This is one of  a series of posts in which we rip each team for their offseason blunders and laud them when necessary for the occasional savvy move.

Since 2002, as I have alluded to previously in this space, the Washington Nationals have let more major league talent slip throught their fingers than probably any other three teams combined.  And unfortunately this horrendous record of mismanagement shows no signs of abating.

Nothing symbolizes the Nats’ utter directionlessness and total lack of a game plan than their foolish and futile pursuit of free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira earlier this winter.  As good a player as Teixeira is, the Nationals are probably the team in major league baseball that would stand to *least* benefit from his acquisition.

Adam Dunn, no doubt explaining to his son why playing baseball sucks.

Given that they already have two other first baseman signed to big contracts, are nowhere near contention, and need to rebuild at almost every other position on the diamond.  But the Learners and Stan Kasten were all pressing for the signing of a big-name free agent, and happy-go-lucky cowboy/GM Jim Bowden was happy to try to oblige.

Ironically, then, the failure to sign Teixeira may well have been the single best thing that happened to the the Nationals in what was otherwise a disastrous offseason. In addition to missing out on Tex, the team found out one of their top prospects was actually 23 rather than 19 (and therefore that they had essentially flushed $1.4 million down the drain), saw their GM embroiled in a Federal Investigation, had to close down their camp in the Dominican and fire Jose Rijo, and now is reportedly plotting the firing of Bowden right in the middle of spring training.

Not to mention that none of the moves the Nats made this offseason are any good.  The trade of three prospects for this years Florida Marlins arbitration victims Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham looks okay on the surface. Well, except that Olsen got lucky last year thanks to an unsustainably low BABIP, and now we find out that his fastball velocity mysteriously dropped over the course of the last two seasons, from 91 mph to 87 mph.  And that Josh Willingham has not been able to stay healthy, has never built on the promise he showed in his 2006 rookie year, and is already 30 years old, making it increasingly likely that 2006 was his peak rather than a hint of his upside.

Moreover, while I personally have never been sold on Emilio Bonifacio – the young infielder who was the centerpiece of the package sent to the Marlins – at least lots of people around the game think he can be a good player, and it is baffling to trade him now because he is a second baseman which is currently a gaping hole in the Nats lineup, whereas the Nats had no need for yet another outfielder in Willingham, or another 5th starter-type in Olsen.  But most of all it just makes no sense at all for the Nationals to take on overpriced, mediocre players during their highly expensive arbitration years when they are nowhere near contention.

The other big move the Nationals made was the acquisition of free agent 1B/OF Adam Dunn.  While I personally think Dunn is a great player, this move possibly makes even less sense for the Nationals than signing Teixeira would have, in that at least giving an eight year deal to Tex might have held the possibility that he would someday play on a contender, whereas giving Dunn $20 million over two years where the Nats have no hope of contending is just flushing money down the drain.  It doesn’t even make sense from the perspective of getting more fans to come out to the park, given that 50 percent of people passionately believe that Dunn is a lazy bum who strikes out too much and hates baseball.

What we are left with is an incredibly unbalanced team that seems to have been assembled with the help of a random number generator. The Nats are paying $25 million this year to three different first baseman and have 6 starting outfielders in Willingham, Elijah Dukes, Lastings Milledge, Wily Mo Pena, Austin Kearns, Willie Harris. But meanwhile they have no second baseman, I challenge you to name their shortstop without looking, their bullpen is in tatters, and with the losses of Odalis Perez and Tim Redding the composition of their pitching rotation behind Olsen and lone bright spot John Lannan is largely a mystery.

The good news is that the slight improvements the Nationals made at the hefty pricetag of about $25 million in added payroll are likely to ensure that they will improve on their MLB-worst 59-102 record last season.  But that is where the good news ends, as it will be a struggle to win 70 games.

Overall the Nationals’ payroll is projected to be about $75 million this year. Is any team doing less with more?

Offseason Grade: D-

Acquisitions: 1B Adam Dunn, LHP Scott Olsen, OF Josh Willingham, P Daniel Cabrera, C Javier Valentin, IF Alex Cintron, OF Corey Patterson, P Wil Ledezma, P Josh Towers, P Terrell Young

Losses: P Chad Cordero, P Odalis Perez, IF Emilio Bonifacio, P Tim Redding, IF Aaron Boone, P Jesus Colome

Projected Starters, Rotation, and Closer:

C Jesus Flores
1B Adam Dunn – hit exactly 40 homers in each of the last 4 seasons
2B ???
3B Ryan Zimmerman
SS Christian Guzman – an out-making machine, his ‘08 “comeback” was all batting avg.
LF Josh Willingham/Wily Mo Pena
CF Lastings Milledge/Willie Harris
RF Elijah Dukes/Austin Kearns

SP1 John Lannan
SP2 Scott Olsen
SP3 Daniel Cabrera – The modern master of the art of base-on-balls
SP4 Shawn Hill?
SP5 ???

