Adam Dunn and the Houston Astros

Well, this is a familiar topic. It seems every off-season Adam Dunn's name comes up as a potential target for the Astros.

Born in Houston and still only 29 (and just turned 29 in the last couple of weeks), The Big Donkey would bring some pop to the lineup. But wait, there's more.

Let's see what this would do to Houston's lineup, because we already have a first-baseman: Future HOFer Lance Berkman. To bring in Dunn, who has played 1B, LF and RF, means moving somebody. So who would it be? If you put him at first base, Berkman moves to right field, which moves Pence to center, which moves Bourn to Round Rock.

If you put Dunn in left field, you put El Caballo in right and Pence in center and Bourn to Round Rock. As much word-play fun as it would be to have a horse and a donkey in the outfield, I can't imagine Easy Eddie being willing to dump Bourn - the main piece of the puzzle in the Lidge trade.

But let's look at some statistics:
Dunn's 79 runs would have put him in third place on the Astros.
122 hits would be fifth
23 doubles would be sixth
40 homers would be first...by 11
265 total bases would be third
100 RBI would be tied for second
164 Ks would be first on the team...by 40 (can you imagine a guy who makes Hunter Pence look like he has the patience of Hank Aaron?)
.236 BA would be 11th among guys who played in 100 games. Hell, Bourn hit .229
However, .386 OBP would be second on the team.
.513 SLG would be fourth
.899 OPS would be third

Dunn has also batted below the league average every single year. Granted, SLG and OPS have been above league average every single year. So there's no doubt that he would be an offensive catalyst, but where do you put him? Not first. Not in left. Not in right. Third? Guy's never played there. He also made $13 million last year. That's not going to sit well with Run-DMc for a guy who could probably command a 3- or 4-year deal at about $40 million or so who would push the franchise player out of his favored position.

No Adam Dunn.