Zim: "I don't understand why Adam gets crushed on his defense."

On the same day he lost his Gold Glove to Scott Rolen (he was robbed - and don't blame Adam Dunn!) and served as a runway model for the Nationals new unis, Ryan Zimmerman came to the defense of Adam Dunn's defense. In the video above, he also talks Cliff Lee. Here's ZIm on Dunn (transcribed by Pete Kerzel of MASN):

"We got to get Adam, I think. ... For some reason everyone thinks his defense cost us 27 losses a year or something like that, but just the presence that he has in this lineup, the presence he has in this clubhouse, the consistency that you get out of him - if you take him out of the middle of the lineup, it's going to be hard to replace him. It's going to do a lot (of harm) to our team. ...

Ryan Howard probably makes a lot more money than (Dunn). He's not winning Gold Gloves. I mean, I love Ryan, he's a great player. But nobody ever says anything about his defense. ...There's maybe three or four guys in the big leagues that play good first base. I don't understand why Adam gets crushed on his defense. From the time he started playing defense in spring training to the time he ended the season, I can honestly say he's 10 times better."
(Ryan Zimmerman, via MASNSports.com, 11/10/2010)

Amen.

Meanwhile, it sounds like Wil Nieves is in the Carlos Pena camp with Mike Rizzo (via Nationals.com):

"Carlos is open to anything. I told him that Washington is a great city and that the Nationals are going in the right direction. He can help Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman when it comes to picking up their throws at first base."
(Wil Nieves, via Nationals.com, 11/10/2010)

But really, WHO cares what Wil Nieves thinks? Anyway, more from Zim, who would believes the Nationals have "other people" (*cough* *cough* Dunn *cough*) to take care of first before going after Lee:

"Obviously we need to get a starting pitcher. I think it's honestly going to be very hard to lure Cliff Lee away from...you know, kind of like the Teixeira deal. Obviously it's a big step for them, throwing that kind of money at a player, which shows that we're going in the right direction. But at the same time, we have some other people we need to sign before you go after him. But if you're asking me if I want Cliff Lee on my team, yeah. He can take some of my salary if he wants." (Ryan Zimmerman, 11/10/2010)

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Comments

[DMan]

Look, I know he'll never be a great fielder, but like Zim has observed, Dunn has improved quite a bit since they first plugged him at first in '09. Besides, people in this area really must have forgotten all about baseball during the 30+ year absence. Since Ruth transformed baseball, teams have always stuck guys as mobile as fence posts at first if they could mash the ball. Its a grand baseball tradition.

[BinM]

From a defensive standpoint, Dunn didn't kill the infield defense, but he didn't help it either. His biggest contribution was as an offensive threat, protecting the RH hitters who flanked him (Zimmerman & Willingham). The offense skews heavily RH without Dunn (or another LH/SH 'power' bat) in the lineup...
-Morgan (CF,LH)
-Desmond (SS,RH)
-Espinosa (2B,SH)
-Zimmerman (3B,RH)
-Willingham (LF,RH)
-Morse (1B,RH)
-Bernadina (RF,LH)
-Rodriguez/Ramos/Flores (CA,RH)
-Pitcher

If Dunn doesn't come back, I'd be on board for either LaRoche or Lee as a possible replacement from the FA pool; The thought of Pena just frightens me.