Washington Nationals: Welcome To The Winter Meetings...

The first report concerning the Washington Nationals to come out of the Winter Meetings is from ESPN's Peter Gammons who writes in a post on his blog entitled, "Notes from the winter meetings", that the Nationals, "...(want) to sign a couple starters, and they are talking to (Jon) Garland's agent Craig Landis." Of course...DC GM Mike Rizzo told MLB.com's Bill Ladson, just the other day, in an article entitled, "Pitching the focus for Nats at Meetings", that though the Nationals realize, "Pitching is a priority," in his opinion: 

"'We don't think that the free-agent class leads us to [pay big money],' Rizzo said. 'I believe the things we need or want the most are out there, and we are going to address it. I don't see us going after that super free agent like Matt Holliday or Jon Garland. I don't see us playing on that level. We don't think it's a fit for us.'"

Garland, the 30-year-old right-handed veteran of 10 MLB seasons, became a free agent when the LA Dodgers, who'd acquired him from Arizona on August 31, 2009 in exchange for a PTBNL, declined Garland's $10.0 million dollar option for 2010. In 2009, Garland, who earned $6.25M, was (11-13) in 27 starts for the D-Backs and 6 with the Dodgers, for whom he was (3-2) with a 2.72 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP down the stretch as LA took the NL West by 3.0 games over Colorado. 

(ed. note - "I'll put the Twitter feed up here later this morning and update throughout the day...if and when anything happens...")

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• NY Times' Writer On Mets And Willingham.

BACKPAGE: 

• NY Times' Writer On Mets And Willingham.

Early Monday morning, New York Times' writer Ben Shpigel, in an article entitled, "Minaya Arrives In Indy, Feeling No Pressure To Make Moves", reported on the rumors of the NY Mets' interest in DC outfielder Josh Willingham, confirming that there was interest in the Mets' part, but as Mr. Shpigel writes:

"...Washington's Josh Willingham...fits precisely what they need: a right-handed hitting left fielder with power. But the Nationals, realizing Willingham is a prime chip, want a lot in return, making such a trade unlikely."

No word on what the Mets would be willing to part with or what the Nationals are asking for in return for their soon-to-be 31-year-old outfielder who hit 29 doubles and 24 HR's last season, collecting 61 RBI's and posting a .260 AVG, .367 OBP and a .496 SLG.