MASN: Wood: Strasburg, new coaching hires, & Guerrero

Phil Rogers...Phil Wood...Phil Ippic.

Also, national baseball writer Phil Rogers of the Tribune syndicate predicts in his Sunday column that the Nationals will sign free agent outfielder Vladimir Guerrero: “Washington has enough money to bring back the eight-time All-Star to his original franchise, making it more acceptable to trade Adam Dunn for some badly needed pitching.”

Hmmm. Interesting theory. Guerrero is a likely future Hall of Famer, coming off a season where he appeared in only 100 games, due to a number of nagging injuries, including a strained pectoral muscle. Out of those games, he played only two in the field, DH’ing in the rest. Most scouts who’ve seen Guerrero the past couple of years don’t believe he can be an effective defensive player anymore, despite his past reputation.

I have to ask why the Nats would want to sign an aging (35 in February) slugger who’s far more suited to playing bat in the American League? He made $15 million last year, and would likely want that much or more to sign with anyone. He’s not a first baseman, and trading Dunn would open a hole on the right side of the infield. Guerrero has never walked much, and even though his career OPS is somewhat higher than Dunn’s, how much does he really have left?

As for trading Dunn, who’s going to trade a top-of-the-rotation starter for him? I think you might get a handful of prospects, but the Nationals already have several high ceiling pitching prospects in their farm system. You can never have too many of those guys, I know, but if Dunn’s to be traded, I think you’ve got to get something of immediate value, not simply potential.