With their exclusive negotiating rights with first baseman Adam Dunn expiring this weekend, the Nationals need a contingency plan in case they can’t work out a contract with the free agent slugger.
Recommended Stories
Since there’s no player on the open market — or realistically the trade market, either — who can replace Dunn’s offensive production, Washington general manager Mike Rizzo would have to target someone with an above-average defensive profile.
Talk throughout the season was on Tampa Bay first baseman Carlos Pena. Unfortunately, the 32-year-old’s offensive production (.732 OPS) fell off this season. Once an excellent fielder, most defensive metrics in 2010 said Pena was a tick worse than even Dunn at first base. At this point he’s a cheap fallback option and nothing more.
But the free agent pile grew by one this week when the Arizona Diamondbacks bought out the contract of first baseman Adam LaRoche. He’s had an OPS above .800 in five of his seven major league seasons. And LaRoche rated as the third-best defensive first baseman in 2010. He’s also hit 25 homers each of the last three years. That doesn’t match Dunn’s production, but maybe it’s close enough if you include his defense and an expected cheaper salary. By using that money difference to fill other holes and getting two high draft picks for offering Dunn arbitration, maybe Washington can survive the big man taking his talents elsewhere.
