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This is the Nats biggest issue, by far. Bigger than any free agent signing. This is a generally weak free agent class, imo. Those who are good have some serious odinjury, age or makeup issues. Aside from Josh hamilton, LaRoche is the best LHed power bat. He sure picked the best possible year to be slightly above his previous best __but not out of line with his career norms. Per 162 games, LaRoche has averaged 27 homers and 93 RBI for his career. But nobody except Cal Jr actually plays 162 every year. So, it's lower. But LaRoche hit .271 with an .853 OPS this year and his career numbers are .268 and .820.This is really a tough call. He and the nats really like eachother. His defense helps everybody. His LHed bat gives balance to a lineup that needs it. OTOH, a lot of the Nats RH hitters don't have much troulke hitting RHed pitching. So the "lefty power bat" angle isn't as big as it seems. But it's big to Davey. Lots of rival teams said the Nats were tough because of their L-R balance in both pitching and hitting.The Nats have exclussive negotiating rights with him until 5 days after the World Series. That's the time frame in which they really need to try to get this done if they seriously want him. Once you're "free" and in demand, few players end up coming back to their old teams. Yes, you can spend the LaRoche Money in some other way. But he certainly is a good fit, probably for at least two years. His best "comparisons" are to LH hitters with similar numbers at 32 who aged well, like Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. B ut there are a lot that didn't age well or still hit when they were healthy, but didn't stay healthy.
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