Olsen/Willingham: Change We Need. Change We Can Believe In.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Jim Bowden warmed up the hot stove early with a trade with the salary dumping Florida Marlins last night, acquiring a front line left handed starter, Scott Olsen, and a power hitting left fielder, Josh Willingham, for Emilio Bonifacio and two minor leaguers.

Hard to see any downside with this trade. The Marlins were salary dumping, and the Nats filled two needs with young, almost-arbitration eligible players. Olsen had a DUI a couple years ago, but so did Bowden. At least they aren't hiring a guard to keep him out of prison. Olsen stayed on the straight and narrow last year. I always liked him as a pitcher, seemed like he beat the Nats quite often. Right now, the rotation is probably something like this: Scott Olsen, John Lannan, Colin Balester, Jordan Zimmermann, and someone else.

Willingham beat the Nationals like a drum. He's an average fielding left fielder but hits usually 25-30 home runs a season, something desparately needed. Some speculation is that Willingham will play first base but I don't see that happening -- he hasn't played it on a big league level and there are several reports that the Nats are looking to make a free agent splash by signing a big name 1b, which, to build/rebuild/retain interest in the team, is probably necessary. See below.

Right now as I see it the outfield is Willingham/Milledge/Kearns or Dukes. But I just don't think that Dukes is being relied on by the organization to be in the lineup, and I think he may even be traded, assuming you can find someone else willing to take a chance on his volitile personality. Since arriving in DC, he's had a shouting match with the manager in Pittsburgh, angered the New York Mets twice by chanting like "softball girls" and by showing up the Mets after hitting a home run. He has a M.O. of angering opponents, and even some teammates, with his displays of...shall we say 'overenthusiasm'.

I see people on message boards discussing Willie Harris as a regular OF. Plu-eeze. Using marginal players like Harris on a regular basis is what landed us with less than 60 wins last year. Harris may not be back at all, he's a free agent, and if he is, he is likely to be a role player at best. He doesn't have the power to be a regular outfielder, he doesn't hit well enough. He had a couple of good months, but really tailed off at the end of the season.

I still believe the Nats are going for big game, and by the end of the week. Matt Holliday is gone to Oakland. Given that he has one year left in his contract, I am glad the Nats didn't bite like they did for Alfonso Soriano. Fox Sports reports the Nats may land Mark Texiera, a Maryland native and an ex-Brave (though not in Kasten's time). The report states the Nats offered Texiera 10 years at $200 million. And, of course, Adam Dunn has been in contact with the Nats too as has been widely reported. So look at this lineup and see if it doesn't look better than 2008:

Guzman SS
Milledge CF
Zimmerman 3B
Texiera/Dunn 1B
Willingham LF
Dukes/Kearns RF
Flores C
Hernandez 2B
Pitcher

The best part of the Olson/Willingham trade and the reports of free agent offers is that it is a clear signal that the management of the team is finally willing to spend some money and bring in some major league players to make the 2009 Nationals competitive on the field and interesting to watch. I grew extremely tired of the 'hope for the future' line, when the ticket bill that comes in isn't for games five years down the line, its for games to be played NEXT season. Maybe I'm not every fan, but I'd rather have a team that competes for 10 years, than one that loses 100 games on hopes of winning a World Series 10 years down the line. I waited 33 years for this team. Don't tell me to be patient anymore.

Looks like hope is coming to Washington in more ways than one in 2009. I'm looking forward to the changes that I can believe in.