The White Sox added one of the games top power hitters in Adam Dunn on Friday, signing him to a four year, $56 million dollar contract. The move gives the Sox a much needed left-handed power hitter. This move, however, doesn’t mean the White Sox won’t quit their pursuit of resigning Paul Konerko.
Dunn has hit more than 38 or more home runs in 7 consecutive seasons. For Washington last season, Dunn hit 38 home runs and drove in 103 runs. He’s been on National League teams his whole career, starting with the Reds in 2001, and finished fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.
Along with the Reds, he’s also played for the D-backs, and Nationals. In his career, Dunn has hit .250/.381/.521 with 354 home runs. He’s also played in 150 games in all but two seasons in the Majors. Obviously his offense and durability hasn’t been the question with Dunn, but his defense, high strike out rate, and batting average are. Dunn is a career .250 hitter and is known for his bad defense and high strike-out rate as well as his tremendous power.
The White Sox do have the luxury of playing him at DH so they won’t have to play Dunn on the field and can put a much superior defender in the outfield. Dunn though, isn’t exactly fond of being a DH and would still like to play the field despite his bad defense. Still, Dunn can focus on being what he was signed to do for Chicago. Being their left-handed, middle of the order, power hitter. However, Dunn might see time at first base if the White Sox can’t resign Konerko.
Dunn became a free agent this season after turning down extension offers from the Nationals and being in a lot of trade rumors throughout the 2010 season. Since he was a type A free agent, the Nationals get the White Sox’s first round pick for signing Dunn.
I think this is a pretty good signing for the White Sox as they have another power hitter in a line-up that’s already pretty good. Though his strikeouts are a bit of a problem, his bad defense won’t be exposed if he’s playing most of his games at the DH spot.
He also doesn’t have to be the only power threat in the line-up like he was before with the likes of Carlos Quintin, Alex Rios, and Paul Konerko (if he re-signs) around him. This big signing doesn’t mean the White Sox are done. They still have plenty of issues to resolve, including their closer situation and the rest of the bullpen. I think that this signing is a step in the right direction for the White Sox and they should put up yet another challenge for the Twins in the AL central in 2011
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