3:35pm: Slusser now reports that the A's did not meet with Dunn yesterday, though they remain in the mix for his services (Twitter links).
12:13pm: Lance Berkman isn't the only slugger who met with the A's yesterday. They also met with Adam Dunn and are a serious suitor for the slugger, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Both meetings took place in Houston.
Yahoo's Jeff Passan reported yesterday that Dunn's agent expects the bidding to begin at $60MM over four years. Since he's a Type A free agent who declined arbitration, Dunn will cost a top draft pick. Oakland's first round pick is protected, but the A's would have to surrender their second rounder to the Nationals if they sign the 31-year-old.
There should be no shortage of interest in Dunn, though the Tigers are out of the bidding for him. Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports examined potential suitors yesterday.
That’s what I’m talking Billy Ball!
Dunn’s agent expects the bidding to BEGIN at $60MM??
The A’s better not sign Dunn. The World Champions on the other side of the bay need to sign him to a 3 year deal.
And stick him in LF?
Yep, exactly. I can’t believe that Dunn would be THAT much worse than Burrell was in left. At the same time, Dunn will bring twice the power that Burrell did.
Giants are not signing him.
Probably not, but don’t be shocked if they do.
Giants won’t sign him. You have to be old or overweight to play for s.f. They say starting bid is 60mil. Knowing Sabean he would add a “1” in front of that 60. A La zito, rowand and now huff and tejada
I just don’t think think they can fit him in right now and he’s not much of an outfielder.
His market has shrunk that much?
I was wondering the same thing. I guess it makes it harder for the Tigers to sign him because they only want V-Mart catching 2-3 games a week, making him the main DH. Where do you put V-Mart if they were to acquire Dunn? They just locked up Inge also, so they can’t move Cabrera back to 3rd and let V-Mart play first (not to mention it would be a terrible infield). I think the White Sox and a couple bigger market teams will take a good look at him. I don’t think it’s just the small market teams in the AL in need of a DH.
Another reason the VMart signing was ill-advised. By signing a light-hitting DH, they just precluded themselves from adding a real heart-of-the-order bat.
If you’re looking for a DH, there’s none more prototypical than Dunn.
Yep. It makes it tough for Detroit to imrpove elsewhere through free agency this year. They could add Werth, but Dunns bat is so much more fearful. Also, a lefty, righty, and switch hitter is a nice 3,4,5 however you place them.
Agreed…Theres still that off chance that Dunn pulls a Pat Burrell, but I think he would be a great DH for the A’s…They have one of the best young rotations in Baseball and a great bullpen…Imagine Dunn batting cleanup in that lineup with Crisp’s speed, DeJesus’ OBP, Suzuki, and a potential 3B like Beltre? My goodness. Already picking them to win the ’11 world series, but adding a guy like Dunn and/or Beltre wouldn’t hurt.
Dunn has said repeatedly that he won’t DH. Have fun watching him fumble in a position!
Thats ok. I’ll take Dunn in the outfield. I’ve seen Cust out there.
this is what i’m talking about! overpay him please.
every move this offseason has been an overpay. we are used to bad economy and one year deals worth 1.5 mil with incentives. Things are looking up and teams are dishing out money. Not one major signing has pleased anyone this offseason. Im tired of the “overpay” argument.
As an A’s fan, I’ve seen us turned down year in and year out for reasonable offers. I want dunn, it’s not my money, so overpay the guy! That’s all I’m saying. Pay him more than his highest offer to get him to play in oakland.
A’s need Dunn. Exactly what they need in that lineup.
Who’s going to protect him?
Jack Cust’s non existent bat
Sadly that non-existent bat has been the best bat for the A’s since 07.
No, I agree. I was just being snarky. I think the A’s really under value him. He deserves more than the non-tender crap they keep throwing his way.
No, I agree. I was just being snarky. I think the A’s really under value him. He deserves more than the non-tender crap they keep throwing his way.
Cust is a better hitter then people give him credit for. OPS+’s of 146, 129, 104 and 128 in his four seasons in Oakland. He’s not a great hitter but he’s clearly above average. I suggest you look into the numbers a little deeper before claiming a guy like thats bat is “non-existent”.
Does it matter? shifting suzuki, kouzmanoff (if he stays) to lower areas of the order with less pressure is the plan here. A’s need 2 legit bats to support their pitching Dunn would really help, dejesus is a solid player. Maybe kouz, suzuki back to their 09 production helps, encarnacion cheap righty power maybe helps, a healthy sweeney, crisp, jackson
Yes, it does matter. Come a crucial point in a game and Dunn is the only “big bat” in the lineup, I see them walking him because there is no threat behind him. For this to work they need someone to step up within or they need another bat.
There’s a guy named Vernon Christopher Carter that stepped up huge toward the end of the season. They also still have the possibility of signing Beltre and that would give 3 huge bats in this lineup.
