Warm Up the Stove

Yes, I know there are still playoffs going on. No, I don't care. As far as I'm concerned the best possible outcome if for the Yankees and Red Sox both to be eliminated in the first round, thereby sending the northeastern United States into a dark nuclear winter of the soul from which it will not emerge until the first time the Knicks play the Celtics.

The Nats opened their off-season by shuffling the 40-man roster to protect some prospects from the Rule 5 Draft. It's complicated, so I'll just report that C Keith "Coach" Osik, P John "The Llama" Halama and RP Antonio Osuna got the ax. Remember Osuna? No, of course you don't. He got into all of four games before going on the DL with a bad shoulder. He's the Terrmel Sledge of the pitching staff. To fill those 3 roster spots the Nats selected IF Kory Casto, OF Frank Diaz and SP Armando Galarraga for the 40-man roster.

Next up? Deciding which of our own players to keep. The following Nats will be free agents this winter, the ones we ought to think about keeping are in blue:

• Tony Armas Jr., RHP
• Carlos Baerga, PH-IF
• Gary Bennett, C
• Hector Carrasco, RHP
• Deivi Cruz, IF
• Joey Eischen, LHP
• Esteban Loaiza, RHP
• Preston Wilson, OF

Tomorrow I'll get into the trickier proposition of which of our arbitration-eligible players we might think about jettisoning.

Of course, this would all be much easier if the Nats had an owner, knew what their budget was going to be, and knew who would be making the decisions. But where's the fun in that?