When the arbitration decisions were announced the other day, one of the real head-scratchers was Arizona's choice not to offer Adam Dunn arbitration. The D'Backs gave up three players for less than 200 at-bats of Dunn. Why wouldn't they want the two draft picks he'd pull in as a Type A free agent? Surely some team would be willing to give up a pick for a slugger like Dunn.As it stands right now, Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Braves, Mariners, Nationals, and maybe even Yankees are all interested in Dunn while the Dodgers and Angels are keeping him in mind should they fail to sign Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira, respectively. That's plenty of interest and I doubt the Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, or Nationals would be all that worried about losing a draft pick to sign Dunn.
You can say what you like about Dunn, but whoever signs him will know exactly what they're getting. He's hit exactly 40 home runs a year each of the last four seasons with an OPS+ of between 129 and 141 in three of those years (and 114 in the other). In the past five years, his OBP has been between .386 and .388 four times. Why the Diamondbacks were afraid that player was going to accept arbitration ... yeah, I have no idea.

















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-03-2008 @ 6:42PM
the cooker said...
You obviously forgot that Jeff Moorad is in charge of the D'backs. Remember he use to be an agent and is only interested in his own personal bank account not a championship team.
Reply
12-10-2008 @ 3:52PM
John said...
DBacks are sticking to a financial budget, which is great for the team but not so great for fans. They fortunately play in a division that only requires you to be slightly above average. If their pitching is superior as they hope, they should compete for most of the year. Why they signed what's his name (the guy who plays left field but got hurt....) is anyone guess. That was a major mistake. It will be a mistake not bringing RJ back. http://www.choicearizona.com/arizona_auto_insurance.php
Reply