As baseball rapidly approaches the two-week mark until Spring Training, a few potential impact players remain unsigned. One of them is a 29-year-old with a career OBP/SLG of .381/.518 who has hit 40 or more home runs five seasons running.
Among some Yankee fans, signing Adam Dunn would cap off what has been an excellent off-season. Today, Buster Olney chimed in:
Dunn might draw interest from the Yankees, a team for which he is perfectly suited, if they could shed the contracts of two of Xavier Nady, Hideki Matsui and Nick Swisher. Abreu, Dunn and Varitek can go someplace and bust it for one year, and if they have strong seasons, they can hope the economic troubles will have less bearing on the market next offseason than they have this winter.
If that argument — that Dunn should wait a year — sounds familiar, that’s because iYankees pontificated on it last week. With the Yankee outfield picture unsettled beyond 2009, Dunn could land himself a deal from the Bombers in about ten months’ time.
Of course, Dunn’s defense raises some eyebrows, but his bat is not in doubt. The Yanks could probably move one of Nady or Swisher if they’re willing to take a less-than-ideal return. They probably can’t move the less-than-healthy Hideki Matsui, and they probably don’t want to move both Swisher and Nady. An outfield of Damon-Melky/Gardner-Dunn doesn’t inspire much confidence.
But Adam Dunn is a tempting target for the Yanks, and until he signs, he’ll be on the periphery of Yankee interest. If the price is right, they just might pounce.
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