Nats Trade For Olsen, Willingham

Value wise, yes, but they're too cheap to care about that. Oh well, they have better talent waiting anyway.

They must have felt they got value or they wouldn't have dealt within the division.

Olsen, while better than most of the Nat's pitchers, won with mirrors much of the season. And Willingham is a DH waiting to happen; I suppose he'll enter the Nationals first base contest.

As a Rangers fan, I say "thank Jeebus" for that one. I was afraid that JD would crater and trade Salty to Florida for Olsen. Yipeeeeeeeee!

Tiger, I'd assume that Willie Harris returns to the infield, his original position, or becomes a rover.

I also suspect that Kearns will either be dealt or non-tendered.

Dukes released? He was outstanding when healthy and after a brutal start. Kearns is the guy that has overstayed his welcome.

This trade should work out just fine.

Olsen'll boost his numbers by pitching in that park plus it gives the Nats an 'ace' type out there on day 1, Shawn Hill'll be on day 2. Willingham can still play some time behind the plate though first base should be his spot. Nats then move Willie Harris to 2nd, then have the 4 guys battle it out for the 3 spots in the OF - I would go Dukes, Milledge, Kearns but that's just me.

Marlins get their cheap, speedy 2b for the next three years before they flip him again. They get a SS that they can potentially flip for pitchers later and they get some interesting prospects in the pitchers, which seems like their M.O. in every trade. If they feel confident in Bona, they trade Uggla for cheap, high ceiling guys; or they can keep him for another year and battle for the N.L. East, though it should be harder since Olsen's gonan give up some dirt on pitching for the Nats.

If anything, Marlins win this trade 55%-45%

dont forget that Willingham will be an option to play 1st if(when) Johnson isnt healthy.

It's impossible for Jim Bowden to pull off a heist. He's ordinarily dumber than the chair I'm sitting on.

Eh...the Marlins aren't thinking obviously. Michael Hill must be modeling the Marlins organization on Fred Thompson's Presidential run.

I guess the Marlins could move Uggla to third and Cantu to first.

Willingham and Olsen are not studs by any means, but this trade is pretty much a huge slap across the face of the 100 fans the Marlins actually have. It's probably a sign of things to come.

Olsen actually helps the Nats rotation a lot. They need some stability.

Man, I just don't get this

Olsen is pretty bad but especially with Bowden, the Marlins could of just pretended he was good because his ERA was decent. Willingham is a nice power bat.

I mean..... at least get a project player out of this deal. My brother is a Marlin fan and he really doesn't even know what to think.

I'm Smoking being an optomist ok not really the marlins are still better than the nats even without these two but at least there trying to do somthing this offseason. l

Bring on the Marlins are cheap comments.

Anyways, it's not as bad a trade as it might seem.

Olsen has been an off the field problem for years for the Marlins and they needed him to have a good year to deal him for something worthwhile. He got alot worse as the season wore on last year and he was getting by on shear luck by the end of the season. His fastball was only topping out at 88 MPH and he's prone to fly balls.

Willingham's back has gotten really, really bad. I'm worried if he will pass the physical for the Nats. You can kinda count of him to miss about 30 games a year with back problems and his bat is only average. His career highs across the board are .277 BA, 26 HRs and 89 RBIs.

If he stays fairly healthy you can count Hammer for about .265 BA, 20 HRs and 70 RBIs, hardly anything to write home about.

The Marlins were looking for an ugrade at both corner OF spots so we knew this was coming.

Marlins fans knew this was coming. As constructed the Marlins weren't going anywhere. We needed to move guys like Willingham, Hermida, Jacobs and Jacobs for faster, smarter and more athletic ballplayers that fit what the Marlins like to do.

Bonifacio fits that bill. We'll see how it plays out. If he can handle 2B then Uggla goes to 3B and Cantu to 1B which improves the defense all over the field. If not, he can be the primary backup all over the field.

Smolinski was a 2nd round pick out of HS last year and has tons of potential.

This is a typical Marlins trade. Get average ballplayers who don't fit what they want to do and ship them out for high potential young talent. Bonifacio has been considered a very good prospect for some time and he should be primed to step up his game at the MLB level.

Olsen is garbage, great trade for the Marlins. I really like Smolinski.

Ross or Hermida on his way out. Maybin to center.

Sanchez to first.

Hermida out? Morrison to remaining hole.

i could see uggla to the chi sox or the giants...those teams have some ugly 2b holes

Hanley wont play that contract out in Florida but I don't think he will be traded just yet.

I assume Uggla, Hermida, and Gregg are the next guys out.

They've long said Uggla wasn't going anywhere.

And they are keeping a majority of the arb eligible guys. Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Uggla, Cantu, Ross, Amezaga, and most of the BP arms are all staying.

The Marlins are only trading away the Arb guys that are in line for raises that the Marlins feel they aren't worth. We knew the low OBP, high strikeout and injury prone guys would be gone. They've been trying to deal Olsen for years.

