First, another tribute to those who make us laugh: An hour into Tuesday’s game, Jeff writes, “Santana should bat 7 in this lineup.”

Ah, shoot. The Twins look like a hitting machine — every other game. With three hits in back-to-back games, Jeff Cirillo looks like he could inject some life into the offense from third base. Meantime, I’m busy stirring up the masses about potential trades. In a text message Tuesday, La Velle said I’ve officially become a “rumor monger.” But for the first three installments of this trade series — Chief Wigginton, Cash Flowell and Lieutenant Kendrick — I made a concerted effort to only profile the players whose names we were hearing at the ballpark.

I’m going to deviate from that now because even if it appears unrealistic that the Twins will acquire Adam Dunn, I think he’s an important case study. And people, it’s time for you to step up in the nickname department. This is supposed to be fun.

Name: Adam Dunn, Reds OF

Basics: He’s 28 (turns 29 on Nov. 9). Bats L, Throws R. 6-6, 275 lbs (aka huge). Born in Houston. Drafted in the second round out of the University of Texas in 1998.

Stats: Batting .267 with 19 homers and 46 RBI. A .359 on-base percentage and a .560 slugging percentage (aka huge). He led the NL in strikeouts the past three years with 195, 168 and 194. And he leads the league again this year with 94.

Salary: $10.7 million. The Reds hold a $13 million option for next season, but that gets voided if he is traded. In other words, the team that trades for him would be getting a player three months from free agency. From what we’re hearing, the contract is the reason the Twins disinterested. Not just Dunn’s salary, but the players the Twins would have to give up for a pending free agent.

Good Twin because: With limited defensive skills, he’s probably best suited as a DH. Not many AL teams are as desperate for a DH as the Twins, so their competition to trade for Dunn wouldn’t be too bad. As mentioned yesterday, the trouble with adding a DH for the Twins is they need a place for Joe Mauer to hit on days he doesn’t catch. Still, they could hide Dunn in left field occasionally, and adding another power threat could help unsettle opposing pitchers, who simply get too comfortable against the Twins. Though they really could use a righthanded bat, Dunn could give them a middle order of Mauer (L), Cuddyer (R), Morneau (L), Hunter (R) and Dunn (L).

Available?: Yes, but it’s tricky. Reds GM Wayne Krivsky took a lot of heat when he traded Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to Washington last year, trying to bolster his bullpen. There’s a theory that Krivsky would need a more obvious return for Dunn to avoid a severe public backlash of trading another franchise favorite. And he’s hamstrung because the team that receives Dunn would only have him for three months.

Probable cost: For comparison, when the Brewers traded slugger Carlos Lee to the Rangers last July, they threw in Nelson Cruz and Texas gave up OF Kevin Mench, closer Francisco Cordero, OF Laynce Nix and minor-leaguer Julian Cordero. The Reds need bullpen help, but the Twins just don’t have the depth now with Jesse Crain injured and Juan Rincon struggling. This deal probably would take an A-level pitching prospect, i.e. Garza or Slowey.

Potential Bat-Girl nickname (*You know, if she still ran the greatest blog ever): Big Donkey. This is listed on Wikipedia, as a reference to Dunn’s speed, but we think you can do better.

Odds this trade happens: 20-to-1. Here’s something we can’t get over though: Since Krivsky left the Twins to take over the Reds, Terry Ryan has made three trades — two of them with Krivsky. He sent Juan Castro and Kyle Lohse to the Reds last year, then acquired Flailin’ Phil Nevin from the Cubbies.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 1:44 am and is filed under Around MLB, Trade Targets, Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.