Designated hitter skews home-run totals

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http://tinyurl.com/7wwr8nb

No question, baseball's home run records are tarnished by those who spent
part of their careers with artificially enhanced bodies, or have been
suspected of it.

That said, why don't folks talk much -- if at all -- about that other great
evil in this regard called the designated hitter?

In other words, may the baseball gods help us purists if Alex Rodriguez
really does spend a lot of time this season and beyond as a DH for the New
York Yankees. At 36 and sitting just 134 home runs shy of passing Barry
Bonds' record for career homers of 762, Rodriguez could get a mighty boost
toward history with more than a few DH homers.

Not a good look. Not if you realize the DH should become yesterday's news for
so many reasons.

It's used in one league and not the other. It rewards players who can't run,
field, throw or all of the above. It's a gimmick. And here's the overlooked
reason: When it comes to all-time homers, it's unfair to those who either
didn't DH much or not at all during their careers.

This makes you respect Babe Ruth and Willie Mays even more. At 714 and 660,
respectively, those sluggers are the only members of baseball's top 10 home
run hitters who didn't homer as a DH.

Ruth and Mays never were DHs, because that option wasn't available to them
when they played.

It was for Bonds.

The same goes for Hank Aaron, who remains the standard bearer for home runs
if you take the so-called steroid era into consideration.

Subtract Bonds' 10 homers as a DH and he has 752 overall, and if you take
away Aaron's 22, he has 733. Which means they still would rank Nos. 1 and 2
on the all-time list. Ruth and Mays also would hold their spots at Nos. 3 and
4, respectively.

But things get crazy after that.

For instance: Ken Griffey Jr. is No. 5 on the all-time list with 630 homers,
but his total would drop to 595 without his 35 DH homers. That would move
Rodriguez from sixth place to fifth since he would still have 613 homers
after subtracting his 16 DH homers.

Griffey would drop to sixth.

Sammy Sosa would stay at No. 7 with 584 home runs -- without his 25 DH homers.

Mark McGwire would jump from 10th to eighth when his adjusted total would go
from 583 to 577.

Frank Robinson would remain at No. 9 with 528 homers after subtracting his 58
DH homers.

Finally, Jim Thome would suffer the most under such a scenario. He owns more
DH home runs than anybody in the top 10 with 198. If you take those away, he
would free-fall from 604 homers to 406, and he barely would make the all-time
top 50 list.

Which brings us to Rodriguez -- and the possibility of a Record Horror
Picture Show of necessity.

You see, Rodriguez and the Yankees have problems, and the solution to each of
their problems is that DH monster.

As for the Yankees, it goes back to their trade last month of Jesus Montero
to the Seattle Mariners for Michael Pineda. While Montero spent the last
month of the season developing into the effective DH that the Yankees needed,
they needed starting pitching even more.

Thus the deal for Pineda.

Then Jorge Posada retired to close another DH option for the Yankees this
season. That left an opening for somebody who still can hit, but who can't
take the field as often anymore.

Somebody such as Rodriguez.

Due to various ailments, Rodriguez hasn't played more than 138 games in a
season since 2007. He was suffering so much from a damaged right knee and
left shoulder that he went to Germany this winter for experimental treatments
from a doctor recommended by NBA star Kobe Bryant.

The Yankees also have a viable option to replace Rodriguez at third base in
Eduardo Nunez.

Even though Rodriguez says he prefers to stay at third, this DH thing will
happen for A-Rod whether he likes it or not.

Such a scenario makes even more sense when you consider a banged-up
Rodriguez, a career .302 hitter, played just 99 games last season, hit .276
and finished with 16 homers. Worse, while continuing to play defense, he
batted .111 with no home runs and three RBIs during the Yankees' Division
Series loss to the Detroit Tigers.

As a DH, Rodriguez could play well past 40, while putting the career homer
record nearly out of reach. He could catch Bonds by averaging about 44 homers
over the next three years, or about 33 over the next four years.

Rodriguez could do much of this as a DH, and then baseball officials could do
something they don't like to do.

Start thinking about asterisks.

--
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◆ From: 140.112.25.133
推 tlchen:很無言,DH有什麼錯,在那位置打出來的全壘打不應該?那要不要
→ tlchen:之後再把一壘手守備容易,全壘打也來個星星好了
→ cj910:就算A-Rod轉DH打到40歲 生涯HR超越BB爺 就表示他很乾淨？
→ cj910:真是好傻好天真啊
推 azlbf:樓上到底在講甚麼= =硬要扯就對了
→ jojo2147:三樓很跳針
噓 ddeny0324tw:三樓跳針
推 david18:三樓看不懂電電就好
→ wmp12linux:在質疑DH的HR之前 要不要估一下每打1HR需要的打席數?
→ Herlin:寫這篇的人真是沒事幹
→ Herlin:吃禁藥違反規則 打DH 沒有違反規則 不就結了
→ Herlin:就算說有這個規則讓記錄比較上"不公平" 那又怎麼樣
→ Herlin:事實是你要求一樣的記錄數字在不一樣的年代都要一樣意義
→ Herlin:本來就是做不到的 照這邏輯 Cy Young 511 W 也要打*先