Swinging Bunts

Been quite a hot stove already and they haven't even lit the pilot light at the Winter Meetings. The Nats watched Adam Dunn depart and signed Jayson Werth for too much for too long to hit much less than Dunn. On the other hand, he can run and catch, two skills missing from the Dunn collection.

After Kenny Williams inked Dunn for the Sox, he started after incumbent first baseman Paul Konerko. That would push Dunn to his natural defensive position -- DH -- and give Chicago some mid-lineup oomph. Next, they'll need some relief pitching with the departures of Bobby Jenks and Scott Linebrink.

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Jed Hoyer appears to be continuing his apprenticeship to Theo Epstein, despite his new employment as Padres GM. Epstein schooled him out of Adrian Gonzalez for a trio of minor league maybes. Boston can move Kevin Youklis to third and let Adrian Beltre convert his walk-year revival into someone else's over-payment. It's an offensive coup and a defensive wash. A-Gone makes the difficult transition to the tougher league, but leaves Petco pitcher-heaven for the Fens. In the unlikely event Gonzalez leaves town after a year, the Sox get two sandwich picks (between the first and second rounds) to replace the stash they sent San Diego.

As for the Friars, that bottled lightning of '10 won't strike again in '11. They managed not to get back a single majors-ready player for the best hitter they've had in a decade. Find them at the bottom of the NL West playing to near-empty stadiums next year.

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Shaun Marcum is 37-25, 3.85 in the brutal AL Beast with all the chocolaty wholesome goodness that accompanies that pedigree. Plus he's 28 and earns less than a million dollars. So naturally, Toronto jettisoned Marcum for ... a minor leaguer. Man, that had better be some fantastical minor leaguage. (Word is that 2B Brett Lawrie was the Brews' top prospect, and a can't-miss edition at that.)

Actually, it's more sensible than it sounds. Toronto has more good arms than the Israeli military and a black hole where its lineup should be. Milwaukee has Rickie Weeks clogging up the keystone for the foreseeable decade and could always use a reliable #2 starter to bulk up an already above-average staff. The Blue Jays get chocolate in their peanut butter; the Brews get peanut butter in their chocolate.

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Now we know where Mark Reynolds' career will go to die: Baltimore. The O's sent a pair of journeymen relief arms to Arizona for the all-or-nothing cornerman. This is the D-Backs telling Reynolds they just want to be friends. Relief pitchers are easier to find than Waldo in a snowstorm.

Reynolds comes off a year in which he achieved notoriety as the best .198 hitter in history. He smacked 32 homers, walked 83 times and scooped up everything but the infield dirt at the hot corner. Baltimore snags him at a big discount. The question is, what can they do even with him?

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Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford are the big prizes, but the most interesting signing will involve a masochist GM who despises his manager. I wouldn't sign Manny Ramirez and the film rights to his life story for two wooden nickels, but someone's going to commit the GDP of Haiti to him. ($992,657) He can't play the field or stay out of trouble, but someone's going to take a chance that he can still hit. (Answer: with his eyes closed...if he can be bothered to.)

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Baseball's Hall of Shame now includes Pat Gillick; Jesse Haines, a slightly above-average 20s-30s hurler; Johnny Evers, whose .270/.356/.334 lifetime achievement is offset by his unequaled ability to be named in a catchy poem; Phil Rizzuto's mouth; journeyman 19th century outfielder Tommy McCarthy who was worth 19 wins in 13 years over a replacement-level player; and Bowie Kuhn, who was so feckless he couldn't get elected into the Bowie Kuhn Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Shame does not include: all-time great Shoeless Joe Jackson, all-time hits leader Pete Rose; Marvin Miller, who whipped Bowie Kuhn like a rented mule uninterrupted for two decades; and home run savant Mark McGwire. It appears likely that the Hall will also fail to include Barry Bonds, the greatest player of his generation; and Roger Clemens, the greatest pitcher of several generations.

So remind me, what exactly is the purpose of this institution?

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