I've almost come around on Adam Dunn. Sure, he's as frustrating a baseball player as you can find: strikes out a lot, not a good fielder, doesn't do the little things to help his team. But, at the end of the day, he can change a game with one swing, and he forces a pitcher to tread lightly through the line-up. I'm at the point where I think if Bob Castellini can lock him up at reasonable rate for the next five years, he should do it. This guys is going to hit 600 home runs in his career. He'd probably be a better DH in the American League, but the Reds aren't in the American League, and they can't play him at first base, do you work with what you got.
The realization that I'm feeling better about Dunner came last night when I read that one baseball GM ripped into him. The guy was answering questions on a radio talk show and a person called in to suggest that the team acquire Adam Dunn. The GM's response:
“Do you know the guy doesn’t really like baseball that much? Do you know the guy doesn’t have a passion to play the game that much? How much do you know about the player? There’s a reason why you’re attracted to some players and there’s a reason why you’re not attracted to some players. I don’t think you’d be very happy if we brought Adam Dunn here . . . We’ve done our homework on guys like Adam Dunn and there’s a reason why we don’t want Adam Dunn. I don’t want to get into specifics.”
You'll never here a GM go out of his way to disparage another player. Adding insult to injury is the fact that he's the GM of a Canadian franchise. This is total bush league.
Look, I get frustrated about Dunn a lot, but it's just because he sometimes fails to connect his brain to his physical abilities. I don't question his desire to play at all. I think it's the opposite: he tries too hard sometimes when he should play more naturally.
These ridiculous comments probably show why this guy won't be a GM much longer. And even better, the Reds are playing at Toronto next week. Something tells me that Dunn will explode.