Despite incredible individual success over the course of his ten-year career, Adam Dunn has never been on a winning team. In fact, according to Adam Kilgore, he is now second only to Randy Winn in terms of games played without a playoff appearance. Randy Winn! I didn't know it was this bad ...
Dunn has never played on a winning team, and his 651-795 record in games which he's played equates to a 72-win season pace.
You know how I know there is no justice in the world? Adam Dunn is stuck playing out the tail end of golf season, meanwhile Austin Kearns will be contending for the World Series as a member of the Yankees. Not exactly a faith affirming sequence of events.
As for Dunn's record - What about the home runs though, all those beautiful 354 home runs Dunn has hit; don't they mean anything? I guess maybe not.
The easiest thing to do is to look at that career record, and unfairly label Adam Dunn a career loser, but that isn't particularly fair considering there are nine players on the field at any given time. But it does say something about the importance of what Dunn brings to the plate, pun intended.
Despite ten years, with fluctuating levels of talent surrounding him, a team with Adam Dunn as the center piece wasn't good enough to produce a winning record. There are hitters who seem to produce wins all on their own, like Albert Pujols, but Dunn doesn't seem to be one of those types of guys. Does that make him a bad player? Absolutely not, he is still one of the best numbers rated hitters in baseball. But it might prove a team can't be built on that type of player.
Or at least that what it seems the Nationals front office believes, with the recent reports that have come out claiming the Nats are ready to drop Dunn in favor of a more defense oriented first baseman.
I'm sure the Nats know they won't be able to replace Dunn's offensive contributions, but they are hoping to replace him with a player who is better at an aspect of the game they feel is more important to it's outcome.