Yesterday's Other Deal

The Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins orchestrated an inter-division deal yesterday, an opening salvo for two teams that could look a lot different come March. Florida sent Josh Willingham and Scott "Don't Tase Me, Bro" Olsen to the Nats in exchange for infielder Emilio Bonifacio and two low-level prospects, second baseman Jake Smolinski and right-handed pitcher P.J. Dean.

The Nats fill two needs: someone who may, possibly, drive in some runs. And, someone who isn't a total retread who can make some quality big league starts.

The Marlins...apparently they once again need to reduce salary? I don't get it, aren't they still trying to get a new stadium at some point? So now in 2 weeks since all the wheeling and dealing has begun, they've unloaded Mike Jacobs, Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen, and in return gotten exactly one hill of beans (to be fair, Leo Nunez should be a useful reliever. Then again, to be fairer, it's totally asinine to trade a power-hitting first baseman for a reliever). All this to avoid the arbitration raises that all three guys are due for as a result of actually performing somewhat decently in their careers. Yikes.

For the Nats I think the deal makes a lot of sense, but they are adding another huge injury question mark to their offensive mix that includes the likes of Nick Johnson (38 games, apparently now trade bait), Elijah Dukes (81 games), Wily Mo Pena (64 games) and Austin Kearns (86 games). Willingham has never been a huge bat but he is serviceable, and I guess Jim Bowden's idea is to accumulate as many OFers who have talent but are always hurt and see who of the bunch can stick. It would be one of the first ideas that Bowden ever had.

Olsen's inclusion is the real coup for the Nats, and the real head-scratcher for the Fish. They play in a pitcher's park in Florida, and Olsen had a decent year in 2008, albeit an up-and-down one. But, according to this Keith Law post, he regained some of his velocity (he is a post-TJ guy) late in the season and his performance ticked up a bit. Law still finds problems with Olsen, but wouldn't this be the kind of guy the Marlins would hold on to in the off-chance that he might pitch even better early in 2009, thus making him even more valuable in a trade? Yes, you run the risk of him either pitching terribly or getting hurt or something along those lines. But I don't buy the argument that this is selling high on Scott Olsen, who is supposedly healthy and over his "personal demons" for the first time in a while. Granted, he never projected to be Mr. #1 Ace Type, but I still think you can get more value than what the Marlins got for an effective lefty starter.

This trade lands decisively in the advantage: Nationals column. I am interested to see if the Fish get more of a return on their other supposedly available commodities, reliever Kevin Gregg and outfielder Jeremy Hermida. If not, it is going to be a cellar-dwelling 2009 for the Marlins. As for Washington, I don't know if this trade means they are done trying to upgrade the offense and are no longer in the Mark Teixeira Sweepstakes, but only time will tell on that front.