Washington Nationals, How I Pity Thee

Some teams that are bad have a visible lack of talent.

They flounder around the bases and field, and lack the communication skills necessary to mesh together as an effective unit.

The Washington Nationals, however, do not display these characteristics.

The Nats have an extremely talented outfield, with Elijah Dukes, Lastings Milledge, and Adam Dunn patrolling right through left respectively.

At the corners, they have one of the most underrated third basemen in Ryan Zimmerman and Nick Johnson at first.  Each of these guys have plus power and great eyes, but do not get the press they deserve playing in the Nation's capitol.

Behind the plate squats Jesus Flores, an all-around plus catcher.

There is no reason that this team, with all of the talent it posses at the major skill positions.

So, how did they lose 102 games last season?

The only conclusion I can come to is bad management, not from the dugout, but from the front office.

Jim Bowden, to me, is the reason behind the major floundering this team has suffered from.

He may already be gone, but the impact he has left behind will plague this franchise for a while.

He failed to supply the Nats with the type of farm they needed as a rebuilding team, leaving in his wake one of the worst farms in baseball and a whole mess of outfielders with no place to play.

Bad trades, like the Bonafacio and others for Scott Olson and Josh Willingham, have left the DC franchise with players that, quite frankly, other teams have no desire for.

The front office has also handicapped Manny Acta and his staff by making them hold off on the good prospects they have (Jordan Zimmerman, Ross Detwiler, and Garret Mack among others) for "more seasoning" and "overexposure in the majors."

For a club like this, baptism by fir may be the best remedy to reach some level of glory.

As I mentioned, this team has all the talent in the world at the major on-field positions, but what they need is better heads at the front-office level.

Hopefully the firing of Jim Bowden was a step in the right direction.