Orioles Could Pursue Dunn

Assuming if course no one is injured*

How is Adam Dunn only 29?

The good thing about Dunn is that he hits for power. Unfortunately, he strikes out a lot and is a below-average defensive player.

The Orioles are a team that has problems with their pitching, especially since they lost Daniel Cabrera. And don't forget the Erik Bedard trade last offseason. I think they should really focus on their rotation and middle relief before looking for another bat.

With all of the injuries the blue jays have and losing burnett and their lack of hitting, the o's could stay out the cellar this year

i agree, i think Toronto has some serious issues that Ricciardi seems (financially or otherwise) able to address. the O's are pretty solid offensively and with Izturis a stop gap defensively, plus the return of Chris Ray to the bullpen, this lack of rotation issue might not be as big of a problem as people are making it out to be. i think:

1. Yankees
2. Rays
3. Red Sox
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays

all I want for Christmas is Adam Dunn hitting balls off the Warehouse

What is the point of adding Dunn, a premier OF/DH, and adding back of the rotation pitchers? The rotation is obviously their problem as Guthrie is their only above average starter, and even then, he's not an ace. The Orioles offense was above average last year, they dont need a top slugger. Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Huff, Mora, Roberts, and Mora is a solid core of hitters, they dont need another hitter as much as starting pitching.

As for AL East predictions

1. Rays (improved this winter and will get better especially with Bradley/Burrell signing)
2. Yankees (improved this winter but have too many injury concerns)
3. Red Sox (did nothing to improve)
4. Blue Jays (rotation still solid even after losing 3 starting pitchers)
5. Orioles (horrible pitching)

The Rays, Yanks, and Sox will all be very close, likely all 90+ win teams.

What is the point of adding Dunn for the Orioles? Well, first of all, you are talking about getting a premier asset (a player with a reliable .850+ OPS) in the prime of his career at a discount due to the economy and Dunn's low BA. Second, you have both Mora and Huff's contracts expiring at the end of the 2009 season, and no run producers at the corners or DH in the Baltimore farm system and no comparable players likely to be in the O's price range on the FA market next season. Third, signing Dunn gives the O's the flexibility to trade Huff or even make trading Roberts less harmful to their offense as a whole. While Roberts is a premier talent as well, some combination of Adam Jones and Ryan Freel ought to be a passable leadoff for a team hoping to end in fourth place this season. Meanwhile, signing Dunn shouldn't upset the O's plan to sign Garland or Byrd and one of the Japanese starters or Redding that the O's are looking at. That leaves a rotation of Guthrie, two passable innings eaters and two rotation slots for some combination of Olson/Liz/Patton/the other pitchers in the minors.

Consider the O's circumstances: they have three more years guaranteed of Markakis, five of Jones, and Wieters service time will start this year. With pitching prospects like Tillman and Matusz a couple years away, the Orioles have to be trying to contend in two seasons, and Dunn can be an important piece of that puzzle which the O's currently are missing, and one which shouldn't cripple the club financially.

As for the Yankees, they don't worry me much as an O's fan. Even with all the money they have spent to acquire players, they still don't have a single regular who can be expected to perform better in 2009 than they did last season - with the exception of Wang, Cano, Joba and Hughes, every single significant player is either already at their peak or in their decline. Meanwhile, the truth is that while CC is a better pitcher than Mussina, he can't be expected to significantly improve on Mussina's win totals over the last five years, and the same can easily be said about Pettite and Burnett.

"Thanks for piling on for Christmas. Even the "sorry" seems to be an afterthought. It's curious why the first post on this thread that has NOTHING to do with the Yankees is a "Yankees are great and everyone else, especially the only team that is mentioned in the article, sucks" post.

Merry F-ing Christmas, smug ass Yankees fans, for being fans of the team that is singlehandedly killing baseball. Yes, I'm bitter, and yes, I'm upset. It doesn't mean I'm not right.

Oh, and to make this post have something to with the article, I wanted the O's to trade for Dunn last season. I think he'd be a great #4 hitter in our lineup. Someone opposing pitchers might actually fear, which we haven't had since the late 90s."

Wait, didn't you know that the yankees were the only team that mattered??

And I think dunn would make wonderful #4 hitter on pretty much any team ;)

Ksy92003 who give a $hit if they have done enough for you. Matsui is not replacing Abreu, Nady is. Yanks won 89 games with nonperformance and in injuries to Posada, Matsui, Hughes, Kennedy and Wang.

I'm not saying to expect the Yanks to cruise through the season to the playoffs, but don't expect the Rays to play like they did in 08 b/c we seen young team do this and suck the next season (Detroit, Colorado, White Sox, Indians). Also Red Sox have their big question marks. They don't know what they will get from Ortiz and Lowell, will Lester be as dominant, they had problems with the billpen. Plus the Sox and the Rays now will play against a much improve Yankees team, you can eliminate a few wins from both teams there. Fact is, the Yanks are way better than last year and will be hard to beat.

