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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > August > 11
Monday, August 11, 2008
Baker sad to see Dunn go
As Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker said: “There is baseball and there is baseball business.”
And the Reds made a business decision today when they traded Adam Dunn to the Arizona Diamondbacks for three minor-league prospects.
Instead of waiting for Dunn to test free agency after this season, the Reds dealt him today.
“This way we at least get more than some unproven draft picks,” said Baker. If another team signed Dunn as a free agent, they would owe the Reds two first-round draft picks.
And what does Baker think about the trade?
“I’m a little sad right now,” he said Monday afternoon. “I’m more a hello man and a welcome man than a good-bye man. And to me Adam Dunn was more a person than a player.”
So the Reds have dealt two-thirds of the outfield with which they began the season and their two top power hitters — plus the two oldest in service on the team.
Ken Griffey Jr. arrived in 2000 and Dunn’s first year was 2001. The Reds never had a winning season with both of them in the lineup. Their last winning season was in 2000, Griffey’s first year, when they went 85-77.
“Griffey and Dunn - two peas in a pod as far as their friendship,” said Baker. “I asked Dunn not long ago if he was OK (after the Griffey trade) and he said, ‘Yes,’ but that’s what he would say anyway. I could see he was down.”
Baker said the Dunn deal was similar to the Griffey deal in that it materialized and happened quickly. There had been talks with Arizona before the trade deadline, but nothing happened.
To do a deal after the trade deadline, a player must be put on waivers, which Dunn was. The Diamondbacks claimed Dunn, so the Reds talks began again with the D-Backs and a deal was struck. If the D-Backs didn’t want to deal, the Reds could have withdrawn the waivers and kept Dunn.
General manager Walt Jocketty is in the Dominican Republic and called Baker this afternoon to tell him the deal was done.
So how do you replace a yearly output of 40 homers, 100 RBIs, 100 runs and 100 walks?
“Whew,” said Baker. “You don’t. But you know Dunn is a free agent after the season and can sign with any team. He is free to talk to anybody. Who knows?”
And for now?
“Right now I haven’t even thought about it,” said Baker. “I don’t know immediately. And in the future. We have to see who’s available?”
The Reds haven’t replaced Dunn on the 40-man roster and it is a sound bet that outfielder Chris Dickerson will be called up from Class AAA Louisville.
“Dunn is just like Griffey - he gained a whole bunch of games in the standings and first place (Griffey went to the White Sox, who were 1 1/2 games up in the standings and the D-Backs lead the NL West).”
The Los Angeles Dodgers, pursuing the D-Backs, acquired Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox. This was Arizona’s counter-move.
When it was mentioned that Reds fans might be rooting for a White Sox-Diamondbacks World Series, Baker said, “That wouldn’t be a bad World Series. I’d pull for that.”
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Dunn dealt to Diamondbacks
And now it is a full-fledged purge. First Ken Griffey Jr., now Adam Dunn.
The Cincinnati Reds traded their power-hitting left fielder this afternoon to the Arizona Diamondbacks for three prospects — Class A pitcher Dallas Buck and two players to be named later.
It is not a shock. Not even stunning.
The Reds were faced with trying to sign Dunn to a long-term contract before the season ended — and general manager Walt Jocketty does not do contracts during the season — or face losing him to free agency.
Dunn has made recent comments that while he would have liked to stay in Cincinnati, he also was looking forward to testing the free-agent market. If the Reds had lost Dunn to free agency, they would have received two first-round picks from the signing team as compensation.
Is what the Reds get now better than two first-round picks? That remains to be seen.
Dunn is tied for the major-league lead in home runs with 32, but has been in one of his batting funks lately - no home runs since Griffey was traded 10 games ago, during which time the Reds were 1-9.
They have lost 14 of their last 16 and are buried in the National League Central basement, so Jocketty obviously has determined it is time to remake the Reds in his image.
For Dunn, the Reds receive pitcher Dallas Buck and two players to be named later.
Buck spilled the beans on the trade shortly after he received a call from Arizona farm director A.J. Hinch, telling him he had been traded for Dunn. Buck was traveling with the Class A Visalia Oaks and was on a bus to San Jose, Calif., when Hinch called him and he told teammates of the trade en route.
“It was kind of funny,” Buck told ESPN, “because I was rumored to be in a deal for [Mark] Teixeira, so when I just told them they all thought I was messing with them.”
Buck, 24, was 1-4 with a 3.94 ERA in nine games and eight starts with Class A South Bend. He was promoted to High Class A Visalia and made one appearance, pitching five shutout innings Thursday against San Jose. He will be assigned to Class A Sarasota.
Buck was selected by Arizona in the third round of the 2006 first-year player draft. He attended Oregon State University, where he was a member of the 2006 NCAA national championship team. He made his professional debut last season by going 4-4 with a 3.41 ERA in 16 starts with Visalia.
Dunn batted .233 with 32 home runs and 74 RBIs in 114 games this year with the Reds. The Reds have not announced who will replace Dunn on the 25-man roster.
Jocketty was on his way to the Dominican Republic immediately after the trade and could not be reached for comment.
