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:
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).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.