For Dukes, Joining Nats Is a Move Toward Stability

"It takes time with me," Dukes said. "I don't just let people come in like that, but he earned it relatively fast because he went to the source, and that's my family -- my mom and my sister and stuff like that. When you have guys reach out to the family first before he comes to you, then he wants to get to know you. That's somebody that has a plan. When he have a plan, that's my type of guy."

Brown and Williams spent hours at the home of Dukes's mother, Phyllis, sifting through old photos, reliving Dukes's youth. Williams traveled with Dukes between Tampa and Orlando, trying to understand him, to get to know him. Eventually, as the relationship developed, the Nationals hired him, gave him a title: special assistant/player concerns.

Kasten said Williams is entrusted to work with other players as well. "James has been very helpful, not just with Elijah but in other respects," Kasten said. But he has spent the majority of his time at spring training with Dukes, to the point where Dukes referred to him as "super-nanny," picking up Elijah Jr. if need be, talking whenever he needs a lecture, guiding as is appropriate. When Dukes strained a hamstring in a game last week, it was Williams who breezed through the stands, relaying word to Dukes's family members.

"A lot of teams don't do that, offer a guy as good as James to come along and say, 'All right, I'm going to make sure he don't have to worry about the off-field stuff,' " Dukes said. "I can recommend him to anybody. He could probably take a lot of stress off a lot of people."

Taking the stress off could mean finding some comfort here and, eventually, in Washington. "It's going to work out," Young said. "He wants it. He really wants it." Yet some club officials are still wary of the potential explosiveness of the situation, for former coaches said Dukes has a short temper, and he has been suspended at least once in each of his professional seasons.

"We just have to keep his eye on the prize," Young said.

That, then, is the focus -- for Young, for Harris, for Williams, for Dukes. Sitting in front of his locker, casually assessing the structure around him, Dukes called himself happy. He was asked when was the last time he could say that. He thought about it.

"This time," Dukes said. "This was the first. This is it right here, where I can say, 'All right, I'm relaxed and happy here. I was moreso quiet and in a shell [before]. But I got a second chance. I can say that now. Start over."