Washington Nationals

It won’t be too long now before Nationals’ General Manager Mike Rizzo has completed the revamping of the team’s lineup.

Whether or not he succeeds in finding that top-of-the-rotation starter, that extra reliever or a thumping first baseman, won’t be known for some time yet.

For the most part, Nationals’ fans are a forgiving lot. Over the years, both Rizzo and former GM Jim Bowden have made some pretty bad personnel moves and they all were taken in stride.

It is becoming painfully obvious that the Washington Nationals are doing everything they can to sign a competent major league first baseman this off season and the two players remaining—Adam LaRoche and Derrek Lee—are doing everything they can to avoid signing here.

I mean, the math isn’t that difficult. The Orioles and Nationals need a first baseman and the only two left are Lee and LaRoche.

The Washington Nationals are running out of time to revamp their roster for the 2011 season and frankly, they are running out of impact players to sign.

After kicking off the baseball winter meetings by signing Jayson Werth to his historic contract, they have seen the impact of that signing mitigated by a string of failures.

First, here’s hoping that everyone had a joyous and Merry Christmas. I was raised an atheist during a time when teachers led a prayer and blessing over our lunch in the Fairfax County school system and today am a believer in a world where it is almost illegal to mention religion in school.

You’d think there would be some happy medium out there. Regardless, I hope all sides enjoyed their day yesterday.

The Washington Nationals have worked hard to improve their ball club this winter.

They've signed catchers Jamie Burke and Josh Bard to add depth behind the plate. They've also added infielder Eric Bruntlett and outfielder Rick Ankiel as well as pitchers Brian Bruney and Miguel Batista.

They were in talks with Kansas City to obtain Zack Greinke, but the right hander blocked the move with his no trade clause.

Some would say that Wilson Ramos, who the Nationals acquired in 2010 from the Minnesota Twins as part of the Matt Capps trade, is simply holding the catcher’s spot warm until Derek Norris is ready to take the reins.  Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not, but you had better believe that Ramos is going to do everything possible in 2010 to prove that he is a viable everyday catcher in the major leagues.

Carl Pavano has had his ups and downs his entire career as we all know.

He had his breakout season in 2003, collecting 12 wins with an acceptable ERA of 4.30. The very next year in 2004, he won 18 games with an ERA of 3.00.

His All-Star season earned him a 4-year, $40 million deal with the New York Yankees.

But we all know how that turned out, as he started only 26 games during the four years.

The Jayson Werth signing has been bothering me since it was announced.

I understand the Nationals are looking forward, and with the loss of Stephen Strasburg for 2011, they feel they need a big name to energize the fan base. They realize a great ballpark alone will not draw forever. When Nationals Park opened in 2008, the attendance was 29,000 per game. Since then, it has dropped to about 22,500 per game.

The 2011 season can break one of two ways for the Washington Nationals. They can either take that final step towards a .500 season and use it as a conduit to future playoff contention or they can simply suck for a sixth consecutive year.

And which possibility becomes reality is dependent on who trots out to first base next Opening Day.

Initially, when hearing a productive and established player such as Jayson Werth signed with the Washington Nationals, it was bewildering.