I am praying to god the orioles dont sign dunn.

why do we need to add another player to the left field queue line? isnt scott, freel, montanez and reimold enough of a logjam?

the o's should put aubrey huff at 1st, luke at DH, and freel/montanez in LF while reimold starts in aaa-norfolk.

the orioles dont need 40 extra homers. if you watched most of their games last year, all you saw was the offense puting up 6,7 and 8 runs per game while the pitchers gave up 9,10 and 11. the team doesnt need more hitting. especially with wieters sure to join the club by may.

the orioles need solid, middle-of-the-rotation arms like braden looper, koji uehera or paul byrd just to give the o's a chance every night out. if the orioles sign 1 or 2 of those guys, i would be pleased.

if mark teixeira, a severna park boy, didnt wanna come to baltimore, why the hell would adam dunn? let him go to the cubs and get some arms.

then maybe, in 2 or 3 years, once the young stud prospects (arrieta, tillman, matusz, bergesen) are producing in the bigs, sign a power hitting first baseman (prince fielder) who would actually want to come to an orioles team that would actually be 1 or 2 peices away from contending.

"but don't expect the Rays to play like they did in 08 b/c we seen young team do this and suck the next season "

Too bad not one Rays player can a career year. They played as a team and won, and they will do the same thing next year. Upton is going to break out, Crawford is healthy, a full season of Longoria, the best defense in baseball, and oh yeah, the inevitable signing of Bradley or Burrell to create one of the best offenses in the league. Defense, pitching, and timely hitting baby!

yeah having your best defensive player at first really improves the pitching. first base is the only position they are above average. passable at third, second, and right field. Below average everywhere else.

"That's only 9 percent of their team that has really been improved"

Good god.

Oh i have no doubt they did. Even though Giambi didnt play first base the whole season (113 games), every other first basemen was below average as well defensively. My point being, first base is the least important position on the field and in acquiring a top defensive first baseman, you shouldnt assume the defense "as a whole" will improve. As a Rays fan, I love having a gold glover in Pena over at first, but I would trade that gold glove for any other postion on the field.

"baseball men" don't like dunn because they think strikeouts are so much worse than any other type of out. they'd rather have eric byrnes than adam dunn. sickening.

also, yankees fans need to chill the f out. you all sound like mets fans after we traded for santana.

"Dunn is the equivalent of Teixeria offensively, according to OPS+"

So according to OPS Dunn is equivalent to Tex offensively?
Sorry man but Dunn hasn't hit over 270 in is whole career. Dunn hit almost twice less 2b than Tex did. Dunn didn't even score 80 runs.

Don't you think that if Dunn was so comparable to Tex teams would be all over him?

I would say the are comparable in their own ways. Dunn is your basic power hitter. of course if the guy became more patient and hit a little more for gap/average he would become a .280/30 HR kinda guy instead of a .240/40 HR kinda guy.

the thing is though his kinda numbers are what people will accept out of someone who your looking to be your cleanup hitter. meaning your #1 or #2 guy got on base. your #3 guy moved them over into Scoring Position, his job is simple and thats to get the run in. and as you see he averages 100 RBI's a season.

I personally would take him over Tex if we are just talking hitting just because he is more consistent. with Tex you gotta deal with that whole first couple of the months slumps. Dunn seems to get right in it and is slugging from the gate. Tex will do some hitting but Dunn is more consistent IMO with it.

If Dunn went to the AL he should command a price near Tex's. He would be a premier 1B/DH type. Basically a new Jason Giambi.

Speaking of which i am kinda surprised the Yanks didnt just go after Dunn. He apparently would be cheaper and give them the same production as Giambi with a little more def and range at 1B seeing as how he is younger and less injury prone

interesting.

oh boy. I love how almost every comment is little quabbles about the Yankees or the one post where the guy thinks he knows Sabermetrics. let's face it, A.J. Burnett is the next Carl Pavano. sorry yanks fans. ps Sabathia probably will have an injury pretty soon after how hard he was worked by the Brewers. nice work Ned Yost. oh hey red sox fans, did you notice Youk's contract is set to expire pretty soon here? also Ortiz is on the downside of his career. Hey jays fans. do you guys even exist these days? where you at? I know where your team is at. it's called no mans land. theyre not rebuilding, nor are they close to contending. as a big orioles fan, I admit that this season will net us nothing but more losing. so what does this all add up to?? Rays will own this division for the forseeable future.

O's signing adam Dunn wouldnt be horrible, but if it happens we still need to get pitching. Keep in mind we could still make some moves trade wise - Luke Scott has some value and has come up a few times this off season.