The offseason isn’t over and Beane is obviously looking to add multiple offensive pieces. A league average offense makes the A’s a really good team.
I never said it was over. But given Beanes past history Dunn will be his biggest acquistion if he makes any major ones at all.
Is there any lineup that Dunn wouldn’t fit beautifully into?
Texas is the dark horse… Dunn is from Texas (Houston area), and Vlad wont be back if he wants a 2-3 year deal at his age. Plus the Rangers have money to spend… According to Chuck Greenberg & Nolan Ryan payroll will be on the same lines as the Phillies and Angels (115-118 million). So they could easliy spend 50 million….
Lee and Dunn would be very nice additions (but would be for every team in the league too).
That’s a lot of leftys
Who besides Hamilton & Murphy???
Moreland, but he might end of sharing time with Dunn at 1B.
Borbon , and he hasnt shown that he can even play everyday.
Am i missing someone?
Yes. Count us out in Flushing. We have our resident strikeout artist in David Wright (who in the past 3 seasons has gone from 118–> 140–> and finally weighing in at 161 whiffs in 2010…stay tuned folks!). Besides, with the cavern that is called “Citi Field” we need OF’s who can actually, well, field, and we really don’t need Dunn at 1B either, with Ike Davis coming along. So ($$$$ aspects aside) I’d say Dunn’s bat (and walks) wouldn’t be enough of an asset to justify bringing him to Queens…not that there is any real “danger” of that….
Similar to what I said yesterday about Dunn and his OBP versus his strike outs, Wright’s OBP in those 3 years was .390 –> .390 –>.354. His OPS was .924 –> .837 –> .856. Agreed you guys need a good fielding OF and there is no room for Dunn at 1B, but having his .900 career OPS in the line up would make the strike outs bearable, I bet.
Yeah, I read that post yesterday (and enjoyed it).The thing is, the lineup will not be changing much this year, and we got more than enough “help” in the K department from other parties who tend to go into serious windmill mode for long streaks that overlap with the other strikeout kings. So I’m not convinced that Dunn would be much of a pick-me-up considering he’d be joining the “fun” all too often….and it’s anybody’s guess what J-Bay and his ‘magic’ bat will be up to next season.::shiver::
I hear you (although as a Brave’s fan I can’t say as it makes me sad or anything). And as you said, there is little danger the Mets will be interested in Dunn. If you get tired of Wright though, I’d take him on my team.
D-Wright?
Whats the matter? You’re not feelin’….Chipper?
;-D
wait mr im not a dh meets with A’s? unless billy bean has promised him to trade him to a NL team by the trade deadline it doesnt make sense if he indeed hates the dh.
– Oops! Wrong spot. –
Thats what she said!
Ouch!
(She said that too!)
If the A’s can pick up a couple of big bats they could contend. What I don’t get is for such a low-budget, small-market team it seems impossible for them to get the big names. Remember The Furcal debacle of a couple of years ago? i’m skeptical but if they have $100MM+ to kick around, more power to ’em!
I’l say it again, I love how aggresive Oakland has been. If they can get some bats, that division will have some fierce competition!
Oakland is going to contend next year in their division if they can find a DH i think berkman is the cheaper option since dunn wants 60 mil and a multi year deal and i think berkman wants a multi year deal but for less money
i say 2 yr 10.5 million for berkman
I think I read on here yesterday Berkman could sign for a 1 yr 7 mil contract. Something along those lines.
The problem with Berkman is you don’t know which one you’re going to get. If you get last year’s Berkman, I don’t think he’s a big enough bat to be worth the dollars for the A’s and he basically needs a right-handed platoon partner — not ideal for your DH. If you get a Berkman closer to his career lines, then he’s probably a bargain worth picking up.Say what you will about Dunn, but he is extremely consistant. If you assumed you’d get 38 HRs and an OBP over .380 from him next year, you’d probably be right. With him, the question is whether or not he wants to DH and how he adjusts to it. One would not assume it would be an issue, but then there are players like Pat Burrell. Psychology is an important facet of the game.
I’d go to Oakland to watch the Big Donkey take swings.
Similar to the Giants, the A’s have great pitching. Score a few more runs then last season and they could finish above the 3 other teams in their division.
Guys, Oakland is needing more offense than just Adam Dunn. Afterall they had one of the worst offenses last year, and losted Raja Davis. True, Davis is probably not a huge loss, but he was one of the few guys on that team that did score some runs.
Adding a Dunn or a Beltre seems to very unlikey given Beane’s past. Adding both would be unthinkable. That just simply wont happen. It is just a way to make the 8,500 – 10,000 fans that show up at that empty stadium feel like, there doing something to help out that young and talented pitching staff.
