The Whitney - Young Bridge

The Nats signed Cleveland farmhand and former Rule 5 pick Matt Whitney to what shall henceforth be known as the "Pete Orr Special", a minor league deal with an invite to spring training and a promise that, "Gosh, of course you'll be in the mix to make the big club." Riiiiiiiight. Akron's decidedly non-slugging 1B hit .268/.356/.404 at AA last season, production that suspiciously resembles Larry Broadway's .266/.354/.410 line at AAA Columbus.

Perhaps no one has mentioned this to Jim Bowden, but making over a terrible team usually doesn't involve resigning a bunch of role players who were on that team at some point last season. By my count, the roster of potential Opening Day first basemen in the Nats system now includes:

• Nick Johnson (brittle)
• Josh Willingham (outfielder)
• Dmitri Young (fat)
• Kory Casto (bad)
• Ronnie Belliard (short, fat, 2B) and
• Matt Whitney (worse)
  

Notably absent from the list:

• Larry Broadway (minor league free agent)
• Bill Rhinehart (Larry Broadway, Jr.) and
• Mark Teixeira (not enough money in Congressional bailout package)

Buck sez Matt and Meat are fighting it out for the honor of Opening Day starting 1B in Syracuse, at which point the Chiefs demand a mulligan on this whole association thing. In the meantime, if Trader Jim has his heart set on putting the band back together he could at least bring back Langerhanscendentalism!