Adam Dunn has hit 40 homers in each of the last five years.
Aaron M. Sprecher/Icon SMI

The market has been mostly quiet for free agent slugger Adam Dunn, but a baseball source said Dunn did receive a contract offer from the Nationals, who badly want a power hitter. The Nats targeted Dunn after making a spirited free-agent run at Mark Teixeira, who signed with the Yankees. But so far, Dunn hasn't seemed eager to sign with Washington.

Dunn could still wind up in Washington, but the Nationals' offer has sat there so long he's sent a clear message he'd prefer to go elsewhere. One other possibility for Dunn could be the Dodgers if they aren't able to work out a contract with Manny Ramirez, who is by far their first choice to enhance their offense.

Dunn was hoping to hit the jackpot in the free-agent market, and one baseball executive said he believes former Dunn teammate Brandon Phillips' contention that Dunn was hoping for a $100 million contract. Dunn has disputed that story. In any case, he's not going to come close to hitting his free-agent goal. His agent Greg Genske, who did nicely to get a $161-million deal for CC Sabathia, did not return phone calls over the past several weeks.

One executive said Dunn's biggest problem, other than a nightmare of a free-agent market, is that he is "really an American League player'' and that there aren't many teams looking to pay a DH big bucks. Oddly enough, Dunn has played his entire career in the National League, and the two teams connected to him now are both NL teams.