A couple of months ago, in my article on the Toronto Blue Jays, I mentioned Reds' slugger Adam Dunn as a good fit for the Jays' cleanup spot. Apparently, I was not the only one who thought that way, as trade rumors for Dunn have been heard north of the border. However, Jays' GM JP Riccardi went the extra mile to quell such talk, saying that Dunn is a lifetime .230 hitter who strikes out a lot. He even went so far as to say that Dunn doesn't like baseball that much, and that the team does not want Adam Dunn.
This is the problem with Riccardi and his inability to craft an offense for Toronto that will help the team compete with Boston and New York. Either he is bluffing in a major way (which would only serve to tick Dunn off) or he simply does not realize that Dunn is an offensive force despite the strikeouts. Look at the Oakland A's and the offesnive production that they get out of Jack Cust who is somewhat of a lesser man's Adam Dunn. The Blue Jays seem set on filling their lineup with guys like David Eckstein, Lyle Overbay and Joe Inglett. Until they see that high batting average does not correlate well to winning, they will wallow in mediocrity.
