Adam Dunn is looking for a long-term deal, and if he and the Nationals can’t agree on his value, the team will likely trade him, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. Dunn would stay in Washington if he and the Nationals can agree to the parameters of a deal, even if they don’t formally announce an agreement. The Nats have the chance to keep Dunn in Washington, so they may try to extend him before the trade deadline, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (via Twitter).
Dunn, 31 in November, has 23 homers and a .933 OPS, so he remains one of the game's elite power hitters. Many have suggested that Dunn's poor defense makes him an ideal candidate to DH, but that hasn't prevented NL teams like the Giants from showing interest. The Nats seem reluctant to deal their top players, including Dunn, but the White Sox are definitely interested.
The White Sox also covet Prince Fielder, but Dunn, Adam LaRoche and Lance Berkman (in that order) are the next players on their list, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (via Twitter).
heres to hoping the white sox take on big pumas big contract, or become convinced adam laroche is the difference maker they need to pull away from the pack in the central….
As a Tigers fan, wouldnt you want the Sox to not make a move for one of these guys? Any of these players is a MAJOR upgrade from Kotsay at DH…..
If I’m a Tigers fan, i’m hoping they keep Kotsay at DH. Anyone of these guys is a better hitter than Kotsay and makes the Sox a MUCH stronger at the DH spot.
kenny williams is a sly bast*rd, so i am assuming the sox will make a move to bolster their offense. obviously id love for them to stand pat with kotsay, but is that likely? probably not. now if the sox get fielder or dunn, the tigs can kiss this division goodbye. so of course id rather they take on a fat contract of an underachieving hitter (berkman), or go and get laroche, and give up some prospects in the meantime.
Berkman use to be a stud. It has got to be tough to play for the astros these last couple years. I would be interesting to see how his stats improve on a contender. It has certainly worked out well for Rios.
I don’t think Dunn is going anywhere. The Nats are too close to being able to contend to let him go.
But Dunn has something to say about this too and the Nats ownership will not overpay for Dunn just as they wouldn’t overpay for Texeira, Soriano, or Chapman. There are teams that may be willing to overpay if this gets to season’s end and there’s a perception of an offensive power outage around baseball. Wouldn’t it make sense for the Brewers to consider Dunn a more affordable Prince Fielder replacement if they deal Fielder? Wouldn’t it make sense for the Giants to pursue Dunn during the offseason if they don’t go all the way with their current group? Nats will not be negotiating in a vacuum next year.
And I get the impression that Dunn likes it in DC. So, he may not be asking to be overpaid – just paid. As for the Nats not overpaying for Tiexeira, Soriano and Chapman. The Nats were reported to have offered the same (or more) than the Yanks (essentially, Boras used the Nats to set the market and then the Yanks matched it), true, they didn’t overpay for Soriano, and as for Aroldis Chapman, it’s been reported in and around DC, that the Nats bid more than $20M and came in 2nd behind the Reds.
One comment on Dunn’s defense – he was a butcher in LF. This year, the fielding metrics show him as average, but he’s still below average if you watch him. Her sets his feet to early and gets caught off balance by the occasional throw. He doesn’t pick hardly anything out of the dirt – and those errors to the SS/3B. That said, I hope the Nats resign him and keep him here.
But both sides have different notions of what “paid” means. Dunn’s camp at this point certainly wants security and it’s been reported they want a 4 year 60M deal. That’s a major raise over his current 2 year 20M deal. He’s certainly worth more this time around than 2 year 20M, but I suspect the Nats want to give no more than a 3 year deal. Somewhere between 3 years 40 and 3 years 50 is I bet what the Nats want to offer. Dunn’s gambling on the free agent market being better this time around and Rizzo’s betting on it being not so far from the same as last time.
I love the casual reference to the Giants. We don’t really need a bat (sarcasm).
I don’t see Dunn being traded, but I don’t think they will reach a deal with him either. The guy is putting up massive numbers. he is an automatic 40HR and 100RBI. People are going to be all over him in the off-season
This Nats fan agrees with you. It’s either agreement in principle and before end of the year signing on Dunn or it’s trade him. If they let him walk for picks, that just doesn’t make sense. 4 years, 60M seems a bit much for someone with Dunn’s skill set. The problem is that the Howard contract and the trade interest has inflated Dunn’s sense of himself a bit. But if the Dan Hudson for Dunn deal is still on the table the Nats have to make that move in my opinion. The posturing from Rizzo on Beckham and Quentin and “painful” comments are a bit awkward and I wish that he would do his negotiating out of the media.
