a matter of realizing that life can be renewed every day you get out of bed without baggage. It's tough to get there, but it's better than the dark thoughts. -Lance
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Yogi Berra is famous for being a free swinger.
Wang.
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Most sluggers have inflated walk totals when you factor in IBB and ABs where they are pitched around and walked (pretty much an IBB but not recorded that way), and that explains why Sammy had such high OBPs in his elite years. He was still a free swinger even during those seasons.
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You've have a number of Dominicans already and I would expect even more. As the saying goes, you don't walk off the island.
Recall a story about how Vlad and his brothers used to play a simple game where one player would attempt to pitch a ball past the opposing player who used a stick to keep the ball from getting past him and hitting a wall behind him. Vlad claims that this childhood game honed his ability to hit pitches from strange angles including balls in the dirt.
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If you're talking about HOF free-swingers, the conversation starts with Clemente. And Cepeda too.
One dick can poke an eye out. A hundred dicks can move mountains.
--Veryzer
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<!--quoteo(post=106054:date=Jul 18 2010, 02:37 PM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Jul 18 2010, 02:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Most sluggers have inflated walk totals when you factor in IBB and ABs where they are pitched around and walked (pretty much an IBB but not recorded that way), and that explains why Sammy had such high OBPs in his elite years. He was still a free swinger even during those seasons.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's true.
In 2001, Sammy actually led the league in intentional walks. Considering that was the year Bonds hit 73 homers, that was hard to do.
There's nothing better than to realize that the good things about youth don't end with youth itself. It's a matter of realizing that life can be renewed every day you get out of bed without baggage. It's tough to get there, but it's better than the dark thoughts. -Lance
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Good call on Cepeda and Clemente. Those are the types of players that I would have no clue to as to their exact style of batting.
If Angelo had picked McClellin, I would have been expecting to hear by training camp that kid has stage 4 cancer, is actually 5'2" 142 lbs, is a chick who played in a 7 - 0 defensive scheme who only rotated in on downs which were 3 and 34 yds + so is not expecting to play a down in the NFL until the sex change is complete and she puts on another 100 lbs. + but this is Emery's first pick so he'll get a pass with a bit of questioning. - 1060Ivy
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OF Ichiro Suzuki
SS Nomar Garciaparra
DH Vladimir Guerrero
OF Sammy Sosa
OF Roberto Clemente
2nd Alfonso Soriano
3rd Pablo Sandoval
C Yogi Berra
1st Willie Montanez
Bench: Cepeda, Manny Sanguillen, Randall Simon, Christian Guzman maybe?
Anyway, that would be such a fun team to watch. I like how there is one Caucasian on the whole team.
If Angelo had picked McClellin, I would have been expecting to hear by training camp that kid has stage 4 cancer, is actually 5'2" 142 lbs, is a chick who played in a 7 - 0 defensive scheme who only rotated in on downs which were 3 and 34 yds + so is not expecting to play a down in the NFL until the sex change is complete and she puts on another 100 lbs. + but this is Emery's first pick so he'll get a pass with a bit of questioning. - 1060Ivy
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Not for nothin', but Shawon Dunston was a serious free swinger at SS...
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Here are some Three True Outcomes players. It's going to be hard to field an entire team of these kind of guys because I think they are usually OFers or DHs. But here are some names to being with.
- Rob Deer, of course
- Jim Thome
- Adam Dunn
- Richie Sexon
- Bo Jackson
- Russell Branyan
- Mark McGwire
There are probably some obvious ones I'm missing. Reggie Jackson, maybe?
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