Nationals should show improvement

For the first time since they moved to Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals may have a prayer at contention. 

Am I crazy?  The Nationals, a team that went 73-89 last year, couldn’t possibly be competitive in a nasty NL East division that features the mighty NY Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, could it? 

A team with almost no starting pitching, a bullpen that will be starting from scratch, and inexperience throughout the team, wouldn’t even have a chance for a .500 record, right? 

Well, no. 

The Nationals have a chance to compete this season.  Call me crazy all you want (and believe me, you won’t be the first), but this team has the markings of a surprise team that could potentially stun an unprepared and overrated N.L. East.

First off, the team will finally be resurrected from the dump that was called RFK stadium.  The new Nationals Stadium will actually be designed to fit the team.  Instead of having walls that are a mile away, which took away countless home runs and hits from the team and forced the addition of the term “RFK out” into all Nationals fan’s vocabulary, Nationals Stadium will help put more runs on the board. 

Think that a new stadium can’t help a team at all?  Consider this: at RFK, the stadium was so large, that the 45,596 seat stadium appeared virtually empty at times.  Forget the regularly announced figure of 20,000 fans in attendence, at times it appeared like there were only 2,000 fans. 

With the new stadium, more people will come; and with the smaller capacity stadium, the Nationals Stadium will actually look (gasp!) full. Do you honestly think that a young team wouldn’t receive a major confidence boost by playing in front of 30,000 fans every night? 

 Plus, with the revenue that the team should generate from a solid fan base, team president  Stan Kasten and general manager Jim Bowden will actually have money to make moves during the trading deadline that will help the team compete.  Unlike the Nationals of 2005 and 2006, which were owned by MLB and forced to make cookie-cutter deals at the trading deadline, these Nationals, if competitive near the halfway point of the season, could make a deal to bring in a key player when he is most needed.

Also, you can’t help but love the off-season that the Nationals had this year.  They continued to get younger, and picked up two outfielders that I think are studs, Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes.  Granted, they may be thugs, but Milledge and Dukes can play.  They are fast, instinctive, and low-strikeout hitters.  Plus, they are a huge upgrade over such mediocre players as Ryan Church and Ryan Langerhans, the latter an outfielder who the Braves practically released after he hit .167
The Nationals starting pitching is another potentially strong aspect of the team.  If, and this is a major IF, John Patterson can stay healthy, the rotation could be even be a strong point. 

Think about it.  Patterson, in his one season in which he was almost completely healthy, 2005, he had a 3.13 ERA and 186 K’s.  Plus, the depth behind him isn’t terrible.  Shawn Hill, the likely number two starter, had a 3.42 ERA and a deceiving 4-5 record considering the awfulness of the team last year. 
Even the reserve pitching, the team’s strong suit in their 81-81 record in 2005, could be good.  For all of the heat that Chad Cordero takes every year, he still finishes with over 30 saves every year.  The team even has some depth behind him with Luis Ayala and John Rauch.  In fact Rauch, who is only 24, could probably be a closer on most MLB teams.

The rest of the N.L. East does not look particuarly strong either.  The Mets, who are supposed to be the strongest team, have been ravaged by injuries before the season even started.  The Phillies, the winner last year, have a decent chance this year.  However, their bullpin is just as weak this year as it was last year, when it finished last in the N.L. in ERA.  The sleeper team may be the Atlanta Braves, who have retooled a lot of their rotation and batting lineup, but are still led by verteran third baseman Chipper Jones.

Now, am I going against the grain here?  Could the Nationals bomb out and finish 30 games under .500?  Sure.  But if the Nationals can start the season off strong, they will surprise at least one of the traditional favorites in the N.L. East.