Dunn chats up Jocketty

[OnBaseMachine]

Dunn chats up Jocketty
Could schmoozing lead to a long-term deal for the slugger?
BY JOHN FAY | JFAY@ENQUIRER.COM

SAN DIEGO - It looked like a formal job interview in an informal setting. Adam Dunn was sitting in the lobby bar at Marina Marriott here. He was surrounded by manager Dusty Baker, general manager Walt Jocketty and coaches.

The coaches and staff had been sitting around together talking when Dunn happened by on his way back from the ballpark. His wife, Rachel, and son Brady were with him. They stopped by to say hello. After chit-chatting, Rachel and Brady went to the room, but Adam stayed.

It would have been a good night for Dunn to make his case for a new contract. About an hour and half earlier, he had turned around a Trevor Hoffman fastball for the winning home run in the Reds' 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. The win snapped a four-game losing streak and had the club feeling a whole lot better about itself.

Dunn wasn't making a case for himself.

"We talked about a lot of things," Dunn said. "We were talking about everything - but really nothing baseball related."

Dunn and Jocketty have a cordial relationship - "I know my wife loves him," Dunn said - but Dunn and Jocketty haven't had the talk, where Dunn's future as a Red is discussed. "We haven't talked about that," Dunn said.

It sounds unlikely that Dunn would initiate such talks.

"We'll see what happens," Dunn said. "I'm not going to go out and track him down."

But Dunn is making a pretty good case from himself on the field. Friday's home run extended Dunn's nine-game hitting streak. The streak has been testimony to what Dunn can do when he gets locked in. He had hit .444 with six home runs and 11 RBI over the streak.

The home run was the 250th of his career, leaving him one short of Ted Kluszewski's club record for left-handers, and Dunn is only 28 years old.

He leads the Reds in on-base percentage (.395) and slugging (.531). His batting average was at .248 entering Saturday. That's his career average. He's on pace for his usual 40-home run, 100-RBI, 100-run season.

His errors (two) and strikeouts (34) are down. He's impressed his new manager.

"It's beautiful," Baker said. "He's getting his RBI. He's playing good defense."

Baker sounds like he wants Dunn on his team. The Reds have to make a decision on Dunn soon. He is a free agent after this year.

If they decide against keeping him, they've got to try to move him. Letting him walk for draft picks would be silly. Dunn, after all, is one of the few draft picks in recent years that turned into a productive big leaguer.

The decision on Dunn is tied to the decision the club faces on Ken Griffey Jr. The Reds hold an option on Griffey.

Jay Bruce is waiting to take one of the corner outfield positions. He's probably best suited for playing right field.

The decision ultimately could come down to Dunn or Griffey.

Dunn is a lightning rod for fans.

To some, Dunn is a below average defender who strikes out too much and doesn't hit in the clutch. To others - particularly those who look at the numbers beyond batting average and RBI - Dunn is the Reds' most productive player. His on-base plus slugging was .926 going into Saturday. The next closest regular was Brandon Phillips at .849.

Dunn isn't going to hit winning home runs every night like he did Friday.

"I think that's kind of coincidental," he said. "I've been getting pitches to hit in those situations and I'm not missing."

When he's doing that, he's a very valuable guy to have around.

Valuable enough to sign long term?

That's a big question the Reds are going to have to answer soon.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...L09/805250434/

[wheels]

Good golly, John Fay is a terrible writer. It never ceases to amaze me.

[OldRightHander]

He's on pace for his usual 40-home run, 100-RBI, 100-run season.

That would be a great season for a lot of players, not just usual.

[RedsManRick]

If you assume 650 PA, Dunn is on pace for:

41 HR
103 RBI
92 Runs (hmmm... wonder why that's down. Dusty?)

[KittyDuran]

Good golly, John Fay is a terrible writer. It never ceases to amaze me.

How so? I thought it was a good article - did he get some facts or stats wrong?

[LoganBuck]

A caller on Sunday Morning Sportstalk, had the gaul to call Fay a Saber guy. The caller said that Fay should throw all that "crap" out the window, and use "common sense", and advocate getting rid of Dunn. The caller claimed that if Dunn was gone that the other guys would feel less pressure and would fill in Dunn's run production with defense and hustle. He compared it to when an NBA team trades a scorer and the other remaining players numbers go up. I wanted to bash my head into the wall, but it got worse the next caller asked why the Reds didn't trade Dunn or Griffey for Volquez instead of Hamilton.

[Blitz Dorsey]

Good golly, John Fay is a terrible writer. It never ceases to amaze me.

I was just about to post this. You beat me to it. And he's even more boring and even less insightful on the radio (if that's possible). The guy is pretty bad. He is the George Grande of the beat media. Not that he's too rosey about everything, just that he's the worst of the bunch IMO.

[cincrazy]

I was just about to post this. You beat me to it. And he's even more boring and even less insightful on the radio (if that's possible). The guy is pretty bad. He is the George Grande of the beat media. Not that he's too rosey about everything, just that he's the worst of the bunch IMO.

Why is Fay so terrible? I think the media catches waaaaaayyyyyy too much heat around here. They all may have little things that annoy me, but I hardly think they're the equivalent of an 8th grade editor of his/her student paper at Franklin Middle School

[WVPacman]

If the reds don't resign Dunn to another contract and keep him as a Red then that will tell me that this front office doesn't want to become a winning franchise again.To let a 40 plus home run and a 100 plus rbis a year just walk would be stupid.

