Latest Dunn To Padres Rumor

A new trade rumor has surfaced, though Kevin Towers may have already shot it down.

The report on San Diego radio (specifically XX Sportsradio 1090) was that the Padres could send southpaw reliever Justin Hampson as well as groundball artist Clay Hensley to the Reds for Adam Dunn.  Kevin Towers described this rumor as "not worth chasing" to the San Diego Union Tribune's Tim Sullivan.

Hampson is the only lefty in the Padres' pen, and he's allowed just two earned runs in 22.1 innings.  However, his strikeout rate is quite low and his history isn't that impressive.  The Padres insist they don't need a southpaw in the pen, but could easily bring up Royce Ring if they trade Hampson.

After a breakout rookie season in '06, Hensley hasn't been able to get on track this year.  He's been battered around in 12 starts split between the Padres and Triple A.  He had a fine spring but blister and groin injuries surfaced and Hensley ended up losing his rotation spot to Justin Germano.

Kevin Towers and Wayne Krivsky have matched up on a trade once before.  In March of 2006, Towers sent catcher Dave Ross to the Reds for right-handed starter/former top prospect Bobby Basham.

Comments

[WestCoastBias]

That would be a steal for the Padres. Hopefully KT is just blowing smoke trying not to seem too eager to acquire Dunn. If we were able to get away with acquiring him without giving up a top prospect, such as Chase Headley, or a solid contributer, such as Scott Linebrink, I'd be thrilled.

I can't imagine this deal going through though with the Reds only acquiring Hensley & Hampson. I could see Sledge as a tempting 3rd piece for the Reds. Dunn comes in and claims his spot on the roster and the Padres call up Royce Ring or Andrew Brown to fill Hampson's void. There's no doubting that this improves the Padres for 2007 and it doesn't hinder us greatly beyond '07.

[Akhillesu13]

That trade wouldn't surprise me. The Reds have been great at making dumb trades recently. Here are some other possible destinations for Dunn: http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/413386?c_id=wom-bc-bh
- Brad from The Sports Desk at TheNewsRoom.com

[Chipper]

The Braves didn't go to that game to scout Dunn, they went for Arroyo.

[Blue]

Not quite as BS as the Griffey to Cubs rumor, because Dunn might actually get traded to the Padres. However, there's no way that Hensley and Hampson will be the main pieces.

[DentalPlan]

There are certain types of players I think are mirages. Closers in the state of Florida for example (Armando Benitez, Danys Baez, etc). San Diego pitching, particularly relief pitching, is high on that list. How should I put this? For A LOT of those guys (NOT all of them), I don't trust them to do crap once they leave San Diego.

Again, here is the list of San Diego reliever mirages:

2002- Brandon Villafuerte, Steve Reed, Clay Condrey
2003 - Rod Beck, Matt Herges, Ben Howard
2004 - Antonio Osuna, Blaine Neal
2005 - Paul Quantrill, Craig Breslow, Chris Oxspring, Rudy Seanez, Chris Hammond
2006 - Jon Adkins, Brian Sweeney, Scott Cassidy

Not every SD reliever is. But that's a hell of a lot of them. And Clay Hensley looks like the kind of mediocre groundballing low-K type guy that is going to get bombed when he leaves.

There's no way I'd do that deal.

[J.L.]

Wasn't it just a few days ago that Cinci was asking for a proven mlb starter, an infielder, and a top prospect? How do they go from that to Hensley and Hampson?

[DentalPlan]

Yeah, that's a good point. If all it took was Hensley and Hampson Bill Stoneman would've done that deal already, I'm no big Joe Saunders fan (another guy who looks like a mirage), but I'd rather have a package of Joe Saunders and Sean O' Sullivan, which does little to hurt the Angels.

[DentalPlan]

Maybe mirage was too strong a word, I'd edit my post if I could. But I think the 2.22 ERA throws off people who don't look at his minor league career and his 1.48 WHIP and realize it's only 24 innings.

[AkulaMkii]

This would be an excellent trade for the Padres. Towers has fleeced teams before, and this would be yet another steal. Hensley and Hampson are both 27 and can be solid contributors for the Reds, but they are good sell-high candidates for the Padres whose value will never be higher. If the Reds want a starter and a reliever, these are the two we could most easily afford to lose.

The third player included would likely need to be someone like Termel Sledge. San Diego would have an extra OF to send and the Reds would need an outfielder on the depth chart.

My only reservation about this is that I think a player of Dunn's type is less valuable in Petco. He can only homer, walk, or K - and in Petco he will hit fewer HR while still striking out a lot. Also keep in mind that Dunn's last 2 years have brought averages of .234 and .247. True, he walks a lot. But the Padres already have several sub-.230 hitters in their lineup (contributing to their position near the bottom of the league in team avg.) and Dunn won't do much to change that.

Don't get me wrong - I'm very much in favor of a deal along these lines as he would be an obvious steal and a huge upgrade in our outfield, but there's more to think about than there first appears.

[JayTheRed]

Here is hoping the Reds trade with someone other than San Diego. I like the LA Angels better they have more to offer for Dunn in return.

[hotsaucenchickin]

This would be yet another crap trade. Wayne should stick to what he is asking a proven starting pitcher, a proven infielder, and a top prospect.

If this was the Padres I'm sure they would be asking Linebrink, Headly, and another rop prospect.

The Reds don't want Sledge. They already have Norris Hopper and Freel (once he gets off the DL) to fill Dunn's void and in a month or so I'm sure we will be seeing Votto in the outfield.