I’ll Send An S.O.S. (A) To The World

Rocket Bill and Scott Brown say the Nats have offered a deal to Sammy Sosa. Sigh.

No terms have been released, but you can be sure it's full of incentives. Rocket Bill, with the understatement of the year, notes that it will pay him less than he earned last year. (Last year he earned $17 million).

It's hard to get excited over Sosa. If Guillen's as hurt as some reports have hinted at, he could be a stopgap. But I'm afraid of him having a hot spring, guaranteeing him a spot on the roster, only to revert to crappy form in the regular season. Hell, even Cristian Guzman had a non-horrible spring training last year.

The MLB article also notes that the Nats are interested in Matt LeCroy. LeCroy, who could pass for a lumberjack, destroys left-handed pitching and can 'play' (yep, scarequotes) catcher. If they brought him aboard would they consider going with Fick and LeCroy as Schneider's backups, completely punting the traditional idea of a backup catcher? It'd certainly be an interesting idea, but it's hard to see Frank Robinson going along with it, even if he seems to like Fick's redass style of play.

At the very least, it'd be a pretty effective platoon -- the Nats would have a strong offensive advantage at backsup C, even if their defense could be adequately replaced just by placing a large oak barrel of rum behind the plate.