The Nationals Are Apparently Going to Be Big Spenders This Offseason

By WILL BRINSON and FANHOUSE.COM

Updated 12:34 PM EST, Wed, Nov 19, 2008

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The crazy word on the street (and by street, I mean MLB.com) is that the Washington Nationals, underlords of futility, are going to be a major factor in the offseason free agent market. Yeah. Sure they are. (But, no, seriously, there's talk of them going after Mark Teixeira and Orlando Hudson).

The Nationals still are players in the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, according to a baseball source, and free-agent second baseman Orlando Hudson has interest in playing in Washington.

The Nationals are looking for a first baseman, and Teixeira is one of the players the team has targeted to replace Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young.

Of course, no one actually believes the rumors, including Nats Prez Stan Kasten, who said that, "You're way ahead of us here," when the Washington Post inquired about the possibility of trying to land Teixeira.

Hudson is an entirely different ballgame though -- he's not Scott Boras' number one super mega offseason client this year, and he's not expected to be looking for $100 million. Also, he's apparently interested in playing in D.C., at least to the extent that he said: "I have interest in any Major League team that has interest in me," before discussing the fact that the Nats have lots of young talent.

I, for one, will believe this kooky talk about the Nats being free spenders as soon as I see it -- there is, in my mind, about a one percent chance they land Tex. Hudson is certainly a more viable option (and for the money, probably smarter) because he would actually serve to shore up their defense and isn't a liability at the plate at all. But yeah, baited breath and whatnot.