I want Adam Dunn.

[Kingdom]

My ode and apology to one Adam Dunn. For years and years, well really since your full time arrival into the big leagues, I have never cared much for you as a baseball player. I mocked your lack of fundamentals as a hitter, and mostly everything as a defensive player. I scoffed at your supporters in the Cincinnati faction of this forum. I just didn't think much of you, you were, for the most part, a circus side-show attraction that hit titanic bombs and made thunderous whiffs with your bat.

The turning point was two-fold. For a down economy and a pretty slow free agency that grew stale once the yankees ate up everything, it was interesting to see 40 homeruns and 100 walks draw so little attention. Even being not a very well versed or tooly player, some AL team must have had a real need for power and OBP. Maybe a team with a gaping hole at 1B or a team who had a fledgling hitter as a 1B in the NL or AL. But Washington? A team that was hell bent on wasting their off season thinking they could land Mark Teixeira, who now employ Mike McDougle as a closer, and just bamboozled the poor pirates by dumping Lastings Milledge, who lost their GM over some foreign scouting scandal, ...decide 2 years 20 million for Dunn? They bought a new Mustang on clearance. I felt bad. I would have taken Dunn on my team. And technically, I did, I kept him on my fantasy team (over Adrian Gonzalez, yeah yeah, shut up).

But the second thing, his desire and genuine passion for wanting to be on the Unites States team for the World Baseball Classic. He was interviewed after the first game, one where he hit homerun, and all he could do was express his thankfulness to be apart of that team. When so many thumb there noses at the idea of being in the WBC, amongst many other reasons, it was refreshing to see that. I completely changed my view point of Adam Dunn right there.

Anddddddddd Mr. Peter Gammons says:

Washington will trade Nick Johnson, Adam Dunn and virtually any and all position players except Ryan Zimmerman, as they try to morph the club's makeup and athleticism. The Pirates are trying to restock on the fly, which means Matt Capps, Freddy Sanchez, John Grabow and Adam LaRoche can be discussed.

Great! Sign me up, er, Atlanta up. Didn't like the Garret Anderson signing, I'm tired of the never ending Jeff Francoeur reclamation project (the royals want him, don't get in their way, just deal him) and Matt Diaz is a fine player as a platoon guy but he's not a full time guy. Oh and the 1B has as much power as Craig Counsell. Okay, maybe Kotchman has a little more pop. But not much. I didn't like him either. So deal for Dunn, but keep the key pitching prospects obviously (and Heyward). Rotate him between LF and 1B. We get impact power which every ESPN guru says we have zilch of and it's true pretty much. He's still young, he doesn't have a killer contract at all. Why the hell not? I hope someone jumps on the wagon here, but they have to realize he's not the saviour (like Arizona thought). He's a great piece to put behind good hitters (like Chipper and Brian McCann).

[DravenX]

At this point, why not? He might strikeout a lot but so did Francouer. The way the Braves are going can it get any worse?

[General]

I don't think Wren has it in him to trade for Dunn, as he is only signed for one year.

[bcshorts]

Yeah, I'm not sure at all about Dunn. One of my best friends has been begging to get Dunn since about halfway through the offseason, so we've had this discussion before. I think he would fit beautifully in the Braves' lineup, but Garrett Anderson sits squarely in the way of that happening. And I'm not sure anything can be done about that.

[cjkalt]

Dunn's deal is 2 yrs and I think the Braves can consider it anyways... Just dump Anderson, and let Dunn play left, you need a bat and he'll be cheaper than holliday or someone in that talent level

[Slyder]

Play Dunn at 1b thats where he "should" be. Dunno how the Nati Nals view him right now. You could do much worse than Adam Dunn. Yes he strikes out a lot but how many power hitters who will give you 40 HRs DONT strike out a ton?

And yes Dunn's contract was 2 yrs for 20 mil this offseason. If anything else he walks next year he'll be a guy who should fall under class A Free Agent netting the Braves compensation.

He will never be Batman but he could be a very good Robin for a lineup.

[HollywoodLeo]

Not ignoring the difference between OOTP and real life, I still love the irony of KoZ posting a thread stating he wants Adam Dunn.

[Kingdom]

Francoeur is a AAA bat boy compared to Dunn.


Yeah yeah Leo, it's one of those bizarre moments in life. But I'm not saying Atlanta should deal for him and re-structure the deal to be 6 years, 15 mill per like the OOTP guys give him

[realmofotalk]

Fangraphs determined a month ago that he was the worst defensive player in the league from 2007-09, according fielding metrics. You also won't love his 1.2 wins above a replacement player at 1b, compared to singles hitter James Loney's 1.4, and Loney is a below average fielder in his own right.

[Kingdom]

I can live with the defense, it's the bat that atl needs. Especially the power

[realmofotalk]

You do realize that his defense basically negates his offensive production. Hard to believe, I know, but the number crunchers have figured it out.

[Slyder]

I absolutely HATE those defensive metrics that put WAAAAAYYYY too much emphasis on hits given up=runs scored by opponents. Most ALL of them are way to generous in that department. Is Dunn a gold glover? No, is he even average? Probably not but you dont just shake a tree and find 40 HR guys. No matter how bad defensively a guy is there is no way that defense can negate the offensive value of a player by that extreme. I remember seeing in one "defensive" metric that each hit "in zone" counted something like .8 of a run against a player... basically meaning that 80% of the time a guy got on he would score... ya right. There isnt a metric that comes close to being "in the park".

[Porter]

Give Atlanta, Russell Branyan and Adam Dunn. You imagine their combined strike out total.

Over/Under would be set at 380.

[realmofotalk]

I absolutely HATE those defensive metrics that put WAAAAAYYYY too much emphasis on hits given up=runs scored by opponents. Most ALL of them are way to generous in that department. Is Dunn a gold glover? No, is he even average? Probably not but you dont just shake a tree and find 40 HR guys. No matter how bad defensively a guy is there is no way that defense can negate the offensive value of a player by that extreme. I remember seeing in one "defensive" metric that each hit "in zone" counted something like .8 of a run against a player... basically meaning that 80% of the time a guy got on he would score... ya right. There isnt a metric that comes close to being "in the park".

If the metric is really like .8 of a run, I suppose that does support why it's hard to believe 40 HR's can be negated almost completely.