Nats News Break!

Peter Gammons devoted an entire column to our (nearly) beloved Nats! Among the interesting tidbits, Gammons quotes our new GM, Jim Bowden, as saying:

Bowden is looking for a shortstop, third baseman, right-field bat and veteran (180 to 200 innings) starting pitcher. If possible, he'd like to hold onto catcher Brian Schneider (who's sought by Boston, among many other teams, after having the majors' best percentage of runners thrown out), first baseman Nick Johnson, center fielder Brad Wilkerson and relievers Chad Cordero and Luis Ayala. Bowden tried to acquire Jose Guillen, whose career he rescued in Cincinnati, but the Angels insisted on getting Cordero back in return. Guillen may end up in Florida in a three-way trade that would send Randy Johnson to Anaheim, or he'll be moved to Kansas City.
The free agents on his list include third basemen Corey Koskie and Vinny Castilla and shortstop Cristian Guzman, as well as several pitchers. Philadelphia came asking for Endy Chavez, several teams have asked for rookie outfielder Ryan Church, including Tampa Bay, which has several veterans it's trying to move, Aubrey Huff and Jose Cruz Jr. among them.

So, shortstop, third baseman, right field bat, and veteran pitcher, hmmm?. I like the name Corey Koskie on the list (career .373 OBP), but do not like Guzman (career .303 OBP). That guy Orlando Cabrera plays a pretty good shortstop. Peaches and Herb anyone? As for right field bat, there will be any number of them on the market this offseason, including soon-to-be-cheap pickups like Richard Hidalgo (.847 career OPS), the surprisingly-only-30-year-old Jermaine Dye and Ben Grieve, who despite getting a lot of bad press over the last several years, managed to put up OBPs of .361 (2004), .371 (2003), .353 (2002), and .372 (2001). You can work with those numbers. You really can.

As for pitching, good luck, Jim.