Well it seems like it is happening. Lets assume they make Dunn a competitive 4 year/$60MM+ offer and lets say Beltre accepts the 5 year/$64MM deal and then lets say they get Berkman on a cheap short-deal for say, 2 years/$12MM. That’s 3 bats they didn’t have before. Now, granted, Berkman is no lock to provide any type of support, but they’re almost guaranteed to get something out of Beltre and they’re a lock to get something out of Dunn. If they could get 75 HR’s from the 3 of them, I would say for a team like the A’s, it’d be worth it.
First, please dont forget but Adrian Beltre has only had 2 good years…. Both of which were contract years… Yes, he will add great defense, but that is not what we are talking about here. Besides defense is Kouzmanoff’s best asset too.
But Oakland has gone down this road before, and they didnt add any hitters. And at the end of it they still were unable to afford there pitchers they had at the time (Zito, Hudson, Mulder, and etc.). And since nothing has changed. They still have talented pitchers (just another group of kids), no offense, crappy attendence, a horrible stadium, and more importantly no revenue to add these 10 million a year type of guys.
But Suzuki, Barton, Ellis, Pennington, Kouzmanoff, DeJesus, Crisp, Sweeney will be painfull to watch…. So yes, they need someone (Dunn, Berkman, Beltre), and yes they could use all 3 of them, but that is just a pipe dream. The wont spend the money (because they dont have 25-30 million to spend). And if they had it to spend, I would hope they would spend there money more wisely and sign some of those young pitchers to longer term deals…. Instead of a washed up DH (Berkman), a one dimensional hitter with no defense to speak of (Dunn) and/or a guy like Beltre (with his only 2 good years coming in a contract year).
You obviously don’t know much about baseball do you? You must be a giants fan. If you would to watch the A’s year round you wouldn’t say half the stuff you just said. Stop talking out of your behind
beltre has had like 8 good years, 2 of which were outstanding. Unless your standard for good is Albert Pujols production.
I am refering to all-star caliber years…. Not MVP years….
If you throw out his 2 best years and his two worst years (for example sake):
.252
18 HR
67 RBI
17 days on DL
but he still plays great defense (when he is on the feild)
Are those types of actual numbers are 10-12 million dollars worth of GOOD??? To me, those numbers are decent at best. But far from good. Heck, yall got guys currently on your roster who can put up that type of production, at a fraction of the overall cost…..
Oakland’s biggest issue (besides money) is there offense. Beltre’s non-contract years have been decent at best. I am just simply stating that there are players out there, that are avaiable, with better overall performance, at a cheapier price. Big names are flashy and attention getters, but they are not always what is best for your club. And in Oakland place, or any team for that matter that chooses to spend 10-15 million a year on Beltre, i feel sorry for.
we might have ‘losted’ davis, but we have already added dejesus, encarnacion, and they’re throwing out high offers left and right. (yes i called the a’s we)
And were is the money coming from??? Attendence was a joke.
Afterall Oakland will just need 25-35 million to sign all 3 guys…. Which is nearly what the entire team made last year.
Last year the A’s spent $58.3 Million. As recently at 2007 they went up to $79.4 million. So obviously there’s some flexibility there.
Now, as far as contracts, Sheets and Chavez save $22 million alone. Kouzmanoff would be non tendered if Beltre signs. That’s about $4 million off the books. If Dunn or Berkman sign, Cust is gone, thats about $3 million off the books.
Is this a cursory look? Most definitely. But that would all still be $29 million off the books and clearly some leeway for total spending by the owner.
Like i said in another post…. Will the A’s go that route again??? They went down this road a few years back only to find out they could not afford players that they currently had on there roster. Hence the reason, Mulder and Hudson were traded, and Zito left for FA (which turned out to be a blessing).
If they were smart, they would sign Dunn if they can, steer clear of Beltre (overall performance) and Berkman (age), and try to re-sign there talent young starters. Afterall, pitching is what wins games. Not a older (mid 30’s), offensively over-hyped, defensive guru in Beltre.
Revenue sharing buddy…Revenue sharing. That is what we are witnessing. The reality is attendance has very little to do with the money put into small market teams. Teams are given money to allow teams to compete who don’t draw. That is why the A’s have thrown huge money offers at Furcal, Beltre, Sheets in the past. The difference between the A’s and other small market teams is they don’t pocket the money they choose to put it right back to players.
And you must not of seen Encarnacion play much…. The reason why he has bounced around from one team to another is because he cant play, and has a horrible attitude. If you are counting on him, yall are in big trouble.
DeJesus was a nice addition.
yea, well he’s still better than some options we could have had. our clubhouse has a way of creating positive attitudes as well. and thank you guys for mentioned the money coming off the books and revenue sharing. Beane has tried to spend money the last couple of seasons and nobody will take the money.
sad to see that we really didnt meet with dunn, but hopefully we offer him some money.
