More On Dunn: About six hours ago (the time is stamped on all tweets like this i.c.y.c.) ESPN.com's Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) posted a book-length tweet on the "Nationals at the Deadline" that made me long for the days when stories were published as "serials" in the papers, as Mr. Olney wondered, 140 charachters at a time, over six separate messages, what DC GM Mike Rizzo and the Nats were up to as the Non-Waiver Trade Deadline approached:
"There are 48 hours to go before the trade deadline and it remains to be seen if the Nationals will dig in and make an attempt...to sign Adam Dunn. If they don't, they'd have two choices -- either keep him through the end of the year, which really...wouldn't make any sense, or try to trade him. The White Sox have been aggressive, but are not well-armed to go after...him. You wonder if the teams most motivated to get him will, in the end, be the Rays and the Yankees -- not only to land him...for themselves, but to keep him out of the hands of their division rival. Imagine Dunn hitting 5th for the Rays, or second...for the Yankees.The Nationals say they're not engaged with the NYY at the moment, but the NYY seem to be hovering --as are the Rays."
Mr. Olney, who occassionally hears things, ended the night on Thursday with the following Tweets:
(@Buster_ESPN): "Heard this: The White Sox are saying internally that they are currently out of the mix on Dunn."
(@Buster_ESPN): "The White Sox consider Lance Berkman as one of their Plan B options, now what they don't expect to get Adam Dunn."
FOXSports.com writers Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi (@jon_morosi) were hearing other things, however, as Thursday turned to Friday and the Non-Waiver Trade Deadline drew closer. According to Mr.'s Rosenthal and Morosi, the White Sox had grown tired of waiting for DC GM Mike Rizzo to lower his demands for the return on the Nats' big middle-of-the-order bat. In an article entitled, "White Sox aim to boost rotation", Mr. Rosenthal explained:
"The White Sox, frustrated by their inability to acquire Nationals first baseman Adam Dunn, instead are on the verge of ending up with one of the Nationals’ leading targets: Diamondbacks right-hander Edwin Jackson."
White Sox' pitcher Daniel Hudson's name was once again involved in the talk. Was this a revival of the rumored three-team deals that surfaced last week involving the D-Back, Nats and Sox? Mr. Rosenthal wrote that Washington's deal for Minnesota catching prospect Wilson Ramos could have been a preliminary move:
"A secondary motivation for the deal might have been to clear 2011 payroll for the addition of a pitcher such as Jackson."
As of this morning, however, the Nats were not being mentioned as part of this deal, with USA Today's Bob Nightengale (@bnightengale) Tweeting within the last hour that, "Club officials from the Sox and D-backs are confirming they are close to a deal, sending Edwin Jackson to Sox."
However, ESPN.com's Buster Olney was back with a blog post as well, this one entitled, "Baltimore's New Show", which had a section subtitled, "The Battle for Dunn", in which Mr. Olney once again notes that it's down to the Yankees and Rays, and in Mr. Olney's opinion, "The greatest drama in the last 30 hours before the trade deadline might be the shadow war between arguably the two best teams in the majors over Adam Dunn." Neither team wants the other to add the Nats' middle-of-the-order, Mr. Olney reports, restating what he'd said in last night's tweets, what lengths might they go to ensure it doesn't happen?
29 hours and counting...
• Latest Up To The Minute Update: From FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal (@ken_rosenthal):
Source: Dunn still in play for #WhiteSox, poss 3-way with #D-backs, Jackson would go to #Nationals - or if deal fails, end up...with #WhiteSox. Deal in #Nationals' hands. #WhiteSox's Hudson ends up with #Diamondbacks either way. Highly unlikely to start tonight.
For the record, one of our friends at Nationals Park had the following report this morning on a sign that appeared overnight which reads simply:
"Trade Dunn = Tres Dumb"
The DC Faithful have spoken.
In Rizzo We Trust.