CL Joel Hanrahan

- Hot Offseason Index -

After Nationals GM Jim Bowden was arrested for drinking and driving in April 2006, we took a look at some of Bowden’s more memorable blunders. Some, like signing Ken Griffey, Jr., were a product of bad luck. Others, like comparing Players Association head Donald Fehr to Sept. 11 hijackers, were just stupid.

Last week we found out that top Nationals prospect Esmailyn Gonzalez, who was listed as 19 years old on the team’s roster, is actually 23-year-old Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. Today we find out that Bowden is being investigated by the FBI. Turns out he may have been skimming bonuses awarded to Latin players.

Meanwhile, the team that Bowden runs has finished no higher than fourth place every season since 2005, when the Expos moved to Washington, D.C. They’re expected to finish last again this year, and they’ve got a farm system that is so barren that it’s unlikely the team will compete anytime soon.

Common sense says Bowden will be fired before the season starts. But common sense would have dictated firing Bowden a long, long time ago.

Monday is Hot Baseball Wife Day here at UmpBump, and this week’s HBW is Kelly Bartlett, nee Chevez, the wife of the Tampa Bay Rays’ slick-fielding shortstop Jason Bartlett.

Jason and Kelly were married on November 15, 2008, and they have an 8 month old son, Jayden Anthony, born June 25, 2008.

There is only one known picture of Kelly on the internets, which you can see above, but we think you will agree that it is enough evidence to inducte her into the hallowed hall of hot baseball wives.

You can’t blame Jake Peavy for his surprise at still being a San Diego Padre. All signs were pointing to Atlanta or Chicago as probable (not possible) destinations; and yet, with one week of spring training in the books, Peavy remains.

Back in December, I, like many of the people watching the Padres, thought Peavy would get dealt, and I based my “analysis” of their needs then on the premise that they would be able to land a few good prospects in return. Well, you can forget about it all.

Except, of course, that their other pressing needs remain relevant, Peavy trade or not. The Friars had an atrocious offense in 2008, and while the team made some moves, let’s not be hasty and say they’ve improved. They traded Khalil Green, their starting shortstop to St. Louis for a minor league pitcher, and though they signed David “GRIT” Eckstein, they’ll let him take over second base (vacated by the departure of Tadahito Iguchi) and either move Luis Rodriguez to short or give prospect Matt Antonelli a shot to start.

They signed veteran Cliff Floyd and traded Matt “F’n” Bush to Toronto for cash and a player to be named later (which apparently, has yet to be named). They also signed veteran catcher Henry Blanco to back up Nick Hundley, who’ll get the majority of starts behind the plate, and added outfielder Emil Brown as a spring training invitee.

These moves don’t exactly blow you out of the water, or even blow you anywhere near the surface of the water, but the reason for the lack of offseason action, for those who may not have been paying attention, is that the San Diego Padres are drastic cost-cutting mode. Their budget was slashed in half from 2008, which is a direct result of their ownership dilemma between John and Becky Moors.

Because of their on-going divorce and its financial ramifications, Moors was forced to sell the team. He finally reached a deal with former Diamondbacks CEO, Jeff Moorad, who’ll have five years to complete the transaction. Though the Padres will have new ownership, it’ll take a while before it takes over the actual running of the team. What that means for the on-field and front-office operations remains to be seen.

As far as pitching goes, their rotation retains their front-line starter in Peavy (now they just need to score him some runs). They’ll give Mark Prior another shot at pitching on the major league level and they reached a deal with Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican league for right hander Walter Silva, hoping he’ll earn a spot in the rotation. Even with these moves (or non-moves in Peavy’s case), pitching is still a work in progress, with several spots open in both the rotation and bullpen.

Notable acquisitions: Cliff Floyd, Henry Blanco, Walter Silva, David Eckstein

Notable losses: Trevor Hoffman, Tadahito Iguchi,  Shawn Estes

Projected lineup, rotation, and closer:

C Nick Hundley
1B Adrian Gonzalez
2B David Eckstein
SS Matt Antonelli / Luis Rodriguez
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
LF Chase Headley
CF Jody Gerut / Scott Hariston
RF Brian Giles

SP Jake Peavy
SP Chris Young
SP Cha Seung Baek
SP Josh Geer?
SP Wade LeBlanc?

CL Heath Bell

Offseason Grade: D

With a pool of young players, 2009 is shaping up to be the first of a 5-year plan for when new ownership takes over. It’ll be painful, but at least they’ve managed to be proactive in trying to field a team capable of winning more than 63 games. Right?

- Hot Offseason Index -

Baseball was a lot simpler before performance enhancing drugs. Or rather, baseball was simpler before we started to learn just how many players were using performance enhancers.

