Washington Nationals

Alphonso Soriano. If he refuses to play the OF, what will Washington do? Try to trade him for pennies on the dollar, and Bowden is not going to get a Brad Wilkerson back. Say hello to Victor Zambrano!

Force him into the OF and watch him struggle to hit homeruns in RFK? That will get very ugly. Say hello to whomever is the 5th starter in San Diego!

Playing him at 2B seems to be the only way Alphonso stays a happy Nat. That is complicated by the presence of Jose Vidro and his $20+ million contract. This is an ugliness that was entirely avoidable because Soriano said from the get go he wasn't moving to the OF. Why did Bowden get him? And how is that not a firable offense?

With Soriano in the infield, the OF is Jose Guillen, Marlon Byrd and Ryan Church with Michael Tucker serving as the across-the-field 4th OF. I liked Byrd a long time ago, and for a handful of dollars, I would gamble on a return to his rookie performance levels.

Ryan Church looks to be the most likely to get the most OF ABs outside of Guillen. He had a very promising rookie campaign cut short by injury, and this year he will only get better.

In the infield, I can see Bernie Castro and Damian Jackson contributing enough speed to make them useful 14th or 15th hitters. Keep on eye on Castro as he demonstrated very good stealing skills last season between AAA and the Orioles (47 of 55).

RFK will serve to have all the Washington starting pitchers drafted. Patterson's numbers cannot be ignored, but that aside, I am not sold on any of the other pitchers.

The bullpen is Chad Cordero, but the ballpark should keep the others members attractive as roster filler. What I would not expect is a similar number of wins. The team was involved in too many close games. This season the tables may turn, and the Nats could lose those close ones instead of Ayala winning them and Cordero saving them. Yes, the means I do not see Cordero saving 40+.