Not sure why everyone thinks this is a fire sale. Most of baseball had these guys pegged to be dealt.

Yeah were gonna trade Hanley who probably has signed the most team friendly contract EVER for his type of status. Here is my guess at things. Bonifacio will be the started 2B and lead off or hit 2nd. We will trade Uggla for a decent package maybe including a corner OF of some sort. Coaghlin will probably stay in the Minors for another year and go back to the position he played in HS which was 3B. Long term definite steal for the Marlins as it fits the "bill" of what they are doing now, adding more speed and better defense players and building a solid bullpen (Leo Nunez). I'm glad we got Olsen out but Willingham always seemed to come up clutch WHEN he wasn't hurt. This trade is gonna seem like a HUGE steal for the Marlins in a year or 2. They are repeating the process of 2003.

Guys the Marlins FO has already come out and said payroll will go up this season.

This isn't a fire sale.

Merely a house cleaning.

They are getting rid of dead weight.

And guys this only sets up the OF, Ross LF, Maybin CF, Hermida RF. Unless they trade Uggla for a better corner OF that is the starting OF for the 2009 Marlins.

Don't get too excited about Bonifacio. He has blazing speed, plays good defense and hits for a decent average against righties, but has no power and can't buy a walk.

Dean is good, but he's not as good as his 2008 numbers suggest.

Smolinski has little power but a decent OBP.

Definitely a win for the Nats, even if Willingham only plays 70 games and Olsen is league average at best. Bonifacio won't be anything more than a glove man/8 hole hitter and the other two guys are so young they can barely project at this point.

The only way he's like Brett Myers is he's also been in trouble with the law.

Breaking rocks in the hot sun...

the nats just inherited an career plague player in Willingham, he 20something with a back of a 70something, and speed of a 50somthing. So congrads.
But olsen, wow, i like him, the perfect 2-3 starter. always going to logged 200 innings, give you 6 innings(and keep the game winnible). He better than his record, but i guess the marlins thinks andrew miller has more potetenial.
Are the prospects any good?

Olsen:
4.20 ERA
8-11
113 SO
1.31 WHIP
201.2 IP
195 Hits
106 Runs
94 ER
30 HR
69 BB
33 Games played and started
Arb.

Willingham:
.254 BA
15 HR
51 RBI
.364 OBP
.470 SLG
54 Runs
89 Hits
21 2B
5 3B
48 BB
82 SO
3/5 SB
.824 OPS
102 Games
351 AB
Arb.

Bonifacio:
.243 BA
0 HR
14 RBI
.296 OBP
.337 SLG
29 Runs
41 Hits
6 2B
5 3B
14 BB
46 SO
7/11 SB
.633 OPS
49 Games
169 AB
Mininum pay

Dean:
1.57 ERA
4-1
34 SO
46 IP
26 Hits
10 Runs
8 ER
2 HR
16 BB
10 Games played and started

Smolinski: All three MiLB team
.271 BA
4 HR
33 RBI
.345 OBP
.395 SLG
45 Runs
79 Hits
20 2B
2 3B
29 BB
51 SO
5/7 SB
.740 OPS
77 Games
291 AB

Can you say CHAMPIONSHIP?!?!?!?

Maybe there is not a place for Olsen in the FLA rotation but seriously??

Even if Olsen just provides the Nats with 200 league average innings the Nats are walking away from this deal happy.

Barroid, it's like you are a yankees fan that just retired to Florida or something...

This thread is making my night, if you don't see that this is a clear win for the the nats then you are DELUSIONAL.

you are right chambers kid...marlins fans are just mad so they are trying to make it look like a good trade for them and a bad one for the nats.

Good lord the Braves could've given the Fish Buddy Carlyle and Brent Lillibridge for that. The Fish are for sale again!!

And I don't know why everyone thinks the Marlins are going to be terrible next year.
If anything, they'll be better.
They have probably the best rotation in the East and their offense is still pretty good with Hanley, Cantu, Uggla (if they retain him), Ross, Baker, Hermida (same as Uggla), Maybin, and either Sanchez or McPherson.
That's an above average offense...
With better "D" than they had last year.

Is McPherson still with Florida?

If he is, I could see the Marlins bringing up Dallas McPherson this coming year. Put him at 3B. Then I can see them moving Cantu to 1B. Then with Bonifacio, they would either move him to SS and move Hanley to a corner OF spot, or to 2B and move Uggla to a corner OF spot. Or even move Hanley to 2B and Bonifacio to SS and Uggla to a corner OF spot.

Either way trading away Olsen would allow them to sign a starter (Penny or Pavano, anyone?), giving them a rotation of:
R. Nolasco, J. Johnson, C. Volstad, A. Sanchez, and A. Miller/FA pitcher.

