The 2009 Washington Nationals are not going to win the NL East.

Shocking, I know. But please let me finish.

The 2009 Washington Nationals are not going to win the NL East and are still treating their best talent like they have no idea what the hell to do with them.

It started on Opening Day when Manager Manny Acta chose to pencil in Austin Kearns as his starting right fielder over Elijah Dukes. At the time, Acta’s rationale had been thus – Kearns hit four HRs in Spring Training agaisnt the likes of Felipe Paulino, Kyle McClellan, Nate Robertson, and Leo Nunez. That’s it, really. Not because Kearns has more to offer for the future of the franchise (he doesn’t), not because Kearns will end up with better numbers than Dukes (he won’t), but because of four HRs he hit off of mediocre pitching in games that didn’t count.They favored Kearns who slugged .316 last year over Dukes, who was the team’s best hitter in 2008.

And then there comes the news today that the organization is sending another talented young OFer – Lastings Milledge – down to AAA. Why? Because he hasn’t raked in the first 7 games. Cue my confusion.

What exactly does Milledge have left to learn down in the minors that he can’t learn in the bigs? Why wouldn’t a team that’s going nowhere fast want to groom their best talent at the major league level against major league pitching?

Now I’d be naive if I didn’t mention two things – one, Milledge plays a notoriously shallow CF, a fact that hurt him twice on Opening Day when balls sailed over his head, one resulting in an inside-the-parker by Emilio (EMILIOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!) Bonifacio. It’s becoming clearer by the day that Milledge does not have the skillset to be a good CFer and should be moved to the corners. Two, well, Elijah Dukes hasn’t exactly led the most prudent life.

But I don’t see what these two things have anything to do with playing time in 2009. Lastings Milledge is not a good defensive CFer, but among the other candidates (Dukes, Kearns, Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, and, I suppose, Willie Harris), he is the most attractive option. And to the best of my knowledge, Dukes has stayed out of trouble since 2007.  Why stifle their development? I simply do not see how this helps the ballclub’s bottom line.

Maybe Milledge should’ve just shook hands with Jim Bowden last year or something…

UPDATE: The Washington Post says Kearns is unlikely to be traded and that the Nats will start the season with four outfielders. I guess it’s one thing to hope for Elijah Dukes to stay on the field, but it’s another thing to count on it.

I’ve been refreshing MLB Trade Rumors every hour on the hour, just like the rest of you. And it’s the same names over and over: Bedard, Santana, Jones and Cabrera.

But one name I haven’t heard, and I don’t know why, is Austin Kearns.

This off-season, the Nationals traded for Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes. Yesterday, they signed Wily Mo Pena to a one-year contract. Ditto Ryan Langerhans.

Langerhans isn’t a candidate to start. He’ll most likely serve as the team’s reserve outfielder. But Wily Mo, Elijah and Lastings are all young guys who are still developing and need quality minutes.

There is no place to put Kearns, other than the outfield. Third base is being manned by potential all-star Ryan Zimmerman and first base is taken by Dmitri Young, who just signed an extension at the end of the season and is even more valuable now, since he’s been given the task of mentoring/monitoring Dukes.

So where does that leave Kearns?

Are the Nationals going to bring four outfielders (and Langerhans) to camp and let them fight it out?

There’s a reason I’m not a major league GM (the man has been keeping me down), but I suspect there is a market out there for Kearns, who probably should have won the gold glove this season, and who had an OBP of .355 and stole 24 bases. He only hit 16 homers in 2007, but RFK is/was a pitchers park. Kearns has hit as many as 24 in past seasons.

Kearns agreed to a three year extension with the Nats prior to last season. In 2008 he’ll make $5 million. In 2009 he’ll make $8 million.

Does anybody know anything I don’t? Is Kearns being shopped? Or are the Nationals going to let Milledge, Dukes, Kearns and Pena slug it out?

The Reds are going for broke. Earlier in the week they traded for “Everyday” Eddie Guardado, to compete for the team’s closer’s job. Today they traded for more relief help, acquiring Gary Majewski and Bill Bray. In exchange, they gave up big-swingin’ Austin Kearns.

Kearns, along with Felipe Lopez, is headed to the Washington Nationals, a team assembled by former Reds GM Jim Bowden. Kearns was considered the future of a young Reds team when Bowden was in charge in Cincinnati. Bray was considered one of the Nationals’ top pitching prospects. Now they’re both changing teams.

The Reds also acquired shortstop Royce Clayton, infielder Brendan Harris and pitcher Daryl Thompson from the last-place Nationals.

Is Kearns the kind of guy a team can build around? Is he even the kind of guy a team can win with? He swings a big stick and is on pace for 30 homers and 100 RBIs this season. But he strikes out a ton, too. He’s on pace for 170 Ks this season. He strikes out 30.5 percent of the time. That’s a ton. Can a team win with a guy who wiffs that much? And who has such limited range in the outfield?

And do the Reds really have enough pieces to win the NL Central? They’ve been so bad for so long. And they’re starting pitching…I mean, it’s been good, but…really? Bronson Arroyo? Eric Milton? In the Great American Ballpark? Can they really keep it up?