Wire Taps: Washington Nationals Lunchtime Links, Rumors, Jayson Werth, Prince Fielder, Yoenis Cespedes.

if the players leak the news?

Maybe the Nats really are into Fielder? More than likely they are only interested if his price comes down, but who wouldn’t be?

@JonHeymanCBS: heres more about the #nats player who says washington is in mix for prince. on http://t.co/OS15c9Bn. http://t.co/wImWZxJV

As painful as it is to wait, I think the market for Fielder will actually develop faster once the price comes down a bit. I fully believe that the players involved in Fielder will be the Mariners, Cubs, Orioles, Jays, Brewers, and Nats with mystery teams being the Dodgers, Marlins, and Giants. Throw the Rangers in there as a very slight possiblity.

Out of those, the price needs to drop SIGNIFICANTLY for the Mariners, Orioles, Brewers or Giants to pursue him. The Mariners apparently reported that they operated at a loss last year so I don’t see any money for Fielder coming from them. The O’s probably have cash but we all know that Angelos doesn’t spend plus I doubt that Fielder would want to go to a team so far away from playoff contention and just adding him won’t bring them there. The Brewers could land him on a short deal to make up for the fact that Braun won’t be around for 50 games and try a make another run at the post season, but I think he wants to be paid now and Boras won’t allow something like a one or two year deal which is all Milwaukee relatively has in the pot as far as funds. The Giants can’t come to a deal with Lincecum so I doubt they could come to a deal with Prince.

The Rangers would most likely have to lose out on Darvish to go for Prince. Adding just one of them probably puts them as WS favorites, but considering they had the most potent offense last year, I feel they push to get Darvish done and signed and Fielder doesn’t go to Dallas.

Now for the true contenders. The Cubs, Jays, and the Curly W. The Cubs need to decide what they are going to do with Garza. They are on the verge of rebuilding and by the time that they are really ready to compete, especially after clearing house to get Garza last year, they will need probably 4 to 5 years to rebuild and get into contention level. Fielder could be a guy to build around, but if 4 to 5 years out is your intended sweet spot for contention, Fielder would be of much less value than he is now, meaning that Fielder would likely WANT to go to a contender NOW.

The Jays. This makes sense having hitters like Fielder and Joey Bats in the lineup and could do a great deal of damage in the AL East. That being said they also need more solid pitching. I think that the Jays have more than a few pieces to fill in order to overtake the Sox, Bombers, and the Rays. Fielder could fit here but again, more pieces are needed to complete this team. Still, they can compete with signing him now and competing with one or two years, still getting max value from Fielder. The desire to force a five year deal or less is what prohibits the Jays from being more in contention in the Fielder race though.

The Dodgers. My feelings here are that the Dodgers as a dark horse candidate could be a very serious suitor for Prince. Loney is a really, really consistent 1B. His downside is his lack of home runs, even considering Dodger Stadium is spacious. If the Dodgers wanted to spend though, it makes sense to push it over the edge and up the offense. The downsides here are obviously that Loney was offered arbitration and is well cheaper than Prince. Also they just signed Kemp long term and are going to be going through ownership change. This most likely prevents the Dodgers from signing Fielder.

This brings us to are much loved Curly W, the Nats. The Nats have a few obvious pieces holding back the bidding on Prince. 1. LaRoche is currently signed for this year WITH a 1 Mil buyout remaining, thus 9 Mil owed. That is a tough pill to swallow to have the guy ride the bench with a 9 mil salary. His defense is tops, and his bat isn’t terrible when healthy. Problem is he is coming back from labrum surgery and although it is stated he 100%, it’s hard to really know. 2. The People’s Champion Mike Morse. Enough said we all as fans saw what he can do at first base and with the bat. His downside is his age, turns 30 this year, and if really had a career year or not. Now signing Prince doesn’t necessarily mean that Morse is gone, he would just play LF, but for how long? The logjam here is two outfield spots are taken by Werth and eventually Harper. You could say that Morse is in the OF this year with Fielder at 1st, but what happens when Harper comes up and you don’t want Werth as your starting CF? This is probably the biggest of the conundrums stirred up in the FO right now, what to do with Morse. Marrero and Moore are too far off the radar and most likely will not pan out to be anywhere close to Morse or Fielder.

My suggestion still hasn’t changed. Make the deal for Prince. Suck up the fact that you either bench LaRoche as a late inning defensive replacement or send him packing and eat a majority of his salary when you move him. Not a bad guy, but he really shouldn’t have tried to play out there with his injury, and should have had the surgery earlier. He doesn’t make the situation any easier because if he just had the surgery after ST last year, he easily could have been swinging a bat in the minors by the end of the year, showing what he is capable of. Morse stays in left and Harper starts in right, Werth in center. I know most feel Werth isn’t a capable defender in center and although that might be right, I feel that after such a bad season last year, Werth bumps up his entire game and plays very strongly in center next year, playing high caliber defense, his bat comes back a bit, and the “terrible outfield defense” of Morse, Werth and Harper is not even thought about. Prince brings a new power facet to the team and we have a REAL shot not only at the postseason, but also at making it to the WS.

Why is Ramos still playing winter ball? I would have thought they would have him take more than six or seven weeks to rest his knees before P&C.