[Topcat]

A caller on Sunday Morning Sportstalk, had the gaul to call Fay a Saber guy. The caller said that Fay should throw all that "crap" out the window, and use "common sense", and advocate getting rid of Dunn. The caller claimed that if Dunn was gone that the other guys would feel less pressure and would fill in Dunn's run production with defense and hustle. He compared it to when an NBA team trades a scorer and the other remaining players numbers go up. I wanted to bash my head into the wall, but it got worse the next caller asked why the Reds didn't trade Dunn or Griffey for Volquez instead of Hamilton.

Logan you brave soul. you endured that moment that I truly am glad i was never subjected to. Griffey or Dunn for an unproven picture would never have happened. Factor in salary or declining numbers that Griff is obviously going to face and Dunn's impeding Free agency Texas Rangers would have to become hall of fame stupid to accept a deal like that.

Sadly few casual fans analyze a deal and say why would said team accept this deal ?

[GAC]

A caller on Sunday Morning Sportstalk, had the gaul to call Fay a Saber guy. The caller said that Fay should throw all that "crap" out the window, and use "common sense", and advocate getting rid of Dunn. The caller claimed that if Dunn was gone that the other guys would feel less pressure and would fill in Dunn's run production with defense and hustle. He compared it to when an NBA team trades a scorer and the other remaining players numbers go up. I wanted to bash my head into the wall, but it got worse the next caller asked why the Reds didn't trade Dunn or Griffey for Volquez instead of Hamilton.

Hey! I think I heard that caller. Was it Dr Phil?

At work we talk baseball, and especially Reds, a lot. And over the 14 years that I've been in this department, my co-workers have "experienced" my passion not only for the Reds, but for baseball itself. And a majority of the friends I deal with are what we'd call the "casual fan". It's baseball season. They watch the games and observe; but you start getting somewhat analytical with them, talking about OB%, OPS, and various other statistical data in order to defend or critique a player in addition to what is being observed, and they go cross-eyed.

You don't know how many times I heard love being expressed for a Freel (because he hustles), and that they'd love to have a whole team of Ryans, while thinking guys like Dunn should go because of the stereotypical positions we've all listened to.

We do agree about Jr and Patterson though.

[redsrule2500]

Good golly, John Fay is a terrible writer. It never ceases to amaze me.

Who cares? He offers insight to the Reds, which I'm pretty sure is why he has that job.

[Yachtzee]

Hey! I think I heard that caller. Was it Dr Phil?

At work we talk baseball, and especially Reds, a lot. And over the 14 years that I've been in this department, my co-workers have "experienced" my passion not only for the Reds, but for baseball itself. And a majority of the friends I deal with are what we'd call the "casual fan". It's baseball season. They watch the games and observe; but you start getting somewhat analytical with them, talking about OB%, OPS, and various other statistical data in order to defend or critique a player in addition to what is being observed, and they go cross-eyed.

You don't know how many times I heard love being expressed for a Freel (because he hustles), and that they'd love to have a whole team of Ryans, while thinking guys like Dunn should go because of the stereotypical positions we've all listened to.

We do agree about Jr and Patterson though.

That's my uncle right there. Last season we went to a game in Pittsburgh and he was going off on Adam Dunn like Dunn is the worst player ever to put on the Reds uniform. At the same time he was praising the likes of Ryan Freel and Jeff Keppinger. While I agreed with him that Keppinger was a nice surprise and a joy to watch, I tried explaining to him that Dunn is actually the best player on the Reds. When he brought up the whole clutch issue, I mentioned that his stats show he's actually pretty good in the clutch and is the Reds' top run producer. Unfortunately, because I was using OBP and SLG in my argument, it's like he suddenly put up a wall. Of course, my uncle takes everything Marty Brenneman says as fact, regardless of what the statistics actually say. If you bring up any facts that run contrary to a Brenneman position, he rolls his eyes and waves you off like you don't know what you are talking about. My uncle assumes that, because I live near Cleveland and he lives near Cincinnati, that he actually sees or listens to more games than I do (even though he's an admitted fairweather fan and listens or watches when its convenient), and that my only source of Reds baseball is reading about it from geeks on the internet.

[vaticanplum]

How so? I thought it was a good article - did he get some facts or stats wrong?

I can't speak for wheels.

But I personally still have some problems with Fay's style.

Big problems.

The kind of problems that make you sit and think late into the night.

Sometimes, when I'm reading a baseball article, I like to learn facts. Sometimes, I like opinions.

But what I really like in a baseball article is when a writer really pulls facts and opinions together to get informed insight.

The kind of insight I wouldn't be able to come up with myself.

I'm glad to know that Dunn would like a contract. I'm glad to know that a conversation may take place between him and the general manager about this at some point.

That's nothing I didn't really know before I read the article.

It might have been more interesting if Fay gave an educated, inside take on this situation.

That will be what keeps me up tonight.

[flyer85]

If the reds don't resign Dunn to another contract and keep him as a Red then that will tell me that this front office doesn't want to become a winning franchise again.To let a 40 plus home run and a 100 plus rbis a year just walk would be stupid.

if would be Ok if there was a player coming along to replace it ... but there isn't. Still I honestly don't think the Reds could or should go beyond 3-4 years on Dunn. However, seeing as the Reds have never even discussed an extension it is pretty clear where the organization stands on bringing him back. Usually these things are taken care of well in advance and certainly in the free agent markets today almost no player that has more than a quality season or two likley left even gets to the free agent market.