To no one’s surprise the last couple years the Nationals have had trouble drawing a crowd, but that reached a new low last night as the Nationals set a franchise record no team wants to see. The scary thing is it could get a lot worse before it gets better. There is little doubt that the Nationals biggest problem is their lack of a winning product. And when your record over the last 3 years is a combined 180-293* (through yesterday’s game) it is not surprising that the Nationals attendance is where it is, despite playing in a major market. Unless the Nationals do something quick their attendance could begin to plummet. The Nationals attendance has been artificially high (in comparison with their record), due to the opening of the new Nats Park two years ago, the emergence of Ryan Zimmerman as one of the best players in the game, the signing of a 40 HR hitter in Adam Dunn, and the excitement for phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Now the luster of the new Stadium is wearing off, and the team is still firmly in last place despite the new additions. And finally with Strasburg sidelined for the majority of next season the Nationals are staring at 2011 without a headliner.

Washington can talk about the fruits of their farm system all they want, this team won’t get better without bringing in outside talent. Now don’t get me wrong I like the young core built around Zimmerman, with guys like Ramos, Desmond, Bernadina, Espinosa and a promising young bullpen. But even at their peak potential they aren’t in Zimmerman’s class or like the Jason Heyward’s or Mike Stanton’s around the league. These aren’t franchise building blocks, but rather solid starting caliber complimentary players. Anyway you cut it fans aren’t going to be swiping their VISA card to watch complimentary players. Now there is a chance one or two of them turn into something more, and become All-Star caliber, but if that happens it will be a few years off. The Nationals desperately need a star player (or three) to add to this team.

Their search of star talent is going to be difficult this offseason to say the least. As it stands now the Nationals have just three star players, Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg and Adam Dunn. Strasburg as I mentioned will be out next season, so not only does that affect them at the box office, but it will hurt their recruiting efforts as they pursue other top talent in free agency. To complicate matters further, Dunn is an impending free agent and while it is somewhat likely he will resign, if he tests the open market the Nationals could be left in the cold. While I was among those who looked for the Nationals to trade Dunn at the deadline, I firmly believe they have to resign Dunn. I wouldn’t have minded losing Dunn at the trade deadline if it brought in 2 or more good prospects since they could improve the Nats in other areas, and Washington would still have a chance to sign him as a free agent. Even if they missed out on him as a free agent a 2nd tiered option like Aubrey Huff or Adam LaRoche plus the prospect return would be enough value for the Nationals going forward. Now though the Nationals either resign Dunn, or end up with two draft picks. Draft picks might be nice, but they are even less of a sure thing and won’t help out Washington for another 3-5 years. Resigning Dunn is their only option, otherwise their fan attendance will plummet* (if they had traded Dunn, fan attendance would plummet, but that could have been in the long term best interest of the team).

In addition to resigning Dunn the Nats need to find a way to bring in more major league ready talent and it won’t be easy this year. There are only a few ‘star’ quality free agents available, and the Nationals could be a long shot for all of them. Cliff Lee would look nice in a Washington uniform, but there is about zero chance of him signing here. It might be marginally better odds to get one of the two real difference makers in the outfield (a position that the Nationals desperately need to improve), but Washington is still a long shot for both Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth. Outside of that the Nationals can get some small time temporary improvements, but not the star players they need. While they could try to trade for one or two, they would have to cut into some of the talent they’ve assembled to do so. The best asset the Nationals have to offer though is their checkbook, they have had a pretty low payroll since they’ve come to Washington and it might be worth seeing if some team is looking to move a big veteran contract or two. While the Nationals might end up overpaying for talent, it will allow them to keep their young core intact, while at the same time they build for the future.

