Joe Cowley of the Sun Times reports that the Chicago White Sox have “spent the last few days
trying desperately to pry Adam Dunn from the grasps of the Washington
Nationals.” Cowley’s source says Kenny Williams has offered “anyone and anything he has in the minor leagues
in a package,” but that Nat’s GM Mike Rizzo “is
acting like Dunn is Ryan Howard.”
The quasi-outraged Ryan Howard comparison makes me smile because, depending on how you measure such things, a really good argument can be made that Dunn has been more valuable a hitter than Howard over the past three or four years. No, I don’t think I’d rather have Dunn than Howard going forward, but it amazes me how often Dunn is undersold as a hitter. He’s really good.
That said, I hope Rizzo’s reluctance to trade Dunn is a function of the specific players coming back and not some overall hesitance to part with the guy. I’m one of the bigger Adam Dunn fans around, but given his
reported contract demands, it makes all the sense in the world to
trade him right now. Yes, losing his bat would hurt, but the Nats aren’t
scoring enough runs with him, so why not fail to score enough runs
without him while having a couple of prospects to comfort you?
