Adam Dunn Should Stay With the A's

Dunn and Crisp should be the face of the A’s rotation for two more seasons. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

When Adam Dunn was traded to the A’s from the Chicago White Sox it was clear to everyone that this was a rental move by Billy Beane. Billy had no intention, seemingly, of keeping Dunn, who has spoken openly about this being his final season, beyond the 2014 campaign to the post season. Since arriving in Oakland, though, Dunn has softened his stance on retirement and with this new found stance, the A’s are in a perfect position to offer Dunn a year or two more of pro-ball.

Dunn, who has earned well over 100 million dollars in his career, doesn’t need the money but he does need a post-season game or two and he’d probably like a chance at the 500 career home run milestone. With the A’s, as a DH, Dunn will most likely break his October-less streak and, with a couple more seasons, could easily grab his 500th home run. Beane could offer Dunn, let’s just say, seven or eight million a year to be the full time DH for the next two seasons. This move would add considerable homerun power to the A’s lineup, who may be losing Jonny Gomes and Jed Lowrie to free agency this winter.

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But he’s only good against right handed pitchers, Tony, don’t be an idiot. While it’s true that he’s better against righties, his attempts against lefties have been far fewer and he’s still managed to wrack up homers against them. As I wrote a while back, nobody gets close to 500 home runs without hitting a lefty or two. Also, don’t call me an idiot again, that’s just rude. You’re better than that.

If Beane were to pull the trigger and offer Dunn more time with the club, I would love to see him in the three or four spot against right handed hitters, bringing in Coco Crisp every first inning for the season, and in the nine spot against the dreaded lefty. Against lefties he’s still a threat but his lower batting average could be detrimental to the team at the heart of the order. Batting him ninth, like you would a pitcher, puts him in position to be a threat late in the lineup, insures that your eighth batter gets some pitches (you’re not going to walk someone before Dunn) and, with Crisp coming to bat right after, probably insures that Dunn gets a hitable pitch every now and then.

Dunn, as of right this minute, only needs 48 homers to hit 500 for his career. If he stays with the A’s for two more seasons, stays healthy and gets plate appearances more often, it is not unreasonable to assume that he could average 24 homers a year to hit the record. Here is the breakdown of Dunn’s home run production versus righties and lefties. The chart shows how many of his at-bats went out of the yard.

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As you can see, while there is a noticeable difference in production, Dunn is not the most terrible batter our team has seen against lefties and more experience playing against them might actually give his career stats a boost in that column.

With Yoenis Cespedes gone and Josh Reddick clearly not replicating a 30 home run year ever again, it’d be great to have a bona fide power hitter to keep Derek Norris, Brandon Moss on the top of their game, if the Cespedes trade was in fact the cause of their decline this year. Contrary to popular sentiment, the A’s could very well make a run for the division again next season but they need another power hitter to play old fashion “see the ball, hit the ball” baseball and The Donkey is the perfect man for the job.

It worked from Frank Thomas. In 2006, Thomas hit 36 homers, had 114 RBI’s, and a .270 average for the A’s. He was 38 years old when he came from the Chicago White Sox to the A’s as their designated hitter. Sound familiar? Dunn’s only 34. Maybe we sign him for four more years.

Adam Dunn Should Stay With the A’s

By Tony Frye | Sep 16, 2014