Graziano's Latest: Dunn, Putz, Laird

From Jon Heyman:

Finally, there appears to be some action on Reds slugger Adam Dunn. An NL source says at least two teams are expressing interest in the formerly unwanted star. Dunn is the Major League leader in home runs (over No. 2 Alex Rodriguez) and walks (over Todd Helton) over the past five years. Maybe somebody's finally realizing that.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?eref=T1

Typo(s)...?

"The Mets have talked to the Tigers about Scott Schoeneweis. They'd have to replace him, maybe with Arthur Rhodes or Eddie Guardado."

Unless I've missed something, Schoeneweis is still with the Mets, Rhodes is with the Mariners, and Guardado is with the Rangers. Where do the Mets and Tigers come into play...?

Just thought I'd point that one out. Keep up the great work, Tim!

He's just saying that the Tigers have a possible interest in Schoeneweis, but if the Mets trade him they need a replacement in the bullpen which they don't have in-house.

Could it be that Dunn has blocked trades to any of the teams in contention that can afford him ? He does have a contract clause that allows him to select some teams he can't be dealt to. Maybe instead of the norm of blocking bad teams with no money, he blocked the good ones with lots of money ?

I think Dunn wanted to eliminate trade rumors around his head this year, and go into free agency with no strings attached.

Who cares if he's lefthanded. He's the closer that the Cards need.

Why hasn't anybody stepped up for Dunn?

1) Maybe because Ricciardi poisoned the water with his (truthful) comments. Just imagine what would happen if a contending team traded ANYTHING of value for Dunn and he then proceeded to tank Offensively like he has a history of doing in September (which is the start of football season and which he did when the Reds were in contention in 2006). Just think what the writers and fans would be SCREAMING. Probably things like, "see Ricciardi was right, he is a bad ball player who Strikes Out too much and who chokes under pressure".

2) Maybe Bob Ca$htellini has told Walt Jocketty to ask for the moon and stick to it so, even if teams are interested in Dunn NOBODY will give up what the Reds want. Why do this? Because Ca$htellini has a well known man-crush on Dunn and probably gets a ginormous boner when he thinks and talks about him and also because if Ca$htellini stupidly decides to sign Dunn to a big dollar, long term contract, he can honestly say that nobody wanted to trade the Reds what they wanted for Dunn. Which would be like me having a clunker of a car and asking $150,000 dollars for it because I don't REALLY want to get rid of it. However, if somebody were stupid enough to give me that amount in cash....

3) As far as the Mets go, maybe the reason they have shown no interest in Dunn is because Wayne Krivsky is now a Special Assistant in the Front Office. You know Wayne Krivsky, he is the guy the Reds FIRED as their General Manager in April. So, Ricciardi may not know Adam Dunn but Wayne Krivsky sure as heck does. Which is probably why he got fired from the Reds in the first place.

Krivsky, in trying to model the Reds after the Twins and A's (building around Pitching and Defense, letting high priced veterans go either through trades or Free Agency and bringing in younger, less expensive talent), probably DIDN'T want to bring Dunn back to the Reds in 2008 while Ca$htellini did and that caused friction. So when old friend Jocketty was let go by St Louis, Ca$htellini swoops in and hires him as a Special Assistant and just waited for some excuse to get rid of Krivsky.

Notice, at the press conference, Ca$tellini said, "the losing stops now" and the Reds have proceeded to play five Games under .500 since then and NO moves have been made. This, even though the Reds are now in LAST PLACE and have been hovering around that position for well over a month AND with the Reds having 13 potential Free Agents after the season, having Alex Gonzalex, Ryan Freel and Norris Hopper on the DL with season ending surgeries AND having Aaron Harang, Jared Burton and Jerry Hairston Jr on the DL right now.

"Dunn ... is very unclutch."

Dunn career: .247/.381/.522, 1 HR every 13.75 AB
Dunn close & late: .231/.382/.516, 1 HR every 13.85 AB

That's nearly identical.

Dang, nice Not Joe. Thanks for the stats.

Adam Dunn's unclutch stats this season:
-is batting .204 with men on and 2 outs
- is batting .242 with runners in scoring position and two outs
-is batting .234 with runners on base
-is batting .205 close and late

also, strikeout a ton can be a big deal. true it can lead to double plays and it is the same as a flyball out but, making contact leads to sacrifice flys, "productive outs," and errors made by the other team.
but, with all of these stats im still not saying that i wouldnt want to have dunn on the mets... it just depends on what they have to give up. i wouldnt give up a top prospect for him. he is a great power bat that the mets need. i mean who wouldnt want a player that's leading the league in homeruns and walks? his fielding is terrible but chavez could always be used as a late inning replacement for him.

mets projected lineup:
reyes (s)
church (l)
wright (r)
delgado(l)
beltran (s)
dunn (l)
easley (r)/castillo(s)/ a.reyes (s) (could bat eigth when reyes or castillo plays)
castro (r)/schneider(l) (could bat seventh when castro plays)
pitcher
looks like a dangerous lineup to me