• In December 2008, Willy Taveras' name kept coming up again and again as the Washington Nationals were attempting to make a trade with the Colorado Rockies for outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, but nothing ever came of those talks. Last week, the Oakland A's, who had acquired Taveras from Cincinnati along with infielder Adam Rosales in return for veteran infielder Aaron Miles, released the 28-year-old outfielder, who hit just (.240/.275/.285) in 102 games with the Reds in 2009 in which he collected 11 doubles, 2 triples, 1 HR and 15 RBI's. SI.com's Jon Heyman is reporting that Taveras has signed a 1-year/$4 million dollar minor league deal with Washington, though what if any role he'll play with the team is anybody's guess...(ed. note - "There is some question right now about the $ amounts involved with the deal, more later.") Taveras is coming off a 2-year/$6.25M dollar deal he signed with Cincinnati in December 2009 that paid him $2.25M last season and would have paid him $4M this year...
• More on Chien-Ming Wang, John Smoltz, and the Pirates fans view of the Nationals After The JUMP!!!
• Just heard a quick quote from Nationals' team President Stan Kasten on Sirius/XM's Home Plate Update and Mr. Kasten says that the two pitchers still on Washington's radar are Chien-Ming Wang and John Smoltz. I'd imagine it's a one or the other sort of thing...MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported this morning via Twitter that, "Free agent pitcher Chien-Ming Wang is expected to make a decision by the end of the week."
• I posted a story the other day taking one last look at the Nationals' free agent acquisition former Pittsburgh Pirates' closer Matt Capps, and apparently the Pirates' fans caught wind of the discussion here at Federal Baseball, as the SB Nation's Pittsburgh Pirates site Bucs Dugout and even the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's sports section, whose Bucs beat writer I quoted extensively, posted links and comments to the story. The Post-Gazette's comments are more of the "wow look how long his sentences are, doesn't he know how to use periods" kind of responses, but what I found interesting was the discussion at Bucs Dugout about the state of each of our respective franchises. (ed. note - "And please this is not an invitation to go over and flame the Bucs sites, just think it's interesting to see what the perception of the Nationals is outside of DC.")