Alex Meyer for Denard Span. Arrr! The White Whale be ours! *stamps peg leg*

[TheCerebral1]

Denard Span gets on base at a good clip, provides a great glove in defense and cost a whole lot less than Bourn would have coming in.  Bourn has more speed to his game, but either way it's a win win.  The Nationals just need to regear and draft more pitching in June.  Meyer was a good draft pick when they stole him in the #20's and now he netted the final piece to the outfield.  I love the deal.  Span should have easily cost two other prospects.

[nobleisthyname]

Help me out, why does this mean LaRoche is gone?

Outfield is set with Harper-Span-Werth which means shifting Morse to first if they want to keep him. The only way we resign LaRoche now is if the Nats trade Morse. Of course, this is Rizzo, you can never predict what he'll do. He very well do just that.

[Mattionals]

He's a pitcher... dunno if he's the huge one.

He was.  Came from Kentucky.  I really liked him.  Not as much as Rendon or Goodwin, but I liked him.  Less than Purke too, so he was my fourth favorite of the 2011 draft.

[sportsfan882]

Great move even though I liked Meyer. Just need to add a 5th starter and a few relievers.

[Lintyfresh85]

Love it! Plus Denard is from DC, right?

[Rasta]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm
Span ranked sixth in AL by fanning just once in every 9.2 AB's and since 2008 his .357 OBP ranks 10th among all OFers w/ at least 2500pa

[Rasta]

Adam Kilgore ‏@AdamKilgoreWP
One agent brought up two points: 1) Nats D very desirable to pitch in front of for FA pitchers. 2) Having CF gives leverage with LaRoche.

[Mattionals]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm
Span ranked sixth in AL by fanning just once in every 9.2 AB's and since 2008 his .357 OBP ranks 10th among all OFers w/ at least 2500pa

Thank goodness!  A guy who doesn't strike out!

[HalfSmokes]

It is if he can stay healthy. Span is a 3+ win player too.

Still not seeing how that makes it a huge upgrade.  We saved money,  but also got rid of our only decent pitching prospect with a chance of being ready anytime soon

[LightningMcQueen]

I like this, because now Washington has their true lead off guy and potential to be fantastic defensively. But, this all but means LaRoche is gone.

[lastobjective]

Adam Kilgore ‏@AdamKilgoreWP
One agent brought up two points: 1) Nats D very desirable to pitch in front of for FA pitchers. 2) Having CF gives leverage with LaRoche.

I'm assuming by leverage he means we don't have as much of a "need" for him anymore so he can't demand 3 years knowing we'd just have to take it? If I remember how to haggle correctly.

And I never thought that a good defense would attract pitching but I can see that happening.

[houston-nat]

I like our thinking at this point. Re-signing LaRoche and trading Morse is still the top priority, but I could deal with Morse/Moore at 1B. Then all our shopping list has is a lefty reliever and a fifth starter. Those things are easy.



...Joe Beimel and Pedro Astacio!

[Squab]

Also, not just a singles hitter. He hit 38 doubles and 4 triples last year, would have led the Nationals, who had 4 guys hit over 30 dubs.

[houston-nat]

Still not seeing how that makes it a huge upgrade.  We saved money,  but also got rid of our only decent pitching prospect with a chance of being ready anytime soon

I'm sad to see Meyer go, but we do have SS/GG/JZ/RD for what, three more years?

[Mr Clean]

So what's the lineup? Span leads off of course.   Then what?

[Rasta]

JIM BOWDEN ‏@JimBowdenESPNxm
According to source the Nationals "absolutely" are still "in" on LaRoche but his demands have to come down if they're going to get a deal

So basically it sounds like the Nats want a two year deal with ALR and if he doesn't take then they move Morse to 1B.

[imref]

allow me:

"our first true CF/Leadoff since Nyjer Morgan!"

[Rasta]

So what does our payroll look like now?  We lost Jackson at 11M and if we don't re-sign ALR that is another 13M off the books.  Span adds roughly 4.5 for this year.  We still have plenty of cash to spend.

[114D]

I would do:

Span
Harper
Desmond
Zimmerman
Werth
Morse
Desmond
C
P

If we have Laroche, he bats 4th and everyone behind moves down 1. 

[rbw5t]

I'm beside myself with excitement over this.  The only downside is that now we know for sure we won't be keeping both Morse and ALR, who are both favorates of mine, but sometimes the cup just runeth over.  Too many good, well-liked players is a great problem to have, and a nice change.

I still think we should have made the qualifying offer to EJax though.  I don't think we can, and definitely don't think we should, outbid the LA teams and Texas for Greinke.  Dempster as a cheap 4th/5th starter probably makes the most sense to me I guess, but Jackson was/is a very capable 4th/5th guy, and seemed to fit in great.  Plus, he was a good emergency pinch running option!

Oh well.  Can we start spring training now?!

[lastobjective]

I would do:

Span
Harper
Desmond
Zimmerman
Werth
Morse
Desmond Espinosa
C
P

If we have Laroche, he bats 4th and everyone behind moves down 1.

That's a pretty hard hitting bunch, especially if LaRoche comes back.

[HalfSmokes]

I'm sad to see Meyer go, but we do have SS/GG/JZ/RD for what, three more years?

True,  but I'm not a huge fan of not having anything in the minors

[Mr Clean]

On MASN now they are talking about the many options the Nats now have. One was trading Morse to Tampa for one of their pitchers.

[rbw5t]

Even harder hitting without the correction -- let's let Desmond bat again for Espy, but keep Danny's glove in the field.  It would be beautiful!

[Vega]

Absolutely brilliant deal. Good for Minnesota too.