GUZMANIA!: The Extended Remix

Even NTP, the wellspring of GUZMANIA!, will admit that when Cristian Guzman's yeoman-like performance is the highlight of your season you're in a bad place. Still, that's no reason not to make the best of a bad situation. Like it or not, Guzie is the most consistently productive offensive player on the 2008 Washington Nationals. He's also the starting shortstop for a franchise almost comically devoid of MLB-caliber middle infielders.

Apparently the front office has taken note of this less-than-ideal situation and offered Cristian a 2-year contract extension, terms undisclosed. The two year extension seems to be Trader Jim's preferred modus operandi, (see, e.g. Young, Dmitri; Belliard, Ronnie; Pena, Wily Mo) probably because it's hard to get too worked up over even the worst two year deal ::cough::AndruwJones::cough::.

Of course, some people will find a reason to take offense to anything. Harper's cheesed that an extended bout of GUZMANIA! would prevent the Nats from signing Rafael Furcal this offseason. A superficial purusal of this franchise's history by Furcal's agent and a 15-minute meeting with P.T. Bowden would probably accomplish the same result, but why quibble about the purely hypothetical?

If and when an extension is signed, we will celebrate appropriately. If Guzie goes, we will pray fervently for Type-A free agent compensation. In the meantime we will vote early and often for our favorite potential 2008 All-Star!