Nationals Give Up on Cabrera, Too

Mike Rizzo now knows how the Orioles felt for all those years.

Rizzo, the Nationals acting general manager, designated Daniel Cabrera for assignment late Tuesday. Cabrera had been pulled from the rotation and then had one disastrous relief appearance.

"We felt that we needed to change the dynamic of the bullpen -- we decided to designated him for assignment," Rizzo said. "You have to put the best 25 players on the roster to give you a chance to win. I looked beyond the contract. I looked at the execution of the performance and it wasn't up to par. I was tired of watching it. So I felt we had to make a decision there. The decision was to designate him for assignment and see if we could get a player who could performed better than him."

Washington signed Cabrera for $2.6 million after Baltimore declined to tender him a 2009 contract. And no wonder, in five seasons with the Orioles, Cabrera averaged 5.1 walks per nine innings while going 48-59 with a 5.05 ERA.

The thing with Cabrera is his tantalizing potential. He is 6-foot-7 and, when right, throws on a downward plane that makes it tough for hitters to elevate the ball. In September 2006 he nearly no-hit the Yankees in New York before a Robinson Cano single with one out in the ninth inning.

But most of the time, Cabrera made Oliver Perez look like Greg Maddux. With the Nats, Cabrera was 0-5 with a 5.95 ERA in eight starts. Then Monday, in his first relief appearance since 2004, he walked three in 2/3 of an inning.

And there's no point in having a guy who can't throw strikes in the bullpen.

Washington has 10 days to release, trade or demote Cabrera. He indicated to reporters he would not accept a minor-league assignment and thus become a free agent.

Good luck to him finding work. Even the Nationals decided it was worth paying him not to have him pitch.