Wang to Nationals?

With the Dodgers opting out, there don't seem to be many options for free agent Chien-Ming Wang. It appears the Washington Nationals like their chances of signing the former Yankee.

Fantasy Impact: The Nationals look like they have just two locks for their starting rotation in 2010: John Lannan and Jason Marquis. After the two top, nobody impresses outside of 21-year-old phenom Stephen Stasburg. With those kind of factors in the equation, it's not a reach to project Wang in the top three of the Nationals rotation. He's a good sleeper pick in fantasy, and might be even more solid an option than that. Wang posted solid numbers up to his recent injury-filled 2008 and 2009. If he's healthy, there's no reason to believe in a competitive ERA and WHIP for a fantasy starter. He won't come close to his back-to-back 19-win season with the Yankees, but 10 victories and better-than-average numbers across the board make him a No. 5 starter on any fantasy roster.

Nationals trust Hanrahan

Joel Hanrahan received a vote of confidence from manager Manny Acta on Monday, who said Hanrahan is firmly entrenched as the team's closer despite saving just one game in three chances. Acta called up three middle relievers on Sunday, including saves candidate Garrett Mock, but stressed that Hanrahan still owns the job of closer.

Acta said, Hanrahan is not on a short leash.

"No, not at all," Acta said. "There's no such thing as a short leash for two blown saves. I think even the great Mariano Rivera has blown saves back-to-back in the past."

Joe Beimel is still considered the team's setup man, so the young guns will fall in line somewhere between the day's starter and the seventh inning.

Fantasy Impact: Hanrahan is not our idea of a stable closer, but if he's getting the nod from his manager, it's his role to lose. Consider him a low end option that won't get many chances due to the Nationals losing ways.

Martis leads Nats to first win

Washington is finally a winner. Behind a solid outing from rookie starter Shairon Martis, the Nationals pounded out eight runs on 13 hits to beat Joe Blanton and the Phillies, 8-2. Washington improves to 1-7 while dropping the Phils to 4-4.

Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, Elijah Dukes and Alberto Gonzalez all went deep for the Nats, and the bullpen tossed 2 2/3 innings of no-hit ball.

Fantasy Impact: Martis' name was bantered about in fantasy circles this preseason. He put together fairly good numbers in the minors, but walks have been his biggest problem. He only walked two on this night, and if he can keep the ball in the zone, Martis might be a modest sleeper candidate pitching for a bad team.

Bad start

The Baseball Analysts take a look at Pythagorean win-loss and decide the Washington Nationals aren't necessarily an awful 0-7. They're more like a really bad 2-5.

Fish brooms

Update - 2:15 p.m.: The sweep is complete. Marlins win, 6-4.

The Florida Marlins look well on their way to the season's first sweep.

Emilio Bonifacio continues to look like the leadoff man manager Freddie Gonzalez envisioned. In the third, Bonifacio singled, stole second and forced an errant throw leaving him at third base. John Baker singled him home. Then Florida busted it open in the 5th with a three run double from Dan Uggla.

It's 5-2 Florida over Washington in the 6th. Jim Thome said yesterday that championships aren't won in April, but these feisty Marlins look primed to play ball in 2009.

All of Trader Jim's deals

Nationals GM Jim Bowden resigned on March 1, leaving his position vacant as Washington closes in on the 2009 season. His shoes will be big to fill. MLB Trade Rumors says "Trader Jim" made 168 deals during him time as a GM with both Cincinnati and Washington. That's a lot of activity from one GM.

Acta: We don't want Barry

Nationals Manager Manny Acta summed up the interest level of at least one "rebuilding team" in Barry Bonds at his morning press conference.

"[Laughing]... it's not a match for us," Acta said. "I don't think at this stage of his career that Barry is going to pick a team that is rebuilding anyway."

Bonds would put people in the seats at Nationals Park, but that's not the direction the team is going in.

"Yeah he will, but that's not the main point here. It's trying to win, win in the long term basis and give a chance to younger guys."

The Nationals might not want Barry, but he would pick any team at this point. The only teams that might remotely be interested in him are the playoff contenders that fall into desperate straights later in the year.

They're the only ones that will even consider bringing on Bonds, and they won't be desperate for at least a few more months.

A Wash with baseball news

Thanks to the Nationals, the Washington Post is almost as busy with investigative journalism and breaking news as they were during the Nixon years. Lots of tales to tell, indeed:

Alvarez/Gonzalez: "I feel bad, really bad"
Nationals decide to fire Rijo, search for new academy
Time runs out for Nats' Bowden

There's not much to comment on here, except for the fact that Bowden was always considered a touch shady. That and the fact that this could be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of uncovering players' falsified ages.

Oh, Odalis

Odalis Perez is getting himself into trouble over what is now a contract holdout with the Nationals.

Perez has expressed his dissatisfaction with his contract since he gave his agent the OK to sign a non-guaranteed minor league deal with Washington on Feb. 5 that would pay him $850,000 if he makes the team, the same stipulation he faced last year.

General manager Jim Bowden hasn't yet spoken with Perez, and doesn't know if he'll show.

"He's not returned my calls, he's not returned (manager) Manny's (Acta) calls and he hasn't returned his agent's calls, so we're waiting to hear back from him," Bowden said. "We're looking at all of our options. We're taking the position that we have an agreement with the player and we're expecting the player to honor the agreement. But we'd like to talk to him first, so we're going to wait until he calls us back and then address the other options at that point."

I'm surprised to learn Perez doesn't make millions considering he's been in the league for a number of years now as a starting pitcher.

Fantasy Impact: Perez is a low-end fantasy option, and the longer he's out, the less of an option he becomes. He's good for a win or two, or maybe some innings eating, if he gets a very favorable matchup.