Long Live The Fat King

Nobody would ever confuse mountain of a man Ray King (file photo) for Mike Stanton, but he's on his way to reprising Mike's double sign-to-be-traded role after King agreed to a 1-year, $850K deal. It's a non-guaranteed deal, meaning he won't get the full amount unless he makes the roster, but he's practically guaranteed (barring a fat strain) to make the roster since the list of competent left-handed relievers the Nats have pretty much begins and ends with him.

Now King was pretty terrible last year, but that was a function of pitching on a staff that couldn't afford to carry a LOOGY. With the patchwork pitching staff, he was forced into too many situations against right-handed batters who devoured his pitched like he devours... ok, that one's too easy.

For the year, he held lefties to .187/ .276/ .347, which is pretty damn dominant. If he can do that this year 1) The Nats will be able to foil the big left-handed bats of division rivals (read: Brian Schneider and Ryan Church). 2) We'll be able to trade him again for another bag of beans.

Long live Ray King! (at least until July 31)