The Deal: The Washington Nationals traded RHP Matt Capps and cash to the Twins for C Wilson Ramos (AAA) and LHP Joe Testa (AA):

The Nationals: The Nationals traded their lone All-Star Matt Capps in an effort to build up their system to hopefully begin to contend in the next couple of years. While the Nationals had control of Capps for another season they already have his replacement in rookie RHP Drew Storen and a number of solid bullpen options on their roster and in their system. In addition, a top quality closer like Capps is a bit of a luxury on a last place team like the Nationals. Washington did good to acquire a top prospect in Ramos as well as an additional young player. Ramos, who will be 23 next month, is just about Major League ready and could be up by September to begin to apprentice under Ivan Rodriguez. His offensive game has struggled some this year at AAA, but he is still highly considered in prospect circles. In addition he potentially fills a major offensive void in the Nationals current roster. While the Nationals have C Derrek Norris in the system he is 2-3 years away and could end up headlining a deal for the Nationals when he is closer to the major leagues, and Washington is ready to contend. As for the other player in the deal Testa, he isn’t considered a big prospect, but he is a lefty and could develop into a specialist. Washington kicked in $500K, but saved over $800K in the deal that they can add to their draft budget.

Twins: Minnesota was in a tough position, so far they had gotten by without Joe Nathan who is on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery, but their bullpen has struggled of late. Jon Rauch, had been getting the job done, but he has been hit hard this past month. Now with Capps and Rauch at the back end of the pen, the Twins should be in a better position going forward. Capps also helps the Twins next year in case Nathan comes back slow from the TJ surgery, and will come at a fair price. As for giving up Ramos, he was one of the Twins best trade chips, but he was never going to play regularly in Minnesota with Mauer there. They did get a year and a half of a good closer in return so it isn’t a truly bad trade for them.

Winner: The Nationals win here since Capps was redundant in Washington and they got a top quality prospect in return. It isn’t a huge loss for Minnesota, but they could miss having Ramos’s trade value in the future.

Orioles Trade Tejada Again: The Baltimore Orioles traded 3B Miguel Tejada to the San Diego Padres for RHP Wynn Pelzer (AA).

Orioles: Baltimore did well cashing in on Tejada, especially considering he is in the midst of one of his worst offensive seasons. Pelzer is a solid pitching prospect and was ranked 7th in San Diego’s system by Baseball America before the start of the season. To get that quality of prospect for Tejada and $1 million is a quality return. Pelzer might never be a front line starter, but he is a pretty safe bet to become a back of the rotation starter. And while the O’s had to give up $1 million, they also saved a $1 million which they can put into their draft budget. The Orioles will replace Tejada with rookie Josh Bell, and this could be the first move in a rebuilding process that could see a number of Orioles changing teams over the next 2 days.

Padres: The fact that San Diego was willing to give up such a good prospect for a hitter like Tejada shows two things. One, the desperation of the Padres and two the complete weakness of the Padres offense. That all being said Tejada is an interesting acquisition since he has a lot of good history. It would not be shocking to see Tejada get hot these last two months and give the Padres solid production in their post season run. Tejada alone won’t fix the offense, but he is a nice start.

Winner: I think the Orioles won this deal just by getting a better price than other minor veterans like Peralta and Cantu.

The Rangers add Cantu to their infield: The Texas Rangers trade RHP Evan Reed (AA) and RHP Omar Poveda (AA) to the Florida Marlins for 1B Jorge Cantu and cash.

Rangers: Texas had been looking for more production out of their first base spot since they traded Justin Smoak in the Cliff Lee deal, and found a solid upgrade in Cantu. Cantu is having one of his worse years, but is still an upgrade over Chris Davis. Cantu also made sense for Texas because of his price tag. Given the Rangers financial situation it would have been extremely difficult to acquire anyone who cost additional money. With the Marlins picking up some cash, the Rangers will be able to fit Cantu under budget. Cantu isn’t a huge upgrade, but should help Texas’s playoff run.

Marlins: Florida has pretty much fallen out of the playoff race, so did well getting what they could for Cantu and saving a little money. Reed isn’t more than a future middle reliever, but Poveda could end up being a solid mid-rotation starter. He is recovering from Tommy John surgery so it will remain to be seen how he comes back from it. Poveda does have the potential to help the Marlins down the line.

