Well we can say one thing for sure: Adam Dunn is most definitely not going to be traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.  If you're not familiar with why that is, Blue Jays G.M. J.P. Ricciardi was on a local sports talk show host last week and basically trashed the Big Donkey when a caller asked if he was going to pursue a trade with the Reds.

Amongst the rhetorical questions J.P. asked the caller were such gems as "do you know the guy really doesn't like baseball that much?" and "do you know the guy doesn't have the passion to play the game that much?".  In addition, he stated that they'd done their homework on Dunn, and weren't interested in pursuing him, but he didn't want to get into specifics - well it was a bit late to make that statement at that point.

However, I think this conversation shed a lot of light on why Dunn hasn't been traded yet, nor will he likely be.  As much as Ricciardi's statements may be considered unpopular or out of line, I'm willing to bet that if you polled the other 29 MLB G.M.'s, this would be the prevailing opinion.

And why wouldn't it be?  In the 7+ years that he's been here, he's improved minimally (if at all) in the field.  He still makes the same mistakes at the plate.  He still can't hit in close games with runners in scoring position.  He still looks out of shape and sloppy.  And he still looks, as Ricciardi intimated, like he just doesn't care.  Given that, why would a G.M. give up a prospect of any sort to acquire a player like Dunn? 

Granted, his market value isn't going to be too high anyways - my guess is that he wouldn't command more than a mid-level prospect.  So it might actually make sense for the Reds to keep Dunn, and allow him to walk after the season and pick up the two draft picks they'd be assigned for losing a Type A free agent (assuming he's declared a Type A).

Now the worrisome part for the Reds is, the longer the Reds hold on to him, the more likely they might be to resign him for 2009 and beyond.  Here's hoping that Walt Jocketty is smarter than that.