Maybe..just maybe...we'd be better off in the long run by giving 1B to Bill Rhinehart, and trading from our outfield depth for pitching.....
A couple of thoughts:
The Nationals have both long-term and short-term needs. "The Plan," in its various incarnations, meets the long-term needs and signing someone like Abreu, Hudson or even Dunn, doesn't seem to fit with the long-term needs of the club. But the short-term need, avoiding the fiasco that was 2008, is every bit as critical as the long-term one. They simply cannot take a chance that 2009 will resemble 2008, not just in the sense of losing 102 games but in the lifeless, futile, offense-less baseball that gave fans little to cheer about.
Bill Rhinehart is a 24-year-old who hit .233/.321/.397 in AA. There is no reason to think that he would be anything different at the MLB level. Playing him at 1B would be an insult to the fans who chose to give the Nats a chance after 2008. If you are going to do that, bring back Aaron Boone.
Fortunately, I think that the owners know this -- I think they get that something has to be done in the short term while we await the long-term. The team has to be competitive even if that means signing some players who don't figure in the long-term plans.
The help we need is at the plate. (I think that our starting rotation, with a little health and luck, will surprise people.) If that means over-paying a bit for a Dunn or even an Abreu, so be it. It's better than over-paying for a starting pitcher.
One last note: the Lerners should get on their knees and pray that some other "can't miss" prospect emerges between now and June. Strasburg gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's not only or even principally that Boras is his agent. It's that I'm opposed on principle to selecting pitchers that high. They are far less likely to pan out than comparable hitting prospects.