I don’t think 4yr/60m is too much to ask for. Especially when you paid him 2yr/20m already, and compare Howard’s and Dunn’s numbers. They are almost identical. The only difference is that Howard plays in a larger market and has made it to the postseason. Dunn hasn’t been in the spotlight at all. He has never played in a postseason game, and he has played his entire career for small market teams. If Dunn hits the open market the Yankees, White Sox, Giants, Tigers, and Red Sox are all going to be serious bidders for Dunn. The Nationals should trade him because if they resign Dunn for what he is worth they probably won’t have the money to sign Zimmerman once he hits the open market.
It’s fine, DeJesus stays for another year. If he makes it to Type A, it’ll be worth it. Would’ve been good keep or leave.
Hopefully this means Alex Gordon comes up for DeJesus.
I wouldn’t mind Prince, Dunn or LaRoche. Personally I wouldn’t want Berkman. How about going after DH Luke Scott on the O’s? I think he would be a good option
Can somebody please explain to me what’s changed so much that Adam Dunn can go from clearing waivers and not even getting an offer of Arbitration to super valuable? Especially considering one trick-no glove guys have only gone DOWN in value since then?
I mean he’s been an automatic 40/100 since before 08…
Overall power numbers are down in the ML, but not his. Plus he plays a serviceable 1B now. When he was a FA 2 years ago, it was bad economy and he was a butcher in the OF – things have changed….
Nothing about Adam Dunn has changed, only perception. He still strikes out too much and is a defensive liability no matter how “serviceable” he can be from time to time. Power numbers are down league-wide but that doesn’t explain it all, IMO.
It just seems the entire league has taken a step back in player analysis this season. (Or a step forward and I’m lagging behind)
Strikeouts are not bad when you get on base 37% of the time and slug over .500. Dunn is having one of the best years of his career, but he is hitting that age where decline normally starts to happen. Not saying it will, or even that he will decline fast, but his best years are likely behind him. Aside from that, he is a really good power hitter that gets on base a lot.
Speaking of perception, when was the last time you looked at his defense? Are you still thinking of him as Dunn the LF butcher? Because in his first year as a dedicated 1B, Dunn is actually a league average fielder. Better than Howard and Fielder so far this year.
I think it’s important to have a good first basemen so better than Howard or Fielder really doesn’t count as an asset, which is the context D was brought up under. I dunno really, I was just confused because he went from practically no value to the top 1B available (arguably) in under two years. His stats haven’t gone some magical transformation (OPS is pretty much the same as it was before, so give up OPS for average and slugging is really all I see him doing this year as compared to previous years) so I thought it was curious.I suppose it is as simple as being a pitchers league that would force a major change in perception, I’ve just never followed baseball when it’s been a pitcher’s league before. Go Roid testing!
To go along with rolltide, the fact that run scoring is down makes guys like Adam Dunn a lot more desired. In the “year of the pitcher”, the few guys who still are hitting are covetted.
Also, as a White Sox fan, I don’t want LaRoche or Berkman. Berkman is way past his prime and LaRoche isn’t that good. Fielder is too expensive, but I’ll take him if they want to pay for him. Dunn is who I want.
If LaRoche come at a much lower prospect cost than Dunn and Fielder, why wouldn’t you want him. He has 13 HR, and throughout his whole career he is a .300 hitter in the 2nd half of seasons. You can keep Hudson, Flowers, Viciedo most likely and get an upgraded LH bat? what’s not to like?
don’t forget. any of them is better than frickin kotsay.
Kotsay has been extremely unlucky this year. He is hitting the ball hard, and has a BABIP around .222 for the year… That is extremely low and should turn around (it has started to).
LaRoche is better than Kotsay, but I wouldn’t want to give anything up for him, especially when Kotsay is likely to start getting better luck.
babip regression is going to improve his production how much? no, he’ll still suck. i want to win another world series. kotsay at dh, i’m willing to bet isn’t helping to make that happen. of course we all want dunn. but barring that, there has to be some improvement as the sox offense doesn’t have a lot of margin for error.
babip regression is going to improve his production how much? no, he’ll still suck. i want to win another world series. kotsay at dh, i’m willing to bet isn’t helping to make that happen. of course we all want dunn. but barring that, there has to be some improvement as the sox offense doesn’t have a lot of margin for error.
The perception of Dunn’s defense comes from his days as an OF, not a 1B. He was a butcher in the OF. Not so as a 1B. Last year he was converted to a 1B midseason, and dealt with a learning curve. But this year, his FIRST full year as a 1B, the first time he spent an offseason preparing to play 1B, he is fielding 1B at the league average level. Check all the defensive metrics.
The truth is, Dunn was a terrible OF, but he is just fine as a 1B.
Ok here’s your answer, the difference between this dunn and the old dunn is this dunn average has stayed between .275-.295 where as the old dunn hit between .235-255 so a jump in batting avg. with power can get u paid………… also GET DUNN SIGNED RIZZO!!!!!