Adam Dunn used the first week of his offseason to relax and get a much needed break from the misery he endured in his first year with the Chicago White Sox.
Forgetting one of the worst seasons for a hitter in major-league history, though, was impossible.
"It was a lot harder than I thought it would be," Dunn said Saturday, during the White Sox' winter festival. "I thought I would just be able to go home and blow it off, forget about it, but I wasn't able to do it, which was not exactly how I thought I would handle it. But at this point right now, it's over. As soon as New Year's Eve when I was in bed at 12:01 like everyone, that's a new year."
Although he fell six plate appearances short of qualifying for the lowest batting average in modern major-league history, Dunn's season was still a nightmare. He batted .159 over 496 plate appearances, had just 11 homers and 42 RBIs and struck out a team-record 177 times.
All that after general manager Ken Williams and the White Sox gave him a four-year, $56 million contract to be the power hitter and run producer he had been for most of his career in the National League.
"I thought it'd be a lot easier," Dunn said of moving past his struggles. "I thought I'd be able to go through the offseason like 'Whatever, it's over,' like I do everything else. I wasn't quite able to do that because, for one, you couldn't go anywhere without people (being) like, 'What happened? What's wrong?' Basically looking for me to make an excuse or something. I didn't have one. … All I can say is it's over and I can't wait for the season to start."
Dunn's streak of seven straight seasons with at least 38 homers ended, and after the All-Star break, he had only two homers and eight RBIs. He also hit just .064 (6-for-94) against left-handers.
"That was as rough a year as you could see anybody go through. Adam's awesome. He handled that about as good as I think anybody could handle it," teammate Jake Peavy said.
Dunn struggled in the DH role and the new league. First-year manager Robin Ventura said he's planning to give Dunn time at first base to spell Paul Konerko, or in the outfield, where Dunn has played more than anywhere else during a career that began with the Cincinnati Reds in 2001. Dunn played in 35 games at first base last season.
"My experience comes from playing, and I never felt the same every year coming to spring training," Ventura said. "I'm not concerned. I'm looking more at how he's thinking more than anything else.
"Not that we're the same, but I liked playing in the field, and he's done that in the past, and it would be nice to get him in there to do that."
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