Adam Dunn tells CTR that he wants to stay in Cincinnati:
Adam Dunn hopes he’ll be a Red again next season.
The team has an option on his contract for 2008, but Dunn isn’t worrying about what the team will do yet.
“It’s like being traded, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Dunn said before Friday’s game, two days after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. “I’ve got other things to worry about, like crawling out of bed.”
Dunn is supposed to be fully recovered in four to six weeks, and by that time he hopes his future is more certain. He also hopes he will stay with the Reds.
“People might not want me here, but I definitely want to be here,” Dunn said.
Redleg Nation wants you here, Dunner. We want you to wear a Reds uniform for many, many years. And we can’t imagine a single reason why GM Wayne Krivsky wouldn’t have already exercised this contract option. It makes no sense. Bringing Dunn back is such a no-brainer, why hasn’t Krivsky pulled the trigger?
Meanwhile, Hal McCoy calls Dunn one tough Texan, and says that Dunn has played hurt for the last three seasons.
Finally, I enjoyed this from CTR’s article:
Despite his knee feeling worse in the second half of the season, Dunn felt better at the plate.
He hit .273 in the second half after hitting .258 in the first half. His on-base percentage was .425 in the second half, compared to .356 in the first. Dunn’s homers went down in the second half (24 to 16), but so did his strikeouts – dramatically. Dunn struck out 105 times in the first half of the season and only 60 in the second half.
“Something clicked in the second half. The whole second half I was seeing the ball good,” Dunn said. “I don’t know what happened, but hopefully that’s something I can build on.”
Dunn also saw his record for strikeouts in a season – 195 set in 2004 – wiped from the books by Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who struck out for the 196th time on Thursday.
“I don’t think I’m going to be up there again. I’d tell you if I thought I would,” Dunn said. “It’s weird, I just felt a lot different in the second half.”
The second half also solidified Dunn’s desire to remain with the Reds. He enjoyed the second-half of the season as the Reds played better than .500-baseball since Pete Mackanin took over as interim manager in July.
“You saw what we did in the second half, we’ve got some young guys that came in and lit a spark,” Dunn said. “It was fun the second half. It shows what direction we’re going.”
Dunn just hopes he’s invited along for the ride.
He had better be invited along, or Krivsky is gonna have some ‘splaining to do.