I have them about the same (10 to 15 runs below average) at their respective defensive positions. SS is worth around 1.5 wins more than LF. For example, if Hanley moved to LF, he would presumably go from a -10 fielder at SS to a +5 (per 150 games) fielder in LF.

So, Hanley has a 1 win edge so far. Dunn is actually not a bad baserunner for a big, lumbering guy. He is around average. Hanley is not small of course, and he is only around 2 runs above average in baserunning. I’d be willing to give him an edge over Dunn of .5 wins in that department.

So Hanley is around 1.5 wins better, give or take a half win or so.

I agree with David about the public, media, and even the baseball insiders’ perception of both players. It is night and day. Most people (like all the announcers I hear on TV) think that Hanley is one of the best overall players in baseball. He would be if he were even an average defensive player. These same pundits seem to think that he is a good if not very good defender for some reason, although I don’t think they have any good reason why they think that, other than it is not common knowledge that he is probably a bad defender other than among analysts and the like.

I’ve got Dunn at +33 over replacement, Ramirez at +53. The difference in 2006 was much greater, Ramirez +45, Dunn +7 – Dunn had a bad year at the plate by his standards and the rest of his game went from poor to unacceptable.

I really don’t think it’s batting average. If Dunn could play a passable shortstop and steal 50 bases, the perception of him would be much greater.

Ramirez is is controlled for 6 more years (and he’ll be underpaid probably for at least the next 3) and Dunn for about 6 weeks depending upon the playoff fortunes of the snakes.

I think Dunn is a lightning rod for just about everyone-K haters, D lovers, guys who don’t like how true three outcome players age, those who think only Pete Rose clones truly love the game, guys who love BA-especially with RISP etc.

After all of that, he’s a 3 win player with slump-proof on base skills and the durability of a mule.

He should be a DH in the AL and his skipper should just pen him into the number 2 spot on his line up card in order to max his PA’s, leverage his on base skills and let him hit those long balls.

All of that said though, he is one of those guys who tend to age poorly making him a bigger risk as he seeks his career payday during his peak years (it’s said he’s told his buddies in the Cincy clubhouse that he’d like $100M).

Hanley is 24, Dunn is 28. Dunn has played his home games in a great hitters park, while Hanley plays in a pitchers park. Hanley has 130 stolen bases from 06-08, and has scored 76 more runs than Dunn with just about 140 extra plate appearances in that span.

Then there’s the batting average thing, and the SS vs LF thing as well. Dunn is a very good player, but it’s also true that he doesn’t deserve nearly as much buzz as a player like Hanley.

As far as strikeouts go, most of the work I’ve seen has indicated that they’re not substantially worse than normal ball-in-play outs. Of course, since balls in play go for hits sometimes, strikeouts do serve to reduce batting average. But if you have two hitters whose OBP and SLG are pretty much the same, one of them striking out more than the other won’t cause a difference of more than a couple runs per year.

The thing we can’t forget here is that the DBacks will only have Dunn for a couple months and if they don’t resign him they will get a couple picks back. Ramirez has a few cost controlled years left under his belt which increases his value quite a bit.