One Year Solutions

Lets Face it, the Nationals aren't going to compete next year. The Players we need to be targeting are those who are young with great upside, or those who are old who can carry us through next season while the young guns develop. Here are some options.

Ben Sheets: He hasn’t pitched a complete season since 2004 when he posted an incredible 2.70 ERA with 264K’s and only 32 walks. Since 04 when he has been healthy he has been nothing but filthy as well. So why aren’t the big market teams throwing money at him like they did Sabathia? He has to prove to the big boys that he can pitch a full season before they’ll give him a 5 year deal that will support his grandkids grandkids. Often times when pitchers are in this situation, they will get about this far into free agency before they realize they may need one more year to prove themselves. So why don’t the Nats offer him a one year deal, for a solid chunk of money (8-15 million). He has the incentive to stay healthy and perform to try and land a big time deal from a competitor in 2010. Best case scenario; he is the best pitcher in baseball the first half and the Nats trade him for prospects. Worst case scenario? He pitches 12 solid games and gets hurt…and he’s gone next year. No commitment, no problems.

Mark Prior: Was the next Tom Seaver, but last year his numbers weren’t any better than mine. Prior has been about as injury plagued as anyone, no one knows if he still has an arm, or even if he still remembers how to pitch. This means he couldn’t possibly demand much of a contract. He’s your prototypical why not guy, sign him to a low pay one year deal and who knows, you may find yourself an allstar starter. It’s not like having him on the DL will hurt the Nationals chances this season….

Randy Johnson: Are you seeing a trend? We know he wants to pitch another season (5 wins from 300 and 211K’s from 5000), but will he want to go to a competitor? He’s won a World Series already, so that might not be an issue. If he’s willing to pitch for a team without a chance, he will probably be willing to sign a one year deal with D.C. He can still pitch ( 2.41 ERA with 78K’s in the second half last year), and he can defiantly teach a young pitcher with a similar career bath such as Daniel Cabrera a thing or two. We know he likes pitching in small markets; Washington might just be the place for him.

Marcus Giles: Once labeled as the next great second basemen, fell off the table incredibly fast into obscurity. He was Dustin Pedroia and somehow turned into Stubby Clapp. At the age of 30, he’s worth a shot with a minor league deal. He’s a good utility guy and if he refinds his stroke, he could definitely start at second over Ronnie Belliard. We know that his downfall had to do with personal issues, perhaps his maturity will help him regain at least a glimpse of his former allstar self. No real risk here…