Waiting for something to be Dunn

I have to admit to all of you, I am the eternal optimist. I have faith that the ridiculous and improbable will happen at any moment. I believe that aliens will soon come to Earth and want to take me with them to explore the universe, much like they did with Richard Dreyfus in "Close Encounters"; that there will be peace in the Middle East any day now, which will cause a chain-reaction of peace that will ripple across the world turning the Earth into a Utopia; that the Washington Nationals will open there wallets and sign a free agent that will help them improve on a 102 loss season. I know what you are thinking and yes, I am quite the dreamer.

What the hell is going on down on South Capital Street? Things are so bad that Thomas Boswell from the Post, the resident baseball expert/fan reporter, has canceled his season tickets! Boz is so livid that the Nats owners haven't done a thing to make the team better in free agency he is boycotting the team. It's a buyers market out there, yet the Lerners are doing nothing, just treading water. I can't believe I am going to write this, but our Nats were better off when they were owned by Major League Baseball and playing in RFK. How the hell does this happen?

I'm just a guy who loves sports. I am no expert--although I play one on TV. The Lerners have spent money on the new stadium to improve the fan experience and have done an admirable job in addressing the parking fiasco. But other than that, they haven't done squat! For one, they apparently keep pissing off employees with their snails pace-business practices and drawn out work orders. They took the District to court for not having the Stadium finished on time--although the Nats played their first game in Nationals Park on March 30th last year, one day before any other team in MLB played a home game! Anyone who lives around here knows how contentious the stadium deal was to enact and approve. We know how fast that stadium was built. For the District to have pulled the whole thing off in such a short time frame borders on fantasy. I know business is cutthroat, but the Lerners spat in the face of the entire city, by being so scrooge-like in withholding $23 million in rent payments. MLB picked the Lerners due to the belief that they would spend money, connect to the fan base because of their local roots and make the Washington Franchise a brand name. Bud Selig must look more constipated than ever these days.

To see the Nats offer Mark Texiera all that cash to play here gave us all a false sense of security. That offer made waves in the baseball world. Every single person in the industry took notice: players, GMs, owners, fans! Washington's long drought of being irrelevant when it came to the national pastime was coming to a decisive and convincing end. Sure, no one really expected Texiera to come to DC, only perpetual optimists with no grip on reality thought we had a chance. (I held out hope until the bitter-Bronx-Bomber conclusion.) Everyone figured that after Tex went to NYC, the Nats would turn around and sign two or perhaps three above average players with that money and round on the corner an the way toward respectability. Au contraire, mon frere! The Nats have signed just two players: Ex-Oriole Daniel Cabrera--who is more a real life version of Nuke Laloosh without Crash Davis than number 1 starter--and Gary Glover who has a career record of 21 and 29, an ERA of 5.98 and... actually, who cares? I would have been more excited if we had signed Corey Glover! At least he's a glamour boy.

From what I can tell, management is being cautious about spending for obvious reasons. The economy is crashing; who knows what it will be like come July? The team wants to move forward with "The Plan", like the Caps did from 04-08, and build with draft picks and trades. Finally, and most important, when signing a 1st tier free agent, the team loses a first round pick as compensation. That certainly would hurt a rebuilding process. I think we all understand that. But, let's look at the facts here:

-No one knows what the economy is going to do. It's a crap shoot. But you can imagine if the Nats stand pat and sign no one of consequence, their economic situation will only get worse as they alienate fans, desperate for a baseball team that matters but ready to turn their venom on yet another Washington sports owner who takes the people who pay the bills for granted. (see: Snyder, Daniel M.)

-The Capitals signed a complimentary free agent or two every off-season to compliment their young nucleus (Ben Clymer in 05, Brian Pothier and Donald Brashear in 06, Michel Nylander in 07) before breaking out last December and becoming a contender. With the exception of Clymer, those guys are still with the club, each filling an important role.

-It is my understanding that when you sign a free agent in baseball, you must give up a draft pick as compensation. The type of pick is determined by how good the player is that is signed by another team. A first tier free agent means you give up your 1st round pick in the upcoming June draft. However, if your pick falls into the top three overall picks of the first round, than the team signing said free agent keeps their pick and the team losing the free agent gets a sandwich pick later in the 1st round. The team signing the free agent away loses lower picks as compensation. (Whew! Baseball is way too complicated.)

So, basically, the Nats would get to keep the number 1 pick in this years June Draft no matter what, so they can sign a top free agent (like Texiera) and still be in position to draft Steven Strasbourg (the consensus #1 rated player available). I think they would lose later picks as compensation, like the Cubs must have when they signed Alfonso Soriano away from us a few years back. (You might want to check me that last part. I didn't have time to read the thousands of pages of text and decipher the legalese. Anyone know a lawyer?)

But, in order to get compensation for a player about to become a free agent, a team has to tender said player a qualifying contract offer. The player can accept the offer--which rarely happens--or file for free agency. If the team doesn't offer him a qualifying contract offer, then that player can be signed for no compensation and truly is a "free agent". So, the Nats could sign Orlando Cabrera or Orlando Hudson and keep their top pick; they would just have to give up later round picks as compensation for those guys. But, are there any players out there, just two weeks before spring training begins, that would fill a need for the Nats and cost them nothing in compensation except the dollar amount on a contract? Well, as a matter of fact, there is!

Adam Dunn. Is he the answer? No. He isn't great in the field, he apparently has some sort of attitude, doesn't have great work ethic and only averages 40 homers and 110 RBI's every year for the past 5 seasons. As my mother like to say, "Heellooooooooo?!" The Nats need a big bat more than anything else. They have young pitchers in the system, and can probably get lucky with some pick ups in that area once or twice a year. But a heavy hitter is tough to find, especially one that will be a bargain. The Diamondbacks didn't offer Dunn a qualifying offer after this season. That means he can sign anywhere and no one has to give up squat. The Nats desperately need a bat behind Ryan Zimmerman. Dunn can play the outfield or first base, which is good since we all know Nick Johnson is as fragile as antique china in a pillowcase being tossed around a junkyard by epileptic blind men with no thumbs.

You know, Peter Angelos pulled this crap in Baltimore and look where it got the O-wee-oos? When was the last time the Pirates owners gave enough of a crap to make that team relevant? How many championships have the Rangers won? How does that saying go, "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it", or something like that? Why do these rich idiots all think they can do it better and fail so miserably? Don't they know what it means to repeat behavior over and over and expect different results? That is the definition of insane. And the Lerners are that indeed if they think the fans will still buy tickets in this economy to watch another 100 loss team scramble to score runs while the owners sit in their luxury box--built by a city that has yet to receive a single rent payment--while reviewing their 20 page work orders and not paying attention to the product on the field.