Time for the Washingon Nationals to Trade Adam Dunn?

If there is one player in MLB who you can count on to put up consistent stats year in and year out it's Adam Dunn.


In the past six seasons he's average 40 HR's and 101 RBI. But that doesn't tell the story. It's not like he's had peaks and valleys and that's what the average year was, he's literally just about put up those specific numbers each year.


And now, he's on pace to do it again. This time however he's batting average (.275) in .50 higher than his career average of .250.


Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun time is reporting that the Nationals are seriously considering trading Dunn and stock piling some more young arms to fill in the pitching staff around phenom Stephen Strasburg and that the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels are showing the most interest.


Should the Washington Nation trade the slugger? With the certainty of his production, it's not only fantasy baseball participants that should easily be able quantify his worth. It would seem to me that if a MLM GM could write down 40 HR's and 100 RBI into his line-up that it would be to his benefit to do that. You would then know exactly what you have there and you can build your needs around it.


With Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, and Adam Dunn on the roster, and Bryce Harper on the way, wouldn't that be a pretty nice nucleus to build around?


Earlier this month the Nationals and Dunn were talking about a contract extension. Sure, they've slipped in the standings since then, but was that only conditional on them being pennant contenders in 2010? Did they thing that Strasburg pitching 6 innings every five days was going to propel them to a division title?


It's become clear that in this point in the season, with June about to come to an end that money no longer an issue for another team to ad adding Dunn. He's making $12 million this year and after the month is over, almost half of that will have already been paid.


Dunn is 30-years old. In adding him and American League team (most likely) Dunn, a team would get a designated hitter/first baseman/ emergency outfielder. He's currently hitting .276 with 17 home runs and 47 RBI.


I think the Nationals would be making a mistake moving Dunn. He's not over priced, he's great in the clubhouse for the younger Nationals players, and he has plenty of productive years ahead of him for the Nationals to try and make a run with young talent. - Brian James


Brian is an independent sports journalist. Brian has been covering major professional sports for over 25 years.


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