Adam Dunn has been a prolific home run hitter for years.

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

The Mets are struggling right now, and that is in large part because of the injuries that have forced Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes and others out of the lineup for extended periods of time. Currently, they stand at number 28 in the league in home runs, and there has been a lot of talk about them seeking outside help from another organization. There have been several names that have been mentioned that I am a fan of, such as Carlos Lee and Nick Johnson.

But there is one name that I don’t want to see affiliated with the Mets, and that is Adam Dunn.

Over the past few seasons, Dunn has been one of the best in baseball in hitting the long ball. He did it when he was with the Reds, and despite what the critics thought he would do, he still is still hitting the long balls with regularity. In fact, he stands in the top five in the National League, and it almost seems like he has hit more homers than the entire Mets team. Well…that may be stretching it a bit.

While the power would be a nice and welcomed addition, there are three parts of Dunn’s game that concern me. First is defense. Watching him in the outfield this weekend has been atrocious. He makes Sheffield and Murphy look like Endy Chavez in the outfield. I am sure he could probably hold down the fort at first, but then we would have to deal with the range that would be reminiscent of Mo Vaughn from a few years back.

Another thing you have to watch out with for Dunn is his speed. He isn’t exactly fleet of foot, and with the Mets’ current troubles on the base paths, he wouldn’t exactly be the man to help solve that problem. If he was on first base, he couldn’t score on a double. That hurts when you are a team like the Mets that has enough trouble scoring as it is.

The third, and most glaring, problem with Adam Dunn is the strikeout rate. He has always been known to be an all or nothing type of guy who walks a ton, but he also strikes out as much as half of some teams. David Wright seems to be doing enough of that for the Mets this season, and I think the Mets would be better off going for a high on base percentage guy like Nick Johnson.

The problem is that the Mets have a depleted minor league system.

If Omar Minaya makes any big changes, it would certainly shock the heck out of me.

One Response to “Just Say No To Adam Dunn”