This is a really good trade for the Nats, as they get useable starter that they've been craving for. If they happen to acquire another pitcher (Odalis Perez back in Washington? Pedro Martinez to Washington? Who knows), they would have an ok rotation.
S. Olsen, S. Hill, J. Lannan, T. Redding, FA Pitcher (Od. Perez or P. Martinez, etc.)

BravesRed-

I GUARANTEE YOU that the Marlins finish with 10-15 more wins than Atlanta this year...

Doubting the Marlins front office isn't wise.

"Do you think Nats will flip Olsen for Salty? "

Jesus Flores.

Yay, Bowden made a smart move. Olsen is a ticking timebomb, but the Nats pretty much gave up nothing. HUGE win for the Nats.

Seriously. HOW many other teams were looking for a cheap outfielder? They could have gotten more. Easily.

1. Bonifacio is blocked by Uggla. He's all speed, zero power, can't draw a walk.

2. Smolinski is not that great a prospect, and even then, he's blocked.

3. P.J. Dean is not as good as his numbers suggest.

Doesn't look like a good trade for the Marlins,but they've won 2 World Series doing business this way so we can't doubt em...The reason the teams so cheap is because they don't have any money to spend because fans don't come to games...You think they'd consider relocating the team.

I'm always puzzled by posts that start out, "They could have done better than that!" or somesuch.

Clearly, they couldn't. It's not like the Marlins could only negotiate with Bowden. I'm sure they called around, assessed the interest level in Olsen and learned that in this day and age of statistical analysis, most teams can see that Olsen did a high-wire act last season and is unlikely to repeat it. And Willingham has always been a square peg in a round hole...couldn't stick at catcher, played left field like a statue, and is probably best suited for DH, though his offensive year this season makes him a tough sell in that regard as well.

Truth be told, the value of two guys like that, headed for a decent raise via arbitration, isn't what fans might think. Look at what Jacobs and his 32 HRs netted ...a middle reliever.

I don't know the true value of the prospects the Marlins netted, but one thing seems safe to say: Florida certainly would have preferred to deal Olsen and Willingham outside their division so they must have felt that the players they received in trade was the best deal they could get.

And, like most deals involving major leaguers for prospects, we'll have to wait a couple years to know who won.

"I compare him and his personality with that of Brett Myers."

What does this even mean? They've both been arrested for entirely different things? They certainly aren't of the same caliber-nothing against Olsen, or for Myers for that matter, but Brett is far better. What Myers did a few years back in Boston is abhorrent, but as far as I can remember he hasn't been much of a problem aside from the occasional disagreement with Manuel and his media-concocted throwing at batters.

Olsen and Myers are definitely very similar, disregarding skill, if Myers has a bad first inning, or anything slightly goes against him, he loses his mind and walks the lineup 4 times. Olsen is also emotional. That's the comparison.

The Marlins front office makes wise decisions. Period. This is all addition by subtraction. They will be able to replace LHP Olsen with a LHP in Andrew Miller who has much better upside. And Willingham isn't that big of a loss considering that Cody Ross will be able to get constant playing time now.

"I also suspect that Kearns will either be dealt or non-tendered."

Uhhh, well, no, that can't happen.

Austin Kearns is entering the 3rd year of a 3-year contract with the Nationals. He signed this multi-year contract extension in January of 2007 in lieu of a 1-year contract/arbitration.

Also, the contract includes a (club) option for 2010 for $10 million with a $1 million buyout.

The only players who can be non-tendered are arbitration-eligible players with between 3 and 6 years MLB service time.

(I'm not sure about those with less than 3 years MLB service time, but I think a few have been non-tendered before--it just doesn't happen very often.)

The reason is that only players who are under team control and eligible to negotiate contracts from year to year could be not offered a contract for the next year. Players under multi-year contracts are...well, under contract, obviously. ;)

Uhh, you can't discount what happened in Boston. Myers is much worse in the "human being" category than Olsen.

sorry Melonis Rex, in my opinion you are wrong. Is Brett not allowed to make one mistake? By both of their admissions they were both drunk when Myers' incident happened and while he was 1000% wrong he had no history of it before and none since. He's also been in marriage counseling since and has been very repentetent about it since. He also has had no other incident since, other than arguing with his manager about wanting to stay in a game. He also was selfless enough to allow himself to go down to the minors to work on his mechanics. Now I'm not proposing sainthood here but Olsen had at least 3 fights with teammates that we know of as well as a DUI arrest. Would your take on the comparison be different if say Olsen had killed someone while driving drunk?

Sorry in my opinion while he's not perfect, Myers has worked to change his image and better himself while Olsen has not from what i can tell.

For anyone that constantly watched Olsen pitched knows he is not that good. I love how people say this is a heist considering 2 of the players won't be with the Marlins for another 2 years!!!! And by then think how much Willingham and the almighty Olsen will cost. You tell me then if this trade was a heist. When have the Marlins like ever got the bad side of a deal????