Like i have said – it aint happening. And oh by the way, Adam Dunn has already denied talking to the A’s……. So yet again, all of yall got excited over nothing…. but then again nothing that was going to happen in the first place….
Revenue sharing??? Yeah, right. Do you honestly think yall will get 30-40 million in revenue sharing to add Dunn, Beltre, and Berkman??? After looking at the A’s poor attendence, there is not question yall are in need of money. But MLB isnt giving yall goverment hand-outs of that extreme in order to sign 3 players worth about 25-35 million each year.
i would of been more likey to believe the owner was going to dig down deeper in his pocket book… I bet he is enjoying the fact that the A’s are the worst team in the state of California. Afterall there is only5 teams…. I bet he is running around jumping for joy yelling “I have the 5th best team in California”…..
Now that’s a player they can easily convince to play DH
This would be a GREAT signing for the A’s. They have many great pieces in place, they mostly need a guy that will hit a ton of homers and knock a lot of people in.
And whoever said Jack Cust’s bat in “non-existent” is completely illiterate. IMO, a career OBP of .378 and career OPS+ of 122 is not even close to being “non-existent”.
It would be interesting to see how Dunn’s power would play in Oakland. Surprised the Cubs haven’t looked into Dunn more for their first base hole. Probably treading water until they can go after Pujols/Gonzalez/Fielder
LOL. Now the A’s didn’t meet with him. Don’t know what to believe.
…better wait until wikileaks gets to the truth.
False rumor. Dunn did not meet with the A’s. They are TRYING to meet with Dunn but hasn’t happened yet
the plot thickens…
Ok ay false alert on dunn for now, how about selig taking almost 2 freakin years to name to give some upate on the A’s stadium situation, what a dunce commissioner
Ok ay false alert on dunn for now, how about selig taking almost 2 freakin years to name to give some upate on the A’s stadium situation, what a dunce commissioner
I don’t see the A’s signing any big time free agent like Dunn or Beltre. Players don’t want to come to Oakland and are just using the A’s as leverage for a bigger contract elsewhere, just like Furcal a few years back. They can probably sign Berkman
The A’s are a good orgnization you have just had a dominant Angels orginzation for the past couple of years.The A’s are a few players short of being competitive in the West.If they pick up Berkman and Dunn look out the A’s could be dangerous in the AL west.They have Dr.Beane and they will succeec
the A’s are a good organization, just not for big name FA’s. same as the rays and marlins. it is difficult to convince stars that they are a contender when they do not spend money like one.
ugh, deleted double post.
I’m not sure how much of an issue contending is as opposed to the out-of-date and rundown facilities in Oakland. After all, Dunn did sign with the Nationals and they’ve never finished above 4th.
I would love to add Dunn to the A’s lineup. Man I would be happy if we signed Beltre and berkman
Cf: Crisp
rf: Dejesus
Lf: Dunn
3b: Beltre
C: Suzuki
Dh: Carter/Berkman
1b: Barton
2nd: Ellis
SS: Pennington
This lineup could take the west with ease
There is no way in hell this lineup is possible. A’s signing Beltre AND Dunn + possibly Berkman. Get real
barton should bat 2nd or 3rd.
I don’t see Berkman in Oakland and not so much of Beltre. Hopefully the A’s can make a move on this.
all 3 not happening. 2 maybe. Dont get me wrong, I’m a diehard A’s fan. I go to 7-10 games a year. But all 3 would be crazy! If we somehow did that, I’d cry haha. A bad Beltre still would give us about 270/15HR/75RBI so I wouldnt be too mad if we overpayed him. As for Dunn, just needs to stay healthy. Even in a pitchers park, he can crush the ball. he has 2 hr in 6 career games at the colisseum. One every 3 games. I’d take that. As for berkman, biggggggggg wildcard. but id take the gamble. We could probably sign all 3 if iwakuma falls through
It’s not the ability to sign 3, it’s the willingness of the free agents wanting to sign with the A’s. All 3 is not happening, 2 is highly unlikely, maybe 1.
i agree no way all 3 would want to play at the colliseum. maybe 1
too bad, I want the A’s back in the playoffs.
Bummer…. But dont say i didnt tell you that there was no way Dunn would sign with the A’s.
Dunn simply had nothing to gain from going to Oakland. Nobody to protect him in the lineup, a pitchers park (or football stadium), owner wont spend enough money to put a winning team on the feild, terrible attendence, smallish market, not to mention they are the worst team out of 5 teams in the state of California.
Again, take that money that was offered (if it ever was), and re-sign those young and talented pitchers. If yall could draft and devolope hitters/position players like you can with your pitchers, you would have something (a team that has a chance). until then, yall better hope the opposing team doesnt score 4 runs. Because if they do, your offensively challeged team gets you beat.