Winner: I think the Rangers won this deal, because it really strengthens their playoff lineup immensely. Chris Davis has been a huge hole in their lineup and now the Rangers have found their upgrade.

1. Bryce Harper- C/3B/OF

2. Manny Machado-SS

3. Zach Cox-3B

4. Drew Pomeranz-LHP

5. Jameson Tallion- RHP

While this seems to be a consenus look at the top players in the draft, I don’t value Tallion as much as others. High School pitchers scare me immensely, way too often do they break down or just become completely different pitchers than what they were drafted as. Tallion might end up 2nd overall, but there is almost as much risk as there is reward with him. Cox is a player I really like, he might not be on the elite 3B level like say Longoria or Zimmerman, but he should be very talented. I also think he is quite the sure thing in this class, and if you are going to pay between a $3-6 million dollar bonus to a player I’d rather see it paid to a player you know will be in the majors. Machado is a player I really like, and while just a high schooler I think he has an immensely bright future.

6. Christian Colon- SS

7. Yasmani Grandal-C

8. Chris Sale-LHP

9. Michael Choice-OF

10. Jose Sale-OF

11. Matt Harvey-RHP

12. Kolbrin Vitek-2B

13. Karsten Whitson-RHP

14. Deck McGuire-RHP

15. Anthony Ranaudo-RHP

Colon and Grandal are both next up for me because they play premium positions and are pretty close to major league ready. While they aren’t perennial All-Stars, they do have All-Star ability and at the very least should be solid major league starters. Their ceiling might not be as high as some prospects, but their chance of being a complete bust is very small.  Choice, Josh Sale, and Vitek are by far the next best bats in this class. All three should develop into solid regulars and could even develop into more. McGuire as fallen some down draft boards, while he is a pretty sure thing it is hard to believe he will ever be more than a number 3. Ranaudo is an interesting case because going into this season he was considered top 3 material. Due to injury he has fallen some, and might fall to the end of the 1st round, but I believe he will end up being one of the best players in this class.

16. Alex Wimmers-RHP

17. Kaleb Cowart-RHP/3B

18. Brett Eibner-CF/RHP

19. Stetson Allie-RHP

20. Nick Castellanos- 3B

21. Bryce Brentz- OF

22. Brandon Workman-RHP

23. Austin Wilson-OF

24. A.J. Cole-RHP

25. Gary Brown-OF

The draft ranks begin to thin out as you get past the top 15. While these are a number of very solid prospects they don’t have the immense upside of some of their peers. Eibner is one of my favorite players in this draft class, and I really believe in his bat. I look for him to make a quick jump into the majors. As for the H.S. guys there are some good bats in this group Cowart, Wilson, Castellanos all have a ton of upside. They lack a bit of polish which likely means they will need at least 4 full years before they are ML ready, but the talent is there. Allie and Cole are very good H.S. arms and both have top of the rotation potential. Wimmers is a guy a lot like McGuire, in that his upside is limited, but he should be pitching in the bigs within a year.

All-in-all it is a down draft class, one without the sure fire talent or unlimited potential you usually see at the top of the draft. Regardless 3-5 years from now is when we can really evaluate this draft class, in the meantime though it will be quite interesting watching these amateur’s develop and lay the foundation for each and every team in baseball.

Whether you listened to the game on the radio, read the Strasburg live blog from the Washington Post, or watched the taped delay game on MASN (or did all three), two things were abundantly clear with Stephen Strasburg’s start. One he didn’t have his best stuff last night, a lot of pitches missed the zone, and he faced a number of 2-0 counts. The second thing that was clear was Strasburg’s worst stuff of this season was still good enough to completely shutdown the Rochester Red Wings lineup.

Strasburg’s line for the night was 6.1 innings pitched, with 9 strikeouts against 3 hits and 2 walks. Despite the Red Wings getting some solid contact and a few hits, they weren’t able to really get to Strasburg. Even without his best stuff, Strasburg was able to keep Rochester off the score board, which he has done in all three AAA games he has pitched.

