I don't buy into the idea that players worry so much about being traded the next year. Players play for money. That means they either play today for the team that will pay them the most today, or they play for a team today that will allow them to put up stats to make them be able to get paid tomorrow. That's why the Rockies have and Phillies have a harder time signing FA pitchers unless they ink them for long term guaranteed money. What matters is what the team can get now in return for one guy versus another and whether that allows them to improve the ballclub. Improving the ballclub is all that matters. If that can be done best by dealing Nick or Willingham, so be it. I just think that given the plans of the team and the fact that Willingham is under club control, that since they have to trade someone, they should be shopping Dunn (who BTW is having a hell of year) to contenders and offering to eat salary in order to maximize return.
!) Trading away Nick Johnson and/or Josh Willingham and/or Adam Dunn won't make the team better because you won't get players who are as good. Contending teams don't give away players who are as good as the players they want. They actually expect to give you very little.
2) They don't have to trade anybody. It's not a requirement.
And I go back to my post from yesterday, exactly how many games are you/people who think like you wiling to lose in 2010 & 2011? This team isn't even treading water and moving solid major league players for prospects or less solid major league players makes this an even worse team in 2010.
Again, this team needs to be acquiring more sold major league players not trading them away. This team has to almost do what a contending team does (or should do) on a different scale. Contending teams are supposed to sacrifice some of their future by trading away prospects for winning today. At least, that's the way it used to be. Teams would give away valuable prospects for a chance to win a World Series. Now those teams want to give away almost nothing and get everything. Anyway, getting back to what the Nationals have to do, like a contending team, sacrifice a little future winning, ie not trading away solid major league players for prospects who will help them win later, so that they stop getting worse now by keeping players like Dunn, Willingham and Johnson. I don't know how trading away Dunn or Johnson or Williamham makes the team better now. You can not possibly make that argument. If the team was ordinarily bad, I can see making these trades but this team is so far from being ordinarily bad...Cleveland bad, Oakland bad, Arizona bad. Just look at the standings. That has to be "the plan" for 2010. Stop getting worse!
Now, I have no problem trading Kearns or Guzman or Belliard. If we can get anything for them, the should be sent packing pronto! Those players don't make us better now.
