For the Nats, Upgrades Could Be a Real Deal

Last week, when workers laid the grass surface at Nationals Park -- the new Washington Nationals ballpark in Southeast -- the promise of a new era for baseball in the District seemed real. Today, General Manager Jim Bowden and his staff will begin meetings in Orlando that will help determine what players will open the season on that turf in April.

The general managers of all 30 teams will gather today through Thursday, a precursor to the bonanza of the winter meetings next month in Nashville. Bowden arrives having already made initial contact with the agents for some of the premier free agents on the market -- center fielders Torii Hunter and Aaron Rowand -- but with the same, singular focus he and team president Stan Kasten have implemented over the last 18 months.

"We're looking to continue to add good, young players to the organization -- whether it be through trades or the draft," Bowden said in a telephone interview.

So for all the excitement that flirting with players such as Hunter and Rowand -- veterans who would address the Nationals' need for both a center fielder and an impact bat -- this offseason is far more likely to bring deals through trades than free agency. The Lerner family, which owns the team, has committed to raise payroll from roughly $38 million in 2007. Some of that bump will come naturally through arbitration raises and new contracts that are already in place, such as the two-year, $10 million deal signed by first baseman Dmitri Young.

Though Kasten has not been specific about how much the team plans to spend on player salaries next season and beyond, he has been consistent in relaying his belief that free agents are a last resort. He much prefers to develop his own players, and the club believes it took a major step with the 2007 draft, recently ranked as the best in the game by the trade magazine Baseball America.

Kasten, though, is open to using trades as a means to acquire talent. That puts the onus on Bowden, who has pulled off three significant deals under the Lerner regime -- sending veteran right-hander Livan Hernandez to Arizona for pitching prospects Matt Chico and Garrett Mock in August 2006, then ridding the club of aging second baseman Jose Vidro and most of his contract in a deal with Seattle last December. He then turned one of the prospects acquired in that trade, reliever Emiliano Fruto, into power-hitting outfielder Wily Mo Pe¿a in a three-team trade in August.

Bowden headed to Orlando yesterday believing last week's trade of shortstop Edgar Renteria from Atlanta to Detroit was an indication that the market is ready to move.

"There's a lot of new GMs in the game, and that leads to an atmosphere of more trade discussions," Bowden said. "There's a lot of young, aggressive GMs, and there are some guys that have moved on who didn't want to make a lot of trades. I would be surprised if a trade wasn't made down there. I'm not saying it's going to be us, but I'd be surprised if something didn't happen."

Trade discussions, then, likely will lead the Nationals back to the familiar names that have been batted around since last winter, when Washington shopped closer Chad Cordero and outfielder Ryan Church. Setup man Jon Rauch, who leads all of baseball in appearances over the past two years, was also available at last season's July 31 trade deadline, though the Nationals didn't pull off any deals then.

Bowden has a few specific goals. After finishing last in the majors in runs scored, the Nationals clearly need a premier offensive player. Late in the season, Bowden said, "I think we all know how much I like offense," and it would be surprising if he didn't at least look into a trade for a player such as Cincinnati's Adam Dunn, whom Bowden drafted when he was with the Reds and who has four straight 40-homer seasons.

The initial contact with Rowand and Hunter -- calls whose significance the agents for both players played down -- shows, too, that the club is interested in upgrading in center field, where Nook Logan's .304 on-base percentage helped cripple the offense. Hunter, Rowand and Andruw Jones, whom Atlanta will not re-sign, make that crop the deepest of any position in a generally weak free agent class. But other players -- such as Baltimore's Corey Patterson -- will be more affordable.

"The center field market is a unique market right now," Bowden said. "There are the three big free agents. But then there are other, younger center fielders. That marketplace is going to be an interesting one once one or two of them fall."

The other obvious need is starting pitching. Though the Nationals are pleased with the development of young starters Chico, John Lannan and Collin Balester and believe in the potential of 2007 first-round pick Ross Detwiler, there is a chance they could pursue a veteran free agent -- lefty Tom Glavine? -- to help stabilize and teach the rotation.

"There are times that you need to get a free agent player who's older," Bowden said. "You're looking at a veteran pitcher, one that would help develop the young starting pitchers faster. Sometimes you might want one for leadership ability, but it all has to have a long-term benefit."

One other possibility this offseason: signing third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to a long-term deal. Talks stalled this spring and were revisited over the summer, but little progress has been made.

"We'd like to sign him to a multiyear contract, one that makes sense for him and for the club long term," Bowden said. "We don't have interest in doing a long-term deal that is going to cost us more money than going through the [arbitration] process. There's no urgency, given the system."