Strasburg actually hurt some of his AAA stats with last night’s game as batters are now hitting .068 against him, up from .027. And now has 4 walks in 18.1 innings pitched in AAA. In all seriousness though, Strasburg has been nothing short of amazing, his 9 strikeouts last night give him a 22-4 strikeout to walk ratio in AAA, and in over two full games worth of batters he hasn’t allowed a single one to cross the plate. Strasburg’s AAA line stands at 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA, and his complete minor league numbers are just as impressive. He is 6-1 with a 0.89 ERA and a .123 batting average against. And in 40.1 innings he has allowed just 17 hits and 10 walks, while striking out 49 batters.

While Strasburg might not be able to put up those kind of numbers without his best stuff in the Majors, it is nice to see that he can dominate and make adjustments even when is game is a little off. If everything goes right, Strasburg should be up in the majors within 2 weeks, and if games like last night are any indication he has been well worth the wait for Nationals fans.

Adam, from Pittsburgh: When can I expect the Pirates to stop their losing ways and actually contend in the N.L. Central?

I know it might be tough to imagine, but the short answer to that question is sooner than you think. Right now the Pirates are currently third in the N.L. Central with a 13-15 record. While it hasn’t been pretty so far, the Pirates are showing that they can compete this year in the National League. While the playoffs and even a .500 record might still elude them this season, they shouldn’t be that far off from attaining that level of competitiveness. ‘Wait till next year’ might be the answer to your question, but for the first time in a long time it should be fun to be a Pirates fan.

Pittsburgh has risen to third place in the Central, despite the fact that a number of their key veterans have struggled thus far this season. Pitchers Zach Duke and Paul Maholm have been ineffective. And middle infield acquisitions Bobby Crosby and Akinori Iwamura have been major disappointments so far. If any of these players can get out of their slumps the Pirates will have a veteran presence to go along with their young talent.

The one thing the Pirates do have going them is their young talent, which seems to be getting better as this year goes on. Andrew McCutchen is a true 5-tool talent and one of the best young players in the game. He is only going to continue to get better and should be the cornerstone of the Pirates future success. Ryan Doumit is one of the best offensive catchers in the N.L. and has returned to form after an injury plagued season a year ago. Garrett Jones might not be the youngest player in the Pirates core, but he is showing that last year’s numbers weren’t a complete fluke. Jones also offers versatility, able to play both corner outfield spots in addition to first base. Joining McCutchen, Doumit, and Jones this year, the Pirates have gotten a surprise performance from third baseman Andy LaRoche. LaRoche was one of the key pieces in the Jason Bay trade a few years back, but until now had been a major disappointment. Now though, LaRoche is finally performing and could be a key part of the Pirates future. The Pirates have some additional former top propsects who right now are struggling but could still pan out. 1B Steven Pearce, OF Lastings Milledge, 1B Jeff Clement, and P Charlie Morton all have shown a lot of promise at one time, but have yet to reach their full potential.

In addition to their young major league talent, the Pirates have begun to stock up their farm system with talented young players. While most of their talent is in the lower minors and still 2-4 years away, the Pirates do have some interesting young players in their upper minors. Corner infielder Pedro Alvarez and OF Jose Tabata are close to becoming frontline stars, and should be up in the majors within the next month or so. Pitchers Brad Lincoln and Daniel Moskos should be joining the major league pitching staff soon as well. By the end of this season the Pirates could have a lineup with McCutchen, Alvarez, Tabata, Doumit, LaRoche and Jones. That is a pretty solid lineup, that should be very capable of competing next season.

The Pirates one weakness going forward is their lack of pitching depth. They have had a number of talented young pitchers come in over the years, but none have really reached their potential with the Pirates. Even Brad Lincoln, their top pitching prospect, projects as a mid-rotation starter. And while they have some other intriguing arms, most are at least 2 years away, and few have frontline starting upside. The Pirates will have to continue building up their pitching talent through the draft or trades to get to the point where they can compete, but have a decent start.

The Pirates aren’t a perfect team going forward, but they do have a lot of promise. While it may be cliche, waiting for next season may answer all your problems.