Exercise In Futility

In the last 100 years only 6 MLB teams have finished with a winning percentage of less than .263 (current winning percentage.) The Washington Nationals are going to challenge for “exercise in futility” crown. The franchise had so many things going for them and situations to capitalize on with the new stadium and years of backing by MLB when they were the Expos. I don’t know how they can justify keeping the current front office team with the current state of affairs being as it is.

If I were the Nationals I would try to trade the rights to Stephen Strasburg to the Texas Rangers or the Boston Red Sox. They have the best farm systems at the moment. If they have to do a sign and trade, then do that. They should try to orchestrate a Hershel Walker thing where they get 5-8 position players for this phenom.

Someone would trade their 3 or 4 very best prospects for this guy. Think about how tough the Rangers would be if they added pitching to their current offense. How about the Red Sox. They are the class of the AL now, add Strasburg to that without subtracting anything for their ML roster and now how do they look?

The Nationals can end up with 3 or 4 every day players out of the deal like that and have something to build on. Add 3 or 4 quality every day players to Dunn and Zimmerman and you have something. Add Strasburg to their team and they will create Steve Carlton syndrome. Strasburg will win 25 games, and the Nationals will win 50 games. They need players that can affect the team’s record every day, not just every 5 days.

To illustrate how bad the Nationals current roster is…………

I play in a mixed league with 20 teams. So as you can imagine, just fielding a legitimate starting player at each position is a task. In my league only Jesus Flores, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, and Nick Johnson, Elija Dukes and Christian Guzman are owned. And of those only Zimmerman and Dunn are Active. That means that out of 260 starting players in my rotisserie league this week, there are 2 Nationals. Oofa…….. - David Fry

David Fry is an independent sports photographer currently covering Major League Baseball. David will be reporting on observations as he sees them in MLB stadiums throughout the year.