Dunn Traded to Arizona

[el loco]

Reds send Dunn to Diamondbacks
Slugger hit 270 homers in eight seasons with Cincinnati
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com

CINCINNATI --- First Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to a contender. On Monday, the Reds did likewise with left fielder Adam Dunn.
Cincinnati sent Dunn to the Diamondbacks after Arizona put in a waiver claim on the left-handed slugger. The Reds received Minor League pitcher Dallas Buck and two players to be named later in return.

Dunn, 28, is in the option year of a contract that is paying him $13 million this season and can be a free agent this winter. The Reds have decided to move him now with the hopes of getting some sort of return instead of letting him get away on the open market for nothing.

Despite batting .233 in 114 games during a streaky 2008 season, Dunn is tied for the Major League lead with 32 home runs and also has 74 RBIs, 58 runs scored and a .373 on-base percentage. He's walked 80 times with 120 strikeouts.

Drafted in the second round in 1998, Dunn has spent his entire professional career in the Reds organization. In the Majors since 2001, he was Cincinnati's most tenured player for the team's 10 games since his good friend Griffey was traded to the White Sox on July 31.

Dunn hit .247 with 270 homers and 646 RBIs in parts of eight seasons with the Reds.

The trade could give him his first crack at playing in the playoffs. The Reds are 52-67 and entered the day 19 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central Division standings. Arizona is the NL West leader at 60-58 and hold a 1 1/2-game lead over the Dodgers.

Buck was selected in the third round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft and underwent Tommy John surgery last year. He returned to action a couple of months ago and went 1-4 with a 3.94 ERA in nine games (eight starts) for Class A South Bend. The right-hander was promoted to Arizona's high-A ball team in Visalia earlier this month and in his lone start allowed three unearned runs in five innings.

Since Griffey's trade to Chicago, the Reds have started moving veterans to make room for younger players. On Sunday, catcher David Ross was designated for assignment so rookie catcher Ryan Hanigan could be promoted from Triple-A Louisville.

[kingofthecourt67]

Looks like Ownings will be included in the deal for Dunn. Not bad if you ask me, well it's not bad to what I thought we would get back in this deal.

[old rem]

uh....the Reds got a minor league A ball pitcher off surgery, with a 1-4 record. That's the price tag on a slugger leading the league in homers? Funny how the current Reds management manages to convert every productive player into cheap labor. Not the Red Machine I grew up on. Sell the franchise back to Marge Schott. Marge was a wingnut but did CARE.

Griffey blocked trades a few years,thinking MAYBE the front office was willing to TRY to have a team over .500. Well....he realized these clowns got a taxpayer funded stadium and are making $ off a AAA team dressed as Reds,with 3-4 real big leaguers mixed in (temps) for a facade.

Sad.

Baseball was once important to me,the Reds, The A's, the Giants....over the years the Steinbrenner effect has made 2/3 of the franchises in baseball just teams that MIGHT get a small window of opportunity for 2 yrs in a decade. The A's have done VERY well to rebuild and ALMOST make it to the top before the "Big Market" deep pocket teams skim off their best 5-6 players. Alderson + Beane ran the A's near perfect,great drafts,strong farms,creative trades-even if from a weak position. The Reds...one of several teams that just go through the motions. Even so...now the A's can't get a rebuild done before it all gets blown up again.

The Yankees,Red Sox,Dodgers and a few others can afford to ante up. The Reds, Pirates, Royals...pretty much gave up. A handful of others have the will to try to get to the top before the money monster blows them away.

Not long ago I could discuss the lineup of most major league teams. Now? Most of those players migrated to 8-10 teams with the rest of the pack being--at best-names I recall as AA prospects.

The Reds make a good case for a baseball salary cap.

[el loco]

^^^ Nice post. One minor flaw though. Marge is no longer with us.

Do you think baseball needs a salary cap? If so, would you want it to be like the NFL or the NBA? None of the contracts in the NFL are guaranteed, so that would be about useless IMO. What do you guys think?


Since the Dunn and Griffey trades the team has been winning some games.