Footprints in the Snow: Washington Nationals

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

You have to search pretty far and pretty wide these days to find a corner of Major League Baseball where there is virtually no hope. Parity is a reality. The Rays reign in the AL. There have been seven different champions in the last eight seasons and 23 different teams have qualified for the postseason since the beginning of the decade.

Heck, even Pirates fans have hope. Just ask Pat Lackey.

Enter the Washington Nationals, one of those few dark corners in the baseball world where it's hard to find anything to feel good about. They have a shiny new stadium in D.C., but it had one of the poorest first-year attendances of any ballpark in the post-Camden Yards era. The broadcast ratings haven't been much better either.

Of course, most of that trouble is related to the product on the field, and what an abysmal product it is. MLB's role as caretaker of the franchise during its last days in Montreal and its first days in Washington has buried it in a deep hole, and general manager Jim Bowden seems to have exacerbated the problem.

No matter what happens this winter, the Nationals have a long way to go.

Who May Leave?
Aaron Boone, IF, free agent
Odalis Perez, SP, free agent
Austin Kearns, possible trade or non-tender

What Do They Need?
To put it simply: everything. The pitching was abysmal in 2008, but the offense was even worse. They didn't hit for average or get on base well. Worst of all, they had the worst slugging percentage in the National League. The Nats need bats more than anything, particularly ones with power. Ryan Zimmerman, Elijah Dukes, Cristian Guzman and the recently acquired Josh Willingham are the only regulars who should be guaranteed a spot in next year's lineup heading into the winter.

What Should They Do?
Truthfully, not very much. The Nationals may have already made their biggest move of the offseason -- a trade with the Marlins that brought Willingham and pitcher Scott Olsen to D.C. earlier this week. Washington had the worst record in baseball last year, and it was far and away the worst team in the game.

There will be very little help coming from the farm system this year and the team was so bad at the major league level in 2008 that it would probably take a cash outlay that would make the Yankees blush just to make it respectable.


I'll say the obvious and point out that most of Washington's attention should be on developing its young players, particularly it's prospects, but this is really about the big league club. If ever a team was made for a five-year plan, the Nationals are it. So in that vein, they should avoid long-term, big-money commitments. Forget Manny Ramirez. Forget Mark Teixeira. Forget the upper echelon pitchers on the market.

What they should look for in free agency and trade are bargains that could pay off big, even if the payoff comes in a trade. Scouring the Rule 5 draft and even the non-tendered free agents for the next Bobby Jenks, Carlos Pena, Johan Santana or David Ortiz might not be sexy, but it will probably do more to push the Nats forward than inking Adam Dunn to an eight-figure contract.

What Will They Do?
Washington has been connected to most of the top hitters available, so you get the feeling that Bowden is going to make a big splash to push the ticket gate a little and generate some buzz. As much as he may want to land a hitter like Teixeira, it's hard to see him actually coming to Washington, considering he'll get competitive offers from teams in a much better position to win.

The Nats would probably be happy to settle for Adam Dunn (chicks dig the longball right). He's a very good player and Bowden knows him from their days in Cincinnati. And of course, he won't do very much to stem the tide of losing in D.C.

The team has made noise about bringing back Odalis Perez and Aaron Boone, their only two free agents this winter, and they will probably make a handful of depth signings, but with Olsen and Willingham already in the fold, Bowden's work for the winter is probably more than halfway complete.

Free agency is about finding a short-term fix. The Nationals are building for the long-term. If they're smart, they'll sit out the annual winter spending spree.