Now we’re stuck trying to figure out who was using and who wasn’t. We’re arguing over who belongs in Cooperstown and who doesn’t, who should keep his record and who should get an asterisk.

Fortunately, Rick Reilly is here to make life easier for us. He’s got a new column up where he imagines taking MVP awards away from guys who were on steroids and giving them to the “clean” guys who came in second.

Reilly proposes stripping Ken Caminiti of his 1996 MVP and giving it to Mike Piazza. He wants to take away Barry Bonds’ 2002 MVP and give it to Luis Gonzalez. And he wants to give a whole bunch of Bonds’ trophies to Albert Pujols.

Now, it’s possible that none of Piazza, Gonzalez or Pujols were on steroids. But it’s not likely.

Mike Piazza averaged 34.6 HRs a season between 1993 and 2002, but in 2003 he showed up to camps several pounds lighter, which he attributed to a new diet and workout routine. That season he hit 11 home runs.

Luis Gonzalez hit more than 31 home runs once in his career, when in 2001 he hit 57.

Pujols…I’ve got nothing on Prince Albert. He looks clean. But you know what? So did A-Rod until a few days ago. So did Jason Grimsley and Andy Petitte and Ryan Franklin. The point is that we don’t know if Gonzalez or Piazza were using. We don’t know if anybody who played during the steroid era was using, unless they failed a test or confessed.

“If Bud Selig can talk about giving Barry Bonds’ phony-as-tofurkey home run record back to Hank Aaron, why can’t we right all the wrongs of the Syringe Binge?” Reilly asks.

I’ll tell you why. Because while it’s easy to take trophies away, it’s a lot harder to figure out who really deserves them.

More than 100 guys tested positive for steroid use in 2003 when they knew they were being tested. Who were they? And how many players were using in 2002 before testing started?

Performance enhancing drugs made things a lot more complicated. It’s going to take more than the wit and wisdom of Rick Reilly to sort this out.

The recent cagey signing of Adam Kennedy to a minor league deal the other day is yet further evidence that the Rays under Andrew Friedman are just about the best run organization in baseball.

Not only are the Rays stocked up and down the system with an incredible array of talented prospects, but they are also stocked in AAA Durham with an amazing collection of major-league ready talent.

These are not just replacement-level mediocrities playing out the string. Virtually everyone on the team could easily be starting in the majors for the right team, and would have a reasonable shot to perform above replacement level.

Check out the projected 2009 opening day starters and rotation of the Durham Bulls:

C John Jaso – .820 OPS last season in AAA
1B Chris Richard – 26 homers, .922 OPS last year in 467 AAA at-bats
2B Adam Kennedy – solid infield glove and .276 avg for 10 seasons in the Show
3B Morgan Ensberg – former All-Star 3B for the Astros is still only 33 years old
SS Reid Brignac – one of the top prospects in the Rays system
LF Justin Ruggiano – .911 OPS including 11 homers and 20 SB in 66 AAA games last year
CF Fernando Perez – 43 SB at AAA last year
RF Matt Joyce – 116 OPS plus for the Tigers last season

SP1 – David Price – 12-1, 2.30 ERA (minors), 0-0, 1.93 (MLB)
SP2 – Wade Davis – 4-2, 2.72 (9 AAA starts)
SP3 – Jeff Neimann – 9-5, 3.59 (AAA)
SP4 – Mitch Talbot – 13-9, 3.86 (AAA)
SP5 – Ben Hendrickson – 10-9, 4.58 (AAA)

So who would have a better record if this team played the Royals 2009 schedule?

In all honesty it would probably be the Royals, but the point is that the Rays are certainly in good shape with some cheap in-house solutions if they run into any injury woes this year.

The Diamondbacks’ lease at Tucson Electric Park contains at out-clause: The Dbacks can leave if there are ever fewer than three teams playing in Tucson. This winter, the White Sox bolted to Glendale, where they’ll share a facility with the Dodgers. That leaves two teams in Tucson — the Dbacks and the Rockies.

Now the Dbacks acknowledge they have talked with Casa Grande about moving spring training sites and would prefer having three other teams in Tucson for better competition.

D’backs president and CEO Derrick Hall spoke this morning near Tucson Electric Park as the team had its first full-squad workout.

“If you had your preference you’d either have four teams here in Tucson, where you can draw from the fan base here, or have a one- or two-team complex up in the Valley where you can draw from your fan base there,” Hall said.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Hall’s tactic, it’s a variation on the “Boras.” Super-agent Scott Boras likes to make exhorbitant contract demands, then when a team signs one of his players that team can say, “At least we got him for a fraction of what Boras was originally asking.”

Hall says he wants four teams in Tucson, but really he wants to move the Dbacks to a fancy new facility in the Phoenix burbs where he can sell tickets for twice as much money. He’s greasing the wheels for a Tucson departure. The reality is Tucson needs three teams, but now the goal is four. Hall just raised the bar. Nicely played, Derrick.

With a full year under his belt, rookie surprise Alexei Ramirez moves over to shortstop

To say that the Chicago White Sox won the American League Central Pennant is a statement of fact. But to say that they were the best team in the division might be a stretch. The White Sox should have had that division in late August but a series of umm, unfortunate injuries to their veterans (and Carlos Quentin), as well as persistent pressure from a young Minnesota Twins ball club, pushed the pennant race to the very last day of the season.

Last season, the White Sox were simply old and slow. The team was 5th in runs, 9th in OBP, and second to last in stolen bases; and what’s more, they finished behind Minnesota in almost all offensive categories save for solo home runs.

This offseason, though the economy is forcing a lot of teams to cut or hold budget, White Sox GM Kenny Williams has been able to make some deals while “bumping up” against his financial ceiling.

First, he unloaded a couple of veterans in exchange for a handful of minor league talent that may actually compete for a starting job or two. In what was an arguably puzzling move, Williams traded Nick Swisher to the Yankees for Jeff Marquez and Wilson Betemit. Swisher, as UmpBump’s Paul argued back when the deal came through, is a bounce-back candidate, but it was clear towards the end of last season that he simply didn’t fit in manager Ozzie Guillen’s clubhouse.

For his next big trade, Williams sent veteran hurler Javier Vazquez to Atlanta for catching prospect Tyler Flowers (who was the best power hitter in the Arizona Fall league last year) and infielder Brent Lillibridge.

Out of those two trades, Marquez has a realistic shot of landing the 5th spot in the rotation, while Betemit and Lillibridge will duke it out with Chris Getz for second base now that Orlando Cabrera is out via the free agent door and Ramirez moves over to short (his natural position).

Joe Crede’s tenure in the South Side came to a sad end after he couldn’t shake a rash of back injuries that limited his playing time in the last two to three years, giving Josh Fields third base as his job to lose.

Flowers is the prospect with the most up-side, but he’ll have to endure a few seasons in the minors before A.J. Pierzynksi is ready to give up the starter role.

With Cabrera and Crede gone, the Chi Sox figure to field a much younger (and arguably more agile) infield. Meanwhile, Brian Anderson will get yet another shot to land the center field job, though he’ll have to beat out Jerry Owens (and his .324 OBP).

Much has been said about young Cuban defector Dayan Viciedo, but it's unlikely he'll earn a spot in the roster this year.

As far as the rotation is concerned, Jose Contreras has been making a steady and speedy recovery from an Achilles heel injury, and Vazquez’ departure via trade opens the fifth spot for which there are a few competing arms. Williams brought back Bartolo Colón and the hope is Marquez as well as Clayton Richard (who saw some starts last year) challenge the veteran former Cy-Young winner for the spot.

There have been other trade rumors circulating around veterans Jermaine Dye and even Bobby Jenks, (even some rumblings about Williams possibly signing Bobby Abreu before he joined the Angels), but as of now, Dye is headed to camp, as is Jenks (with whom the Sox avoided arbitration).

Of note is young Cuban defector an third baseman Dayan Viciedo, whom Guillen praised for shedding some weight since he was inked to a multi-million dollar deal, but he’s only 19 and it’s doubtful he’ll break camp with the big league squad. Instead, Fields will get start the season at the hot corner.

Notable acquisitions: Bartolo Colón, Ben Broussard, Tyler Flowers, Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquez, Brent Lillibridge, Dayan Viciedo.

Notable losses: Juan Uribe, Joe Crede, Orlando Cabrera, Nick Swisher, Javier Vazquez.

Lineup, rotation and closer:

C A.J. Pierzynkski
1B Paul Konerko
2B Christ Getz/Brent Lillibridge
SS Alexei Ramirez
3B Josh Fields
LF Carlos Quentin
CF Jerry Owens/Brian Anderson
RF Jermaine Dye
DH Jim Thome

SP Mark Buehrle
SP Gavin Floyd
SP John Danks
SP Jose Contreras
SP Bartolo Colon / Jeff Marquez / Clayton Richard

CL Bobby Jenks

Offseason Grade: B

While Williams got hosed in the Swisher deal mainly because he was shedding a no-longer-welcomed player, I’d dare say the Sox got a decent deal in the Vazquez trade. He was also able to throw some money at his veterans (Jenks) while bringing in some outside help. The Colon signing was classic Kenny Williams (it can’t be a ChiSox offseason without a freshly inked vet), but in this case, it made sense to make sure the young’uns stepped up their game and earned that fifth spot in the rotation. The bullpen will return with Octavio Dotel, Scott Linebrink and Matt Thornton setting up Jenks. The only black eye is, again, center field. Neither Anderson or Owens has shown they deserve the everyday job. Maybe that will change this season.

- Hot Offseason Index -