Intriguing outfielder (alternatively: "He's intriguing, but he's an outfielder.")

The Los Angeles Angels of Pine Tar released Jeff Davanon yesterday. Davanon had previously been designated for assignment. As Halos Heaven noted back in October, Davanon was arbitration-eligible (he made $925,000 this past season), and I suppose the Angels opted not to trouble themselves by waiting until December 20 to send the young man on his way.

Alright, so "young" must be used as a relative term; compared to Frank Robinson, Davanon is certainly young. Otherwise, he's a 32 year-old coming off his worst year. Nonetheless, while I'm not saying that the Nats should go out and grab this guy, he is one the Nats should consider if they were to trade Ryan Church. (Thankfully, that doesn't look like a hot possibility at the moment.)

Despite a meager season---and a .311 slugging percentage might charitably be deemed "meager"---Davanon's valuable qualities remained intact: [1] the ability to get on base (.347 last season; seasonal high of .372; career average of .348); and, [2] the ability to play all three outfield positions and, if you trust Baseball Prospectus' metrics, play them rather adeptly.

In addition, Davanon is a switch-hitter, can scoot a bit (11 steals last season, seasonal high of 18), and---before last season, at least---has demonstrated that he can post a passable slugging percentage for a part-time player.

Admittedly, the likelihood isn't tremendously high that Jim Bowden would take a look at Davanon, especially after his '05 season. There probably wouldn't even be room on the roster for him, given the existing incumbents, candidates, and inevitable products of Cap'n Leatherpant's toolsy fantasies. Neverthless, if the Nats had to cobble together a left- or centerfield rotation that contained a switch-hitter who can get on base and run a bit, I